Relating integral of powers of Sin b/w 0 and pi/2 to factorial form

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the integral of powers of sine, specifically the integral \(\int\limits_0^{\pi/2} \sin^{2a+1}(x)\,dx\), and its relation to a factorial form. Participants explore methods to derive this factorial representation, discussing integration techniques and challenges encountered during the process.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents the integral and claims it has a factorial form of \(\frac{(2^a a!)^2}{(2a+1)!}\), questioning the process to derive this form.
  • Another participant suggests using integration by parts twice as a method to approach the integral.
  • A later reply provides a result from integration by parts, but expresses uncertainty about how to connect this result to the desired factorial form.
  • Further attempts at integration by parts are described, with one participant noting that their approach becomes complicated and messy, leading to difficulties in reaching the factorial form.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the method to derive the factorial form from the integral. Multiple approaches are discussed, but no clear agreement or resolution is evident.

Contextual Notes

Participants express challenges with the integration process, including difficulties with integration by parts and the complexity of the resulting expressions. There are references to Gamma functions and factorial representations, but the connections remain unresolved.

musik132
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Our integral
\int\limits_0^{\pi/2} \sin^{2a+1}(x)\,dx

Has a Factorial Form:
{(2^a a!)}^2 \over (2a+1)!

What is the process behind going from that integral to that factorial form?

My approach which is not very insightful:
I used mathematica to calculate the integral to return:
\pmb{\frac{\sqrt{\pi } \text{Gamma}[1+a]}{2 \text{Gamma}\left[\frac{3}{2}+a\right]}}
I know Gamma[1+a] = a! and Gamma[3/2+a] has a factorial form also but doesn't help me to reduce to that form.

Griffiths just says that integral equals (2*4*...2a)/(1*3*5...*[2a+1]) to get from this to that factorial form is easy but I got lost in his integration.
 
Last edited:
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musik132 said:
Our integral
\int\limits_0^{\pi/2} \sin^{2a+1}(x)\,dx

What do you get after integrating by parts twice?
 
\pi/2-(2a+1)\int\limits_0^{\pi/2} \sin^{2a}(x)cos(x)x

Sorry I still don't see how to finish the connection.

Edit: Didn't see you said twice IBP ill go back and retry this
 
taking u = sin^2a(x) and v'=xcos(x) , I get:
-a\pi+(2a+1)(2a)\int\limits_0^{\pi/2} Sin^{2a}(x)x +Sin^{2a-1}(x)cos(x)dx

Sadly my math isn't great and can't seem to figure out how this would lead to the factorial form.

So I tried to integrate by parts again and try to simplify and it just got really messy.
I tried to take u = sin^2a(x)cos(x) and v'=x and that got messy also compared to the one above so I didn't pursue it.
 
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