Problems

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Solution:

Let \(\displaystyle I_n = \int_0^{\pi/4} \tan^{n} \theta \, \d \theta\), then \begin{align*} I_0 &= \int_0^{\pi/4} \tan \theta \d \theta \\ &= \left [ -\ln \cos \theta \right]_0^{\pi/4} \\ &= -\ln \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} - 0 \\ &= \frac12 \ln 2 \\ \\ \\ I_{2n+1} &= \int_0^{\pi/4} \tan^{2n+1} \theta \, \d \theta \\&= \int_0^{\pi/4} \tan^{2n-1} \theta \tan ^2 \theta \, \d \theta \\ &= \int_0^{\pi/4} \tan^{2n-1} \theta (\sec^2 \theta - 1) \, \d \theta \\ &= \int_0^{\pi/4} \tan^{2n-1} \theta \sec^2 \theta - \tan^{2n-1} \theta \, \d \theta \\ &= \left[ \frac{1}{2n} \tan^{2n} \theta \right]_0^{\pi/4} - I_{2n-1} \\ &= \frac1{2n} - I_{2n-1} \end{align*} Therefore we can see that \(\displaystyle I_{2n+1} = (-1)^{n}\left(\tfrac{1}{2}\ln2+\sum_{m=1}^{n}\frac{(-1)^{m}}{2m}\right)\). As we can see as \(n \to \infty\), \(I_n \to 0\) Therefore \begin{align*} && 0 &= \tfrac{1}{2}\ln2+\lim_{n \to \infty} \sum_{m=1}^{n}\frac{(-1)^{m}}{2m} \\ \Rightarrow && \tfrac{1}{2}\ln2 &= \sum_{m=1}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^{m-1}}{2m} \end{align*} \begin{align*} && I_{-1} &= \int_0^{\pi/4} 1 \d \theta \\ &&&= \frac{\pi}{4} \end{align*} Therefore \(\displaystyle I_{2n} = (-1)^n \left ( \frac{\pi}{4} + \sum_{m=1}^n \frac{(-1)^m}{2m-1} \right)\) and since \(I_{2m} \to 0\) the same result follows.