- #1
"Don't panic!"
- 601
- 8
When one uses a contour integral to evaluate an integral on the real line, for example [tex]\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}\frac{dz}{(1+x)^{3}}[/tex] is it correct to say that one analytically continues the integrand onto the complex plane and integrate it over a closed contour ##C## (over a semi-circle of radius ##R## closed along the real line between ##-R## and ##R##)? In this case [tex]\int_{C}\frac{dz}{(1+z)^{3}}[/tex] which reduces to the original integral on the real line in the limit as the radius tends to infinity.