MA30056: Complex Analysis

Last Exercise Sheet: Residues

Q: How does a mathematician call his dog?

A: Cauchy - because it leaves a residue at every pole...
Solutions will be available from Friday 1st May.

1.) Each of the following functions f has an isolated singularity at z = 0. Determine

its nature; if it is a removable singularity define f (0) so that f is holomorphic at
z = 0; if it is a pole find the singular part; if it is an essential singularity just state
it.
(i) f (z) =

cos(z)1
z
1/z

(ii) f (z) = e
(iii) f (z) =

cos(1/z)
1/z

(iv) f (z) =

1
1ez

Solution:
de lHospital

z
(i) limz0 cos(z)1
=
limz0 sin
= sin 0 = 0. Therefore the singularz
1
ity at z = 0 is removable and we define f (0) = 0.
P
1
(ii) f (z) = e1/z =
n=0 n! z n , and so we have an infinite number of nonzero terms
in the singular part. Therefore, the singularity at z = 0 is essential.
P
P
(1)n
(1)n
(iii) f (z) = cos(1/z)
= z cos( z1 ) = z
n=0 (2n)! z 2n =
n=0 (2n)! z 2n1 and so we
1/z
have an infinite number of nonzero terms in the singular part. Therefore, the
singularity at z = 0 is essential.
1
(iv) | 1e
z | as z 0 and so there is a pole at z = 0.
an
a1
1
2
Thus, f (z) = 1e
z = z n + . . . + z + a0 + a1 z + a2 z + . . .. Now, for n 1 we

get an = limz0 z n f (z) = limz0

zn
1ez

de lHospital

limz0

n z n1
ez

= 0 unless
de lHospital

z
n = 1; in the case n = 1 we obtain limz0 z f (z) = limz0 1e
=
z
1
1
2
limz0 ez = 1. Thus, f (z) = z + a0 + a1 z + a2 z + . . .. Therefore, the
pole at z = 0 is a simple pole and the singular part is 1
.
z

2.) Prove the Casorati-Weierstrass Theorem.

Hint: Proof by contradiction; fix c and consider g =

1
.
f c

Solution: Let z0 be an essential singularity of f and suppose, for a contradiction,

we can find a c C so that there are > 0 and > 0 so that
|f (z) c|

0 < |z z0 | < .

for

Thus the function

g : B (z0 ),

1
f (z) c

z 7 g(z) =

is holomorphic in B (z0 ) and bounded, and therefore, it extends holomorphically

to B (z0 ) by Theorem V.1.1 (i).
Now, if g(z0 ) 6= 0 then
B (z0 ) 3 z 7 f (z) = c +

1
C
g(z)

is holomorphic, contradicting the assumption that f has an essential singularity

at z0 .
If, on the other hand, g(z0 ) = 0 then

1
|g(z)|

as z z0 and therefore

B (z0 ) 3 z 7 f (z) = c +

1
C
g(z)

1
has, with g(z)
, a pole at z0 by Theorem V.1.1 (ii). Again, this contradicts the
assumption that f has an essential singularity at z0 .

3.) Prove the p/q 0 -rule: Suppose p, q : BR (z0 ) C are holomorphic and q has a zero of
0)
order n = 1 at z0 , i.e., q(z0 ) = 0 and q 0 (z0 ) 6= 0. Then f = pq has Res(f, z0 ) = qp(z
0 (z ) .
0
Solution: To simplify notation we take, w.l.o.g.,
P z0 =k 0. Since q has a zero of
order n = 1 at z = z0 = 0 we have q(z) = k=1 ak z = z g(z) with g(0) 6= 0.
Note that q 0 (0) = a1 = g(0). Hence gp is holomorphic in BR (z0 ) so that, by the
Cauchy-Taylor Theorem,

p(z) X
=
bk z k
g(z) k=0

X
p(z)
1 p(z)
=
=
bk+1 z k
q(z)
z g(z) k=1

for z BR (0). Hence Res( pq , 0) = b0 = limz0

p(z)
g(z)

p(0)
g(0)

p(0)
.
q 0 (0)

4.) Evaluate

R
0

cos x dx
(1+x2 )(4+x2 )

Hint: Consider f (z) =

using the Theorem of Residues.

eiz
.
(z 2 +1)(z 2 +4)

Solution: Consider f (z) =

eiz
(1+z 2 )(4+z 2 )

and compute

Z
f (z) dz,

where

(R) = ([0, ]),

[0, ] 3 t 7 (t) = R eit ,

[R,R] (R)

is the half circle with radius R and center z = 0 in the upper half plane.
First we need the residues of f (z): since f has simple poles at i and 2i we
compute
Res(f, i) = lim hf (i + h)
h0

h ei(i+h)
= lim
h0 (i + h i)(i + h + i)(4 + (i + h)2 )
1
=
,
6i e
Res(f, 2i) = lim hf (2i + h)
h0

h ei(2i+h)
h0 (1 + (2i + h)2 )(2i + h 2i)(2i + h + 2i)
1
;
=
12i e2

= lim

since we are integrating in the upper half plane we are not going to need the other
two residues.
Now, writing z = x + iy, we have
| eiz | = ey

|f (z)| =

ey
ey

|z 2 + 1| |z 2 + 4|
(|z|2 1)(|z|2 4)

by the reversed triangle inequality when |z| > 2. Hence, for z (R) with R > 2,
|f (z)|

(R2

1
1)(R2 4)

since y 0 so that ey 1. Hence the M L-inequality gives

Z



1

 f (z) dz 

 (R2 1)(R2 4) R = R3 (1 1 )(1 4 ) 0

R2
R2

as

R .

