A: Reciprocal series, B: Laurent Series and Cauchy's Formula

sinkersub
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Problem A now solved!

Problem B:
I am working with two equations:

The first gives me the coefficients for the Laurent Series expansion of a complex function, which is:

f(z) = \sum_{n=-\infty}^\infty a_n(z-z_0)^n

This first equation for the coefficients is:

a_n = \frac{1}{2πi} \oint \frac{f(z)}{(z-z_0)^{n+1}} \, dz

The second equation is Cauchy's Integral formula for the nth derivative of a complex function:

f^{(n)}(z_0) = \frac{n!}{2πi} \oint \frac{f(z)}{(z-z_0)^{n+1}} \, dz

My problem is as follows:

We can clearly re-arrange these two equations to get the following expression:

a_n = \frac{f^{(n)}(z_0)}{n!}

Now, in this instance, f(z) = \frac{z^3 + 2z^2 + 4}{(z-1)^3}.

If we try to calculate a_n for this function, it keeps getting sent to zero, due to the function being evaluated at z_0!

What am I missing? Where have I gone wrong in this derivation/problem?

Ultimately in this problem I'm trying to find the Laurent Series expansion of the function.
Any help/tips would be much appreciated!

sinkersub
 
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sinkersub said:
If we try to calculate a_n for this function, it keeps getting sent to zero, due to the function being evaluated at z_0!
You first take the derivative, then plug in a fixed z0. In general, the result should not be zero.
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
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