MHB Solving for Coth Manually: A Challenge for Experts

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The discussion centers on the challenge of manually deriving the power series for coth(x) without relying on computational tools like Mathematica. Participants explore various mathematical approaches, including derivatives and series expansions, but encounter difficulties with singularities and complex divisions. A suggestion is made to use the Binomial series to expand certain expressions, leading to a series for coth(x) through integration. Additionally, the conversation touches on the concept of reciprocating polynomials and the lack of a general formula for higher power coefficients, highlighting the reliance on geometric series for such calculations. Overall, the thread emphasizes the intricacies involved in manually deriving series expansions in advanced mathematics.
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I must be in the 'optional for experts' section. I can get a series for coth using mathmatica, but would like to do it 'manually'. The power series for cosh & sinh leaves a division I don't want to attempt. I tried $ \frac{cosh}{sinh} = \frac{{e}^{2x+1}+1}{{e}^{2x-1}+1} $ and using Maclauren, but that has a singularity for f(0) ... A clue perhaps?
 
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ognik said:
I must be in the 'optional for experts' section. I can get a series for coth using mathmatica, but would like to do it 'manually'. The power series for cosh & sinh leaves a division I don't want to attempt. I tried $ \frac{cosh}{sinh} = \frac{{e}^{2x+1}+1}{{e}^{2x-1}+1} $ and using Maclauren, but that has a singularity for f(0) ... A clue perhaps?

Maybe you can use a derivative to help you. Warning, this won't be pretty...

$\displaystyle \begin{align*} \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}x} \,\left[ \coth{(x)} \right] &= \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}x} \, \left[ \frac{\cosh{(x)}}{\sinh{(x)}} \right] \\ &= \frac{\sinh{(x)}\sinh{(x)} - \cosh{(x)}\cosh{(x)}}{\left[ \sinh{(x)} \right] ^2 } \\ &= \frac{- \left[ \cosh^2{(x)} - \sinh^2{(x)} \right] }{\sinh^2{(x)}} \\ &= -\frac{1}{\sinh^2{(x)}} \\ &= -\frac{1}{ \left( \frac{\mathrm{e}^x - \mathrm{e}^{-x}}{2} \right) ^2 } \\ &= -\frac{4}{ \left( \mathrm{e}^x - \mathrm{e}^{-x} \right) ^2 } \\ &= -\frac{4}{ \left( \mathrm{e}^{-x} \right) ^2 \left( \mathrm{e}^{2x} - 1 \right) ^2 } \\ &= -4\,\mathrm{e}^{2x}\,\left( 1 - \mathrm{e}^{2x} \right) ^{-2} \end{align*}$

Now I would advise you to expand $\displaystyle \begin{align*} \left[ 1 + \left( - \mathrm{e}^{2x} \right) \right] ^{-2} \end{align*}$ using the Binomial series, and then substitute the entire exponential series. Multiply everything out and you will have a series for $\displaystyle \begin{align*} \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}x} \, \left[ \textrm{coth}\,(x) \right] \end{align*}$, which you can then integrate to get a series for $\displaystyle \begin{align*} \textrm{coth}\,(x) \end{align*}$. Told you it wasn't pretty :P
 
Trying again, the full problem is to expand as a power series P(X), where $ P(x) = c(\frac{cosh(x)}{sinh(x)} - \frac{1}{x}) $ (I'm told the classical Langevin theory of paramagnetism leads to this expression for the magnetic polarization)

So Mathematica gives me $ \frac{cosh(x)}{sinh(x)} = \frac{1}{x} + \frac{x}{3} - \frac{{x}^{3}}{45} + \frac{2x^5}{945} + ... $
and I immediately saw how neatly the $ \frac{1}{x} $ cancels, when the 'series' $ \frac{1}{x} $ is subtracted from the coth series, all good.

But, other than this, I have really struggled for a 'clever' way to expand $ \frac{cosh(x)}{sinh(x)} $. I also tried letting $e^{x} $ =u, giving $ \frac{u+\frac{1}{u}}{u-\frac{1}{u}} $ etc., but that just gave me a series in $ e^{2x} $ or brought me back to the exponential version of $ \frac{cosh(x)}{sinh(x)} = \frac{e^{2x}+1}{e^{2x}-1} $

I thought of using $ ln(1+x) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}(-1)^{n+1}\frac{x^{n}}{n} $, but again I only managed a series in $ e^{2x} $... need a hint please.
 
The power series expansion of $\coth x$ involves Bernoulli numbers. The formula $$\coth x = \frac1x + \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{2^{2n}B_{2n}x^{2n-1}}{(2n)!}$$ (valid for $0<|x|<\pi$) is given here, but without any details of how to derive it.
 
Thanks Opalg, that works.

I have also found an example of the type of expansion I was looking for - using the power series of Cosh and Sinh, but WITHOUT the long division - see calculus - Power (Laurent) Series of $\coth(x)$ - Mathematics Stack Exchange.

That uses a 'trick' that I didn't know, but would like to understand better - 'reciprocating a polynomial' - the solution in the above article implies there is a formula to find the reciprocal of a polynomial (I expect to a limited power?). For example the author of the solution reciprocates $ \frac{1}{1+ax^2+bx^4+O(x^4)} = 1-ax^2+(a^2-b)x^4 + O(x^4) $
Does anyone know a general formula for reciprocating a polynomial?
 
ognik said:
Does anyone know a general formula for reciprocating a polynomial?

That particular post explains immediately after - by writing it as a geometric series.
 
I could follow that, just wondered if there was a generalised formula that could also give the higher power coefficients for the reciprocal? For example if the polynomial was a + bx^2 + cx^3 + dx^4 + ex^5 - it could get messy using that geo-series trick...
 
ognik said:
I could follow that, just wondered if there was a generalised formula that could also give the higher power coefficients for the reciprocal? For example if the polynomial was a + bx^2 + cx^3 + dx^4 + ex^5 - it could get messy using that geo-series trick...

Well, if we write your polynomial $a + bx^2 + cx^3 + dx^4 + ex^5 + ...$ as $a\Big(1-a_1x-a_2x^2-a_3x^3-a_4x^4-O(x^5)\Big)$, using geometric expansion or long division, we can find that:
$$\frac{1}{a\Big(1-a_1x-a_2x^2-a_3x^3-a_4x^4-O(x^5)\Big)} = \\
\frac{1}{a}\Big(1+a_1x+(a_1^2+a_2)x^2 + (a_1^3+2a_2a_1+a_3)x^3 + (a_1^4 + 3a_2a_1^2+2a_3a_1+a_2^2+a_4)x^4 + O(x^5)\Big)
$$

That's not too messy, is it? (Wondering)
 
Not too messy - I was looking for a formula because I find I sometimes make mistakes with long, drawn out workings; I need to be more patient I know.
It appears there is no commonly known formula for this, fortunately we always have mathematica. Thanks ILS.
 
  • #10
For the record, in practice it usually suffices to approximate:
$$\frac{1}{1-ax-O(x^2)} = 1 + ax + O(x^2)$$
 

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