Finding the Laurent series and residue of a function

scamuicune
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Homework Statement


Find the Laurent series for the given function about the specified point. Also, give the residue of the function at the point.

$$ \frac{z^2}{z^2 - 1}, z_0 = 1 $$

Homework Equations


A Laurent expansion is comparable to a power series, except that it includes negative powers as well:
$$ \sum_{n = - \infty}^\infty a_k (z - z_0)^n $$
Where ##a_k## are the coefficients of the expansion.

The residue of f at ##z_0## is the coefficient of ##(z-z_0)^{-1}## in the Laurent expansion.


The Attempt at a Solution



I was able to find the residue with moderate success by simply expanding the fraction:
$$ \frac{z^2}{z^2 - 1} = \frac{z^2 - 1 + 1}{z^2 -1} = \frac{(z+1)(z-1) + 1}{(z+1)(z-1)}$$

Afterwards I simplified this fraction by splitting it and then using partial fraction decomposition to give me:
$$ -\frac{1}{2(z+1)} + \frac{1}{2(z-1)} + 1 $$
Since we are finding the residue at ##z_0 = 1## of this function, then we look at the term that has ##(z - 1)## in its denominator, which would be ##\frac{1}{2}##.

The next part would be to find the Laurent expansion of this equation, to which neither I nor my classmates had much luck. One example in the textbook suggested that I expand the numerator in powers of (z-1), which would also be something I don't understand how to do.
 
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scamuicune said:

Homework Statement


Find the Laurent series for the given function about the specified point. Also, give the residue of the function at the point.

$$ \frac{z^2}{z^2 - 1}, z_0 = 1 $$

Homework Equations


A Laurent expansion is comparable to a power series, except that it includes negative powers as well:
$$ \sum_{n = - \infty}^\infty a_k (z - z_0)^n $$
Where ##a_k## are the coefficients of the expansion.

The residue of f at ##z_0## is the coefficient of ##(z-z_0)^{-1}## in the Laurent expansion.


The Attempt at a Solution



I was able to find the residue with moderate success by simply expanding the fraction:
$$ \frac{z^2}{z^2 - 1} = \frac{z^2 - 1 + 1}{z^2 -1} = \frac{(z+1)(z-1) + 1}{(z+1)(z-1)}$$

Afterwards I simplified this fraction by splitting it and then using partial fraction decomposition to give me:
$$ -\frac{1}{2(z+1)} + \frac{1}{2(z-1)} + 1 $$
Since we are finding the residue at ##z_0 = 1## of this function, then we look at the term that has ##(z - 1)## in its denominator, which would be ##\frac{1}{2}##.

The next part would be to find the Laurent expansion of this equation, to which neither I nor my classmates had much luck. One example in the textbook suggested that I expand the numerator in powers of (z-1), which would also be something I don't understand how to do.

If you want to expand in powers of (z-1) write u=(z-1). Then z=u+1. Substitute that into the function so you can write it totally in terms of u. Then try and expand around u=0.
 
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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