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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

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    $\begingroup$ Try pasting $\int_0^{1/\sqrt{2}} \frac{\sin^{-1} x}{x} \, dx$ into your question. $\endgroup$
    – angryavian
    Commented Dec 30, 2018 at 2:45
  • $\begingroup$ 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. $\endgroup$
    – anon
    Commented Dec 30, 2018 at 2:47
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexanderNordal Yes but you are much more likely to get a response to your question if you take the effort to present it readably. $\endgroup$
    – angryavian
    Commented Dec 30, 2018 at 2:50
  • $\begingroup$ Is there a reason you don't just use the Maclaurin series for $\arcsin x$? $\endgroup$
    – Clayton
    Commented Dec 30, 2018 at 2:54
  • $\begingroup$ @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. $\endgroup$
    – anon
    Commented Dec 30, 2018 at 2:55

2 Answers 2

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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$$\int\limits_0^{\tfrac 1{\sqrt2}}\mathrm dx\,\frac {\arcsin x}x\color{blue}{=\sum\limits_{n\geq0}\binom {2n}n\frac 1{4^n(2n+1)^2 2^{n+1/2}}}$$

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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 $0.7301811$.

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  • $\begingroup$ 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! $\endgroup$
    – anon
    Commented Dec 30, 2018 at 5:36
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexanderNordal. Computer Algebra System (Maple, Mathematica, Sage, Maxima, ...). $\frac{\sin ^{-1}(x)}{x}=\frac{g(x)}{1-x^2}$ $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 30, 2018 at 5:45

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