Find the Residue for sin(z)/z^4

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the residue of the function sin(z)/z^4, focusing on the pole at z=0 and the methods for determining the residue associated with it.

Discussion Character

  • Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the correct application of the residue formula for a pole of order 3 and the differentiation of sin(z)/z. There are attempts to clarify the second derivative and the behavior of terms as z approaches 0. Some participants suggest using l'Hospital's Rule and the Taylor series expansion for sin(z) to find the residue.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants identifying mistakes in differentiation and exploring alternative methods to find the residue. There is recognition of the need to correctly evaluate limits and derivatives, and some participants are considering different approaches to the problem.

Contextual Notes

There is mention of homework constraints regarding the use of specific formulas and the requirement to find the residue at a given value of z. Participants are questioning the assumptions made in their calculations and the behavior of higher-order terms.

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Homework Statement


Calculate the residue of sinz/z^4

Homework Equations


The residue for a pole of order m at 0 is given my:
lim z->0 [1/(m-1)!dm-1/dzm-1[(zmf(z)]]


The Attempt at a Solution


Clearly the pole has order 3:
So we get:
Re(0) = limz->0[1/2d2/dz2[sinz/z]]
I get that the only term in the limit that doesn't go to zero is:
Re(0) = limz->0[-1/2sinz/z] = -1/2
But I should get -1/3!
Apparantly something goes wrong somewhere as I should get a tree from differentiation. Can anyone see where that is? :S
 
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You didn't take the second derivative of sin(z)/z correctly
 
hmm I thought I might have done something wrong there. Let's go over it:

(sinz/z)'' = (cosz/z-sinz/z2)' = -sinz/z - 2cosz/z2+3sinz/z3

Now as we let z->0 the only term that survives is sinz/z which ->-1. Where is my mistake?
 
zezima1 said:
hmm I thought I might have done something wrong there. Let's go over it:

(sinz/z)'' = (cosz/z-sinz/z2)' = -sinz/z - 2cosz/z2+3sinz/z3

Now as we let z->0 the only term that survives is sinz/z which ->-1. Where is my mistake?

Your last term should be ##\frac{2 \sin{(z)}}{z^3}##. Go through that derivative again to find your mistake.

Also, the other terms do approach values, they don't "disappear." Use l'Hospital's Rule.
 
okay yes I see what I did wrong now. I accidently took the terms involving z of a higher order than one to go to zero when they really diverge.
 
aaaa202 said:
okay yes I see what I did wrong now. I accidently took the terms involving z of a higher order than one to go to zero when they really diverge.

Well, no, they don't diverge. They converge to specific points (like I said, use l'Hospital's Rule). Also, you didn't take the second derivative properly which would yield bad results as well.
 
Are you required to use that formula? Often the simplest way to find the residue of a function, at a given value of z, is to use the fact that the residue is the coefficient of z^{-1} in the Laurent series for f(z) about the given value.

Here, we can start with the Taylor's series for sin(z): z- (1/6)z^3+ \cdot\cdot\cdot so that
\frac{sin(z)}{z^4}= \frac{1}{z^3}- \frac{1}{6z}+ \cdot\cdot\cdot
so that the residue is, as you say, -1/6.
 

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