Line Integral That's Not Working Out

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around evaluating a complex line integral involving a circle in the complex plane. The original poster attempts to apply Cauchy's Integral Formula and partial fraction decomposition to compute the integral, but encounters discrepancies between their results and the expected answer.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the original integral setup and the subsequent attempts at partial fraction decomposition. Questions arise regarding the correctness of the decomposition and the application of Cauchy's Integral Formula. Some participants suggest verifying the decomposition with external tools.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants actively questioning the validity of the integral setup and the decomposition steps. There is a recognition of errors in the original formulation, and attempts to correct these are being made, although no consensus on the correct approach has been reached yet.

Contextual Notes

There are indications of confusion regarding the original integral's expression, with multiple corrections being proposed. Participants are also referencing external computational tools to verify their work, highlighting the complexity of the problem.

Poopsilon
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Let [itex]\alpha[/itex] be circle in the complex plane centered at z=1 with radius r=3/2. I proceed by partial fraction decomposition and then use Cauchy's Integral Formula.

[tex]\int_\alpha \frac{z^7 -1}{z^6 - z^2}dz = \int_\alpha zdz - \int_\alpha \frac{1}{z^2}dz +\frac{i}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{z-i}{z^2 - i}dz +\frac{1}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{1-i}{z^2 + i}dz[/tex]

Now the first integral is analytic everywhere so is equal to zero, the second integral is equal to zero as well by Cauchy's Integral Formula. The third integral has only one of its two singularities inside [itex]\alpha[/itex], thus applying Cauchy's Integral Formula gives:

[tex]\frac{i}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{z-i}{z^2 - i}dz = \frac{i}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{\frac{z-i}{z+(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}}{z-(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}dz = \frac{i}{2}[2\pi i(\frac{(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})-i}{2(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})})] = \frac{-\pi}{2}(1-\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})[/tex]

The Fourth Integral similarly has only one of its two singularities inside [itex]\alpha[/itex], and so again applying Cauchy's Integral Formula:

[tex]\frac{1}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{1-i}{z^2 + i}dz = \frac{1}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{\frac{1-i}{z+(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}}{z-(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}dz = \frac{1}{2}[2\pi i(\frac{1-i}{2(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})})]= \frac{\pi i}{2}(i+1)(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} - \frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}) = \frac{-\pi i}{\sqrt{2}}[/tex]

Thus adding up these four integrals gives:

[tex]\frac{-\pi i + \sqrt{2}\pi + \pi}{2\sqrt{2}}[/tex]

Now according to the book the answer should be [itex]\frac{\pi i}{\sqrt{2}}[/itex], thus I have made some error, although after checking and rechecking everything I cannot find it, maybe someone could help me, thanks.
 
Last edited:
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Shoot I actually wrote down the original integral wrong in my original post, either way though my decomposition was still screwed up, so here is the new decomposition, verified by wolfram:

[tex]\int_\alpha \frac{z^7 +1}{z^6 + z^2}dz = \int_\alpha zdz + \int_\alpha \frac{1}{z^2}dz +\frac{i}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{z+i}{z^2 - i}dz -\frac{1}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{iz + 1}{z^2 + i}dz[/tex]

Unfortunately I'm still getting the wrong answer at the end! The new 3rd and fourth integrals are:

[tex]\frac{i}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{z+i}{z^2 - i}dz = \frac{i}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{\frac{z+i}{z+(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}}{z-(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}dz = \frac{i}{2}[2\pi i(\frac{(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})+i}{2(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})})] = \frac{-\pi}{2}(1+\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})[/tex]

and

[tex]\frac{-1}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{iz+1}{z^2 + i}dz = \frac{-1}{2}\int_\alpha \frac{\frac{iz +1}{z+(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}}{z-(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})}dz = \frac{-1}{2}[2\pi i(\frac{i(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})+1}{2(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})})]= \frac{\pi i}{2}(i+1)(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} - \frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}) = \frac{\pi}{2}(1-\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}+\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}})[/tex]

Which when added all up gives me [itex]\frac{-\pi}{2}[/itex]. Man this integral is driving me a little bit nuts.
 
Last edited:
The integral was written wrong in my original post, it should be [itex]\int_\alpha \frac{z^7 +1}{z^6 + z^2}dz[/itex]. You still have the old integral in Wolfram.
 

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