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Frullani's integral theory states the following:

If $f'(x)$ is continuous and the integral converges, $$\int_0^\infty\frac{f(ax)-f(bx)}x\ dx=\left[f(0)-f(\infty)\right]\ln \frac b a$$

Considering the integral $$\int_0^\infty \frac{\sin(x)-\sin(2x)}{x}dx=0$$ Since $f'(x)=\cos(x)$ which is continuous and the integral converges to $0$, why does this imply that $$\lim_{k\rightarrow\infty}-\ln(2)\sin(k)=0\implies\lim_{k\rightarrow\infty}{\sin(k)=0}$$ which is obviously incorrect as $\sin$ oscillates with period $2\pi$ forever.

1 Answers1

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The integral is zero since

$$\int_0^\infty \frac{\sin(ax)}{x}\,dx=\frac{\pi}{2}\text{sgn}(a)$$

Thus, we have

$$\int_0^\infty \frac{\sin(ax)-\sin(bx)}{x}\,dx=\frac{\pi}{2}(\text{sgn}(a)-\text{sgn}(b))$$

which is zero whenever $a$ and $b$ are of the same sign.

Now, this doesn't answer the question "Why doesn't the formula for Frullani's Integral seem to apply here?" Certainly, $\lim_{L\to \infty} \sin(Lx)$ fails to exist and so $f(\infty)$ is meaningless.

This compels one to go back in the development of Frullani to review the origin of the term $f(\infty)$. In the development of the formula, we start with the integral

$$\begin{align} \int_\epsilon^L \int_a^b f'(xy)\,dy\,dx&=\int_\epsilon^L \frac{f(bx)-f(ax)}{x}\,dx\\\\ &=\int_a^b \frac{f(Ly)-f(\epsilon y)}{y}\,dy \end{align}$$

Letting $L\to \infty$ and $\epsilon \to 0$ we find that if the integral $\int_0^\infty \frac{f(bx)-f(ax)}{x}\,dx$ exists, then

$$\int_0^\infty \frac{f(bx)-f(ax)}{x}\,dx=\lim_{L\to \infty}\lim_{\epsilon\to 0}\int_a^b \frac{f(Lx)-f(\epsilon x)}{x}\,dx$$

We are tempted to interchange the order of the limits and integral. However, if either $\lim_{x\to 0}f(x)$ or $\lim_{x\to \infty}f(x)$ fails to exist, then that interchange is obviously invalid.

However, since $\frac1x$ is integrable on $[a,b]$, $0<a<b$, then the Riemann-Lebesgue Lemma guarantees that for $f(x)=\sin(x)$

$$\begin{align} \lim_{L\to \infty}\int_a^b \frac{f(Lx)}{x}\,dx&=\lim_{L\to \infty}\int_a^b \frac{\sin(Lx)}{x}\,dx\\\\ &=0 \end{align}$$

Therefore, we find that

$$\int_0^\infty \frac{\sin(bx)-\sin(ax)}{x}\,dx=-\lim_{\epsilon \to 0}\int_a^b \frac{\sin(\epsilon x)}{x}\,dx=0$$

as expexted!


NOTE:

In THIS ANSWER, I developed a generalization of Frullani's Integral applicable for complex values of $a$ and $b$.

Mark Viola
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