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As someone who is trained formally in physics, and not mathematics, I have become rusty in series expansions of special integrals (and/or) identities that exist regarding integrals of inverse trigonometric functions (with special bound). In the context of some of the research I’ve done over the last couple weeks regarding a program, an integral (that I will list below) has repeatedly shown up, with no physical motivation (in the context of verlinde algebras in two dimensional conformal field theories, if y’all are wondering). I reckon a series expansion / identity may make the entire thing make a little more sense!

The integral is:$$\int_0^{\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}} \frac{\arcsin x}{x} \, dx.$$ I had a similar problem earlier in the program that I was able to evaluate according to some of the Ramanujan identities and found some very interesting results.

I hope the format is not too difficult to understand, and that a more math savvy person knows of any special series expansions / identities regarding the integral.

Thank you all

Clayton
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    Try pasting $\int_0^{1/\sqrt{2}} \frac{\sin^{-1} x}{x} \, dx$ into your question. – angryavian Dec 30 '18 at 02:45
  • Sorry? It’s not the format that is the problem but the evaluation of the integral as a series (likely maclaurin) that is my problem. –  Dec 30 '18 at 02:47
  • @AlexanderNordal Yes but you are much more likely to get a response to your question if you take the effort to present it readably. – angryavian Dec 30 '18 at 02:50
  • Is there a reason you don't just use the Maclaurin series for $\arcsin x$? – Clayton Dec 30 '18 at 02:54
  • @angryavian sure, that makes sense, apologies for misreading your intention. Again, I’m not familiar with the syntax being used but I will write it out in a way most comprehensive (if you’d like, I believe you are able to edit the question). The integral is bound from zero, up to 1/square root 2, where the function is inverse sin of x, over x, dx. I’m not sure what the proper formatting is for y’all, but I hope that makes sense. –  Dec 30 '18 at 02:55
  • I got the answer to be: $$\int_0^\frac{1}{\sqrt 2} \frac{\arcsin x}{x} dx=\frac{\pi}{8}{\ln 2}+\frac{G}{2}$$ Where $G$ is Catalan's constant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan%27s_constant. Is this what you seek to find? – Zacky Dec 30 '18 at 02:56
  • yes @zachy, the integral above is the correct integral and I thank you for the closed form! –  Dec 30 '18 at 03:00
  • Do you always have this upper bound ? Otherwise, I have quite accurate formulae – Claude Leibovici Dec 30 '18 at 03:50
  • @ClaudeLeibovici i am not certain of this statement, but I believe when the verlinde algebras I am studying are generalized to less constrained conformal field theories, the bound may be different, or in some way, may not exist. Again, my certainty of that statement is an ansatz at this point as I have not seen anyone do this yet. –  Dec 30 '18 at 03:58
  • @ClaudeLeibovici so long story short, I would appreciate any input you have to offer! –  Dec 30 '18 at 03:59
  • @ClaudeLeibovici for context, the same integral (in hyperbolic space) somehow computes, if I’m to be precise, the dimension of holomorphic sections of canonical bundle on a moduli space of stable bundles on a surface. The relationship between moduli space, heat kernels, etc and conformal field theories is understood quite well (in fact, it is the bedrock of much of the mathematics) however the fact the integral above and the statement above is essentially the context of my current research! –  Dec 30 '18 at 04:06

2 Answers2

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If you want to find an expansion of an integral, then start off with the expansion for $\arcsin x$ which is simply$$\arcsin x=\sum\limits_{n\geq0}\binom {2n}n\frac {x^{2n+1}}{4^n(2n+1)}$$And divide the expansion by $x$.$$\frac {\arcsin x}x=\sum\limits_{n\geq0}\binom {2n}n\frac {x^{2n}}{4^n(2n+1)}$$Now integrate term wise to get$$\int\limits_0^{\tfrac 1{\sqrt2}}\mathrm dx\,\frac {\arcsin x}x\color{blue}{=\sum\limits_{n\geq0}\binom {2n}n\frac 1{4^n(2n+1)^2 2^{n+1/2}}}$$

Frank W
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Assuming that the upper bound is not fixed, let us consider $$I=\int \frac{\sin ^{-1}(x)}{x}\,dx$$ As given by a CAS, the result is not the most pleasant $$I=\sin ^{-1}(x) \log \left(1-e^{2 i \sin ^{-1}(x)}\right)-\frac{1}{2} i \left(\sin ^{-1}(x)^2+\text{Li}_2\left(e^{2 i \sin ^{-1}(x)}\right)\right)$$ making for $$J=\int_0^a \frac{\sin ^{-1}(x)}{x}\,dx$$ $$J=\frac{i \pi ^2}{12}-\frac{1}{2} i \left(\text{Li}_2\left(-2 a^2+2 i \sqrt{1-a^2} a+1\right)+\sin ^{-1}(a) \left(\sin ^{-1}(a)+2 i \log \left(2 a \left(a-i \sqrt{1-a^2}\right)\right)\right)\right)$$ For sure, as you did, we could use the Taylor expansion and get $$J=\sum^{\infty}_{n=0} \frac{ (2 n)! }{4^{n}(2 n+1)^2 (n!)^2}a^{2 n+1}=a+\frac{a^3}{18}+\frac{3 a^5}{200}+\frac{5 a^7}{784}+\frac{35 a^9}{10368}+\frac{63 a^{11}}{30976}+\frac{231 a^{13}}{173056}+O\left(a^{15}\right)$$ which is very quickly convergent. For example, using $a=\frac 1 {\sqrt{2}}$, this would give $\frac{137313678493039}{132975953510400 \sqrt{2}}\approx 0.730173$ while the exact result Zacky gave is $\approx 0.730181$. More terms would made the results more accurate.

Instead of Taylor series, I would prefer to consider that function $$g(x)=(1-x^2)\frac{\sin ^{-1}(x)}{x}$$ is a pretty nice function the series expansion of it being $$g(x)=1-\frac{5 x^2}{6}-\frac{11 x^4}{120}-\frac{17 x^6}{560}-\frac{115 x^8}{8064}-\frac{203 x^{10}}{25344}-\frac{735 x^{12}}{146432}-\frac{451 x^{14}}{133120}-\frac{6721 x^{16}}{2785280}+O\left(x^{18}\right)$$ As a result, we face integrals $$K_n=\int_0^a \frac {x^{2n+1}}{1-x^2}=\frac{1}{2} B_{a^2}(n+1,0)$$ where appears the incomplete beta function.

Limited to the above truncation, $a=\frac 1 {\sqrt{2}}$, this would give $0.7301814$ for an exact value equal to $0.7301811$.

  • Wow! I’m very impressed by that all, is there any condition that exists on the upper bound parameter, a? Secondly, what is CAS? I have not seen that acronym before! Lastly, what is the relationship between the integral you labeled K sub n and the function g(x)? Are they equivalent in this representation? I’m very impressed by how fast the series converges, very beautiful! Thanks very much for the time put in in this response! –  Dec 30 '18 at 05:36
  • @AlexanderNordal. Computer Algebra System (Maple, Mathematica, Sage, Maxima, ...). $\frac{\sin ^{-1}(x)}{x}=\frac{g(x)}{1-x^2}$ – Claude Leibovici Dec 30 '18 at 05:45