Irresistible Integrals

This book, first published in 2004, uses the problem of exact evaluation of definite integrals as a starting point for exploring many areas of mathematics.

This book contains a multitude of challenging problems and solutions that are not commonly found in classical textbooks. One goal of the book is to present these fascinating mathematical problems in a new and engaging way and illustrate the connections between integrals, sums, and series, many of which involve zeta functions, harmonic series, polylogarithms, and various other special functions and constants. Throughout the book, the reader will find both classical and new problems, with numerous original problems and solutions coming from the personal research of the author. Where classical problems are concerned, such as those given in Olympiads or proposed by famous mathematicians like Ramanujan, the author has come up with new, surprising or unconventional ways of obtaining the desired results. The book begins with a lively foreword by renowned author Paul Nahin and is accessible to those with a good knowledge of calculus from undergraduate students to researchers, and will appeal to all mathematical puzzlers who love a good integral or series.

What’s the point of calculating definite integrals since you can’t possibly do them all? What makes doing the specific integrals in this book of value aren’t the specific answers we’ll obtain, but rather the methods we’ll use in obtaining those answers; methods you can use for evaluating the integrals you will encounter in the future. This book, now in its second edition, is written in a light-hearted manner for students who have completed the first year of college or high school AP calculus and have just a bit of exposure to the concept of a differential equation. Every result is fully derived. If you are fascinated by definite integrals, then this is a book for you. New material in the second edition includes 25 new challenge problems and solutions, 25 new worked examples, simplified derivations, and additional historical discussion.

A Guide to the Evaluation of Integrals Special Integrals of Gradshetyn and Ryzhik: the Proofs provides self-contained proofs of a variety of entries in the frequently used table of integrals by I.S. Gradshteyn and I.M. Ryzhik. The book gives the most elementary arguments possible and uses Mathematica® to verify the formulas. You will discover the beauty, patterns, and unexpected connections behind the formulas. Volume II collects 14 papers from Revista Scientia covering elliptic integrals, the Riemann zeta function, the error function, hypergeometric and hyperbolic functions, Bessel-K functions, logarithms and rational functions, polylogarithm functions, the exponential integral, and Whittaker functions. Many entries have a variety of proofs that can be evaluated using a symbolic language or point to the development of a new algorithm.

This book, the much-anticipated sequel to (Almost) Impossible, Integrals, Sums, and Series, presents a whole new collection of challenging problems and solutions that are not commonly found in classical textbooks. As in the author’s previous book, these fascinating mathematical problems are shown in new and engaging ways, and illustrate the connections between integrals, sums, and series, many of which involve zeta functions, harmonic series, polylogarithms, and various other special functions and constants. Throughout the book, the reader will find both classical and new problems, with numerous original problems and solutions coming from the personal research of the author. Classical problems are shown in a fresh light, with new, surprising or unconventional ways of obtaining the desired results devised by the author. This book is accessible to readers with a good knowledge of calculus, from undergraduate students to researchers. It will appeal to all mathematical puzzlers who love a good integral or series and aren’t afraid of a challenge.

This book develops integral identities, mostly involving multidimensional functions and infinite limits of integration, whose evaluations are intractable by common means. It exposes a methodology based on the multivariate power substitution and its variants, assisted by the software tool Mathematica. The approaches introduced comprise the generalized method of exhaustion, the multivariate power substitution and its variants, and the use of permutation symmetry to evaluate definite integrals, which are very important both in their own right, and as necessary intermediate steps towards more involved computation. A key tenet is that such approaches work best when applied to integrals having certain characteristics as a starting point. Most integrals, if used as a starting point, will lead to no result at all, or will lead to a known result. However, there is a special class of integrals (i.e., innovative integrals) which, if used as a starting point for such approaches, will lead to new and useful results, and can also enable the reader to generate many other new results that are not in the book. The reader will find a myriad of novel approaches for evaluating integrals, with a focus on tools such as Mathematica as a means of obtaining useful results, and also checking whether they are already known. Results presented involve the gamma function, the hypergeometric functions, the complementary error function, the exponential integral function, the Riemann zeta function, and others that will be introduced as they arise. The book concludes with selected engineering applications, e.g., involving wave propagation, antenna theory, non-Gaussian and weighted Gaussian distributions, and other areas. The intended audience comprises junior and senior sciences majors planning to continue in the pure and applied sciences at the graduate level, graduate students in mathematics and the sciences, and junior and established researchers in mathematical physics, engineering, and mathematics. Indeed, the pedagogical inclination of the exposition will have students work out, understand, and efficiently use multidimensional integrals from first principles.

This volume contains techniques of integration which are not found in standard calculus and advanced calculus books. It can be considered as a map to explore many classical approaches to evaluate integrals. It is intended for students and professionals who need to solve integrals or like to solve integrals and yearn to learn more about the various methods they could apply. Undergraduate and graduate students whose studies include mathematical analysis or mathematical physics will strongly benefit from this material. Mathematicians involved in research and teaching in areas related to calculus, advanced calculus and real analysis will find it invaluable.The volume contains numerous solved examples and problems for the reader. These examples can be used in classwork or for home assignments, as well as a supplement to student projects and student research.

Excursions in Classical Analysis will introduce students to advanced problem solving and undergraduate research in two ways: it will provide a tour of classical analysis, showcasing a wide variety of problems that are placed in historical context, and it will help students gain mastery of mathematical discovery and proof. The [Author]; presents a variety of solutions for the problems in the book. Some solutions reach back to the work of mathematicians like Leonhard Euler while others connect to other beautiful parts of mathematics. Readers will frequently see problems solved by using an idea that, at first glance, might not even seem to apply to that problem. Other solutions employ a specific technique that can be used to solve many different kinds of problems. Excursions emphasizes the rich and elegant interplay between continuous and discrete mathematics by applying induction, recursion, and combinatorics to traditional problems in classical analysis. The book will be useful in students' preparations for mathematics competitions, in undergraduate reading courses and seminars, and in analysis courses as a supplement. The book is also ideal for self study, since the chapters are independent of one another and may be read in any order.