Please turn over!

Thus, by the Residue Theorem

Z
Z R
1 R cos x + i sin x
cos x
dx =
dx
2
2
2 R (1 + x2 )(4 + x2 )
0 (1 + x )(4 + x )
Z
1
=
f (z) dz
2 [R,R]
1
= i(Res(f, i) + Res(f, 2i))
2


1
1

6 e 12 e2

Z
f (z) dz
(R)

as R , where the first equality holds since x 7 sin x is an odd function (so
that the imaginary part of the integral vanishes) and x 7 cos x is an even function.
(In particular we have also proved that the initial integral exists.)
Optional question:

5.) Show that

P
n=1

(1)n
n2

= 12 .

Hint: Use the function

.
z 2 sin(z)

Solution: This is very similar to the calculation of (2). Indeed, in this application of the Residue Theorem we use the same contours, the boxes N =
{z C | max{| Re z|, | Im z|} = N + 12 }. We begin by calculating the residues of

inside N :
f (z) = z2 sin(z)
(i) We have sin( n) = 0 for all n Z (these are the only zeros of sine!). Noting
that the derivative sin0 ( n) = cos( n) = (1)n for n Z and these are
thus simple zeros, we can use the above p/q 0 -rule to determine the residues of

f (z) = z2 sin(z)
for all nonzero integers n Z \ {0} (taking p(z) = /z 2 and
q(z) = sin( z)):

1
(1)n
Res(f, n) = 2
=
.
n (1)n
n2
(ii) We now determine the Laurent series of f (z) around z0 = 0. By Question
5 on Exercise sheet 9 (or the previous considerations), 1/ sin(z) has a simple
pole at 0 of residue 1. Consequently, 1/ sin( z) also has a simple pole at 0
and we have
z
w

, 0) = lim
= lim
= 1.
Res( sin(
z)
z0 sin( z)
w0 sin(w)
Please turn over!

z
Consequently, sin(
has a holomorphic extension to B1 (0) and thus a Taylor
Pz)
series expansion k=0 ak z k in B1 (0), i.e.,

X
z
=
ak z k
sin( z) k=0

for z B1 (0).

By the above limit, the constant term is a0 = 1. Using the Taylor series of
P
2`+1
` ( z)
sine, we have sin( z) =
`=0 (1) (2`+1)! and thus we obtain the coefficients
ak successively by multiplying the previous equations with (the Taylor series
of) sin( z):
!
!

2`+1
X
(
z)

z =
ak z k =
(1)`
(2`
+
1)!
k=0
`=0






2
a1 2
a2 2 a0 4
3
4
a0 z+a1 z+ a2
z + a3
z + a4
+
z 5 +. . .
6
6
6
120

Comparing the left with the right side, we obtain a0 = 1, a1 = 0, a2 =

4
a3 = 0, a4 = 7360
, . . . . Thus the Laurent series of f (z) is
f (z) =

ak z k3 =

k=0

and we have Res(f, 0) =

2
,
6

2
7 4
1
+
+
z + ...,
z3 6 z
360

2
.
6

R
As a second step, we apply the M L-inequality to the contour integral N f dz. The
length of the contour is L = 8(N + 21 ). For M , we first look at1 g(z) = / sin( z):
(i) g(x + i y) =

sin( (x+i y))

sin(x) cosh(y)i cos(x) sinh(y)

sin2 (x) cosh2 (y)+cos2 (x) sinh2 (y)

(ii) we have for the vertical parts of the contour

 






  

 





1
2
g iy N + 1
 = g 1 + iy  = 
 = 


 

 cosh(y) 
 ey + ey  .
2
2
(iii) we have for the horizontal parts of the contour (using | cos x|, | sin x| 1,
sinh y < cosh y and sin2 (x) + cos2 (x) = 1)



 


1
N 1


g x i N + 1
 2 cosh N + 2

0.036
2


1
2
sinh N + 2

Please turn over!

1

Using sin(x + iy) = sin x cosh y + i cos x sinh y.

Therefore
|f (z)|

|g(z)|

2
|z|
(N + 12 )2

for z N = {x + iy | max{|x|, |y|} = N + 21 }. The M L-inequality then gives

Z






1

f dz 
0
as
N .
8 N +

2
(N + 1 )2
N

Thus the Residue Theorem yields

Z
N
X
2
(1)k
1
+2
f dz 0
=
6
k2
2i N
k=1
as N , that is,

2 X (1)k
=
.
12 k=1 k 2