- #1
IHateMayonnaise
- 94
- 0
Homework Statement
I need to solve:
[tex]\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}xe^{(a-x)^2}dx[/tex]
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
My first intuition would be to rewrite this as:
[tex]\oint_cze^{(a-z)^2}dz[/tex]
and then use Cauchy's Residue theorem to calculate the integral. There is one singularity at [itex]x_o=0[/itex] when [itex]x[/itex]->[itex]\infty[/itex]. To calculate the residue,[tex]Res(z_o)=(z-z_o)f(z) |_{z=z_o}[/tex]
where in this case
[tex]f(z)=ze^{(a-x)^2}[/tex]
So, we have
[tex]Res(0)=(z-0)ze^{(a-z)^2}|_{z=0}[/tex]
[tex]=0[/tex]
which is clearly not right (mathematica gives [itex]a\sqrt{\pi}[/itex]. What am I doing wrong? Any hints? Thanks!
EDIT: if you take the derivative of the residue twice and then taking the limit you get [itex]2e^{-a^2}[/itex], and multiplying this by [itex]2\pi i[/itex] still doesn't give the answer!
Last edited: