How I Impressed My Wife: Part 5i

Earlier in this series, I gave three different methods of showing that

Q = \displaystyle \int_0^{2\pi} \frac{dx}{\cos^2 x + 2 a \sin x \cos x + (a^2 + b^2) \sin^2 x} = \displaystyle \frac{2\pi}{|b|}.

Using the fact that Q is independent of a, I’ll now give a fourth method.
green lineSince Q is independent of a, I can substitute any convenient value of a that I want without changing the value of Q. As shown in previous posts, substituting a =0 yields the following simplification:

Q = \displaystyle \int_0^{2\pi} \frac{dx}{\cos^2 x + 2 a \sin x \cos x + (a^2 + b^2) \sin^2 x}

= \displaystyle \int_{0}^{2\pi} \frac{dx}{\cos^2 x + 2 \cdot 0 \cdot \sin x \cos x + (0^2 + b^2) \sin^2 x}

= \displaystyle \int_{0}^{2\pi} \frac{dx}{\cos^2 x + b^2 \sin^2 x}

= \displaystyle \int_{-\pi}^{\pi} \frac{dx}{\cos^2 x + b^2 \sin^2 x}

= \displaystyle \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \frac{ 2(1+u^2) du}{u^4 + (4 b^2 - 2) u^2 + 1}

= \displaystyle \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \frac{ 2(1+u^2) du}{ ([u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)([u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2}

if |b| < 1. (The cases |b| = 1 and |b| > 1 have already been handled earlier in this series.)

I will evaluate this integral using partial fractions. The denominator factors as the product of two irreducible quadratics, and so I must solve

\displaystyle \frac{ 2(1+u^2)}{ ([u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)([u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)} = \displaystyle \frac{Au + B}{[u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2} + \frac{Cu + D}{[u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2},

or

\displaystyle \frac{ 2(1+u^2)}{ ([u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)([u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)} = \displaystyle \frac{Au + B}{u^2 - 2u \sqrt{1-b^2} +1} + \frac{Cu + D}{u^2 + 2u\sqrt{1-b^2} + 1}.

I now clear out the denominators:

2(1+u^2) = (Au+B)(u^2 + 2u\sqrt{1-b^2} + 1) + (Cu+D)(u^2 - 2u\sqrt{1-b^2} + 1)

Now I multiply out the right-hand side:

Au^3 + 2Au^2 \sqrt{1-b^2} + Au + Bu^2 + 2Bu\sqrt{1-b^2} + B

+ Cu^3 - 2Cu^2 \sqrt{1-b^2} + Cu + Du^2 - 2Du\sqrt{1-b^2} + D

Equating this with 2u^2 + 2 and matching coefficients yields the following system of four equations in four unknowns:

A + C = 0

2A\sqrt{1-b^2} + B - 2C \sqrt{1-b^2} + D = 2

Au + 2Bu \sqrt{1-b^2} + Cu - 2Du \sqrt{1-b^2} = 0

B + D = 2

Ordinarily, four-by-four systems of equations are rather painful to solve, but this system isn’t so bad.

From the first equation, I see that C = -A.

From the third equation, I see that

Au + 2Bu \sqrt{1-b^2} + Cu - 2Du \sqrt{1-b^2} = 0

Au + 2Bu \sqrt{1-b^2} -Au - 2Du \sqrt{1-b^2} = 0

2Bu \sqrt{1-b^2} - 2Du \sqrt{1-b^2} = 0

B - D = 0

B = D.

From the fourth equation, I see that

B + D = 2

B + B = 2

2B = 2

B = 1,

so that D =1 as well. Finally, from the second equation, I see that

2A\sqrt{1-b^2} + B - 2C \sqrt{1-b^2} + D = 2

2A\sqrt{1-b^2} + 1 -2(-A) \sqrt{1-b^2} + 1 = 2

4A\sqrt{1-b^2} = 0

A= 0,

so that C = 0 as well. This yields the partial fractions decomposition

\displaystyle \frac{ 2(1+u^2)}{ ([u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)([u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)} = \displaystyle \frac{1}{[u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2} + \frac{1}{[u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2}.

This can be confirmed by directly adding the fractions on the right-hand side:

\displaystyle \frac{1}{[u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2} + \frac{1}{[u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2}

= \displaystyle \frac{[u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2 + [u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2}{([u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)([u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)}

= \displaystyle \frac{u^2 + 2u\sqrt{1-b^2} + 1 - b^2 + b^2 + u^2 - 2u\sqrt{1-b^2} + 1 - b^2 + b^2}{([u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)([u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)}

= \displaystyle \frac{2u^2 + 2}{([u - \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)([u + \sqrt{1-b^2}]^2 +b^2)}.

green line

I’ll continue with this fourth evaluation of the integral, continuing the case |b| < 1, in tomorrow’s post.

One thought on “How I Impressed My Wife: Part 5i

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