Undergrad Complex analysis - removable singular points

Click For Summary
The discussion revolves around removable singular points in complex analysis, specifically addressing the implications of integrals around closed contours. It is clarified that a zero integral does not necessarily indicate that a function is analytic, as it can also apply to functions with removable singularities. The example of the function (z - sin(z))/z^3 illustrates that while it has a removable singularity at z=0, it can still be defined analytically by removing that singularity. Participants emphasize that the definition of a function at a singular point is crucial for determining its analyticity. Overall, the conversation highlights the nuances between analytic functions and those with removable singularities.
dyn
Messages
774
Reaction score
63
Hi. I have 2 questions regarding removable singular points.
1 - the residue at a removable singularity is always zero so by the residue theorem the integral around a closed simple contour is zero. Cauchy's theorem states the integral around a simple closed contour for an analytic function is zero so am I right in thinking that the integral being zero does not imply the function is analytic ? As it is also zero for functions with a removable singularity.

2 - I have seen the following example in a book where it is shown that (z-sinz)/z3 has a removable singularity at z=0 but then it states that the series converges for all values of z but surely the function is undefined at z=0 ?
Thanks
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
1. there is no difference in integrating an analytic function versus a function with a removable singularity. more interesting is the case of a function which does not have a removable singularity but still has integral zero due to there being a pole there of higher order and residue zero. i.e. integral = 0 just means the term 1/z has coefficient zero, but therte could still be terms of order 1/z^2 or 1/z^3 etc with non zero coefficients but the integral will not detect that.

2. in this example sin has only odd degree terms of positive degree, and the linear term equals z, so subtracting off z reduces it to beginning in degree 3. thus dividing by z^3 gives an analytic function (i.e. one with a removable singularity). do not obsess over whether a function has or has not yet been stated as defined at a point when it is perfectly capable of being well defined there. all functions with removable singularities should have them removed, before studying the function.
 
Thanks for your reply.
1- so if an integral around a closed loop is zero ; that doesn't tell me if the function is analytic or not ?
2- You say that (z-sinz)/z3 is an analytic function ie. one with a removable singularity. Aren't they 2 different things ? A singular point is a point where a function is not analytic.
 
A removable singularity just means you chose a poor way to define a function that could be analytic at that point. Like ##f(z)=\frac{z^2+z}{z}##. It has a removable singularity at z=0. You could have defined f(z)=z+1 and you wouldn't have had that issue.
 
  • Like
Likes dyn
Thanks. So for the function f(z) = (z-sinz)/z3 ; it only converges if f(0) is defined and so it is analytic ? If f(0) is not defined it does not converge and is not analytic ?
 
f(z) converges for z->0 which is independent of what happens at exactly 0.

##f(z)=\frac 1 6 - \frac{z^2}{120} + \frac{z^4}{5040}\pm ...##
 
Here is a little puzzle from the book 100 Geometric Games by Pierre Berloquin. The side of a small square is one meter long and the side of a larger square one and a half meters long. One vertex of the large square is at the center of the small square. The side of the large square cuts two sides of the small square into one- third parts and two-thirds parts. What is the area where the squares overlap?

Similar threads

  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
Replies
2
Views
3K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
4K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
1K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
  • · Replies 0 ·
Replies
0
Views
2K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K