If is a positive integer, find the value of in terms of .
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Let us rewrite the sine functions using Euler's identity sin x = 2 i e i x − e − i x = 2 i e i x e 2 i x − 1 (the latter received by multiplying the numerator and the denominator by e i x );
Step 1: ∫ 0 π sin ( 2 x ) sin ( n + 2 1 ) x d x = ∫ 0 π 2 i e ( n + 2 1 ) i x e ( 2 n + 1 ) i x − 1 e i x − 1 2 i e 2 i x d x ;
Step 2: The 2 i 's cancel out and we use a property of exponents to receive ∫ 0 π e i x − 1 ( e − i x n ) ( e ( 2 n + 1 ) i x − 1 ) d x
The integrand resembles a formula for the sum of geometric series up to the n -th term: S n = i = 1 ∑ n b i = 1 − q b 1 ( 1 − q n ) , where b 1 is the first term of the series and q is its common ratio. In this case we have the sum of geometric series up to the 2 n + 1 -th term with the first term being e − i x n and the common ratio being e i x ;
Step 3: We rewrite the geometric series as a sum to get ∫ 0 π k = 1 ∑ 2 n + 1 e − i x ( n − k + 1 ) d x = ∫ 0 π ( e − i x n + e − i x ( n − 1 ) + ⋯ + e i x ( n − 1 ) + e i x n ) d x
Step 4: To deal with this one, we need to use Euler's identity for the cosine function: cos x = 2 e i x + e − i x ; we also have to keep in mind that one of the terms is e − i x ( n − n ) = e 0 = 1 ∫ 0 π ( 2 cos n x + 2 cos ( n − 1 ) x + ⋯ + 2 cos x + 1 ) d x
Step 5: We use the sum rule for definite integrals to separate each term: ∫ 0 π 2 cos n x d x + ∫ 0 π 2 cos ( n − 1 ) x d x + ⋯ + ∫ 0 π 2 cos x d x + ∫ 0 π 1 d x
Now instead of integrating every cosine, notice that we can rewrite any of them as 2 cos k x where k is a natural number from 1 to n since n is natural.
∫ 0 π 2 cos k x d x = k 2 sin k x ∣ 0 π = k 2 sin π k − k 2 sin 0 = 0
This means that all of the integrals which include cosines equal zero. Now we are only left with ∫ 0 π 1 d x = π which is the answer.