6

Here is the integral: $$\int_{0}^{\infty} \frac{2x-1}{x^{2/3}\sqrt{(x+1)((x+1)^3-x)}}\text{d}x=0.$$ This is an elliptic integral, with such an easy result, maybe some clever substitutions or integrating methods can solve it, but so far I don't know exactly how to attack it.
Thought 1: To separate the integration interval into two parts:$(0,\frac12]$ and $[\frac12,+\infty)$, for the second one, doing a substitution $x\mapsto \frac1x$ is my first thought(possibly not valid).
Thought 2: It looks 100%, even 90%, like pseudo elliptic integral(its anti-derivative is elementary). I think this one is elementary as well.
THOUGHT 3: Maybe this is a very STUPID question. Perhaps some mathematical softwares can done it(especially for Mathematica). For some good reasons, I can't use them.
Waiting for your replies.

pisco
  • 19,748

2 Answers2

10

Let $$f(x,t) = \frac{2 x-1}{x^{2/3} \sqrt{(x+1) \left((x+1)^3-t x\right)}} \qquad I(t) = \int_0^\infty f(x,t) dx$$ with $g(x,t) = \frac{3 \left(x^2+x\right)}{2 x-1}f$, one checks $$3t \frac{\partial f}{\partial t} + f+\frac{\partial g}{\partial x}= 0$$ so $$3tI'(t)+I(t) = -\int_0^\infty \frac{\partial g}{\partial x} dx = -g(\infty,t)+g(0,t) = 0$$ solving this ODE gives $I(t) = Ct^{-1/3}$. The function $t^{-1/3}$ blows up near $t=0$, but our $I(t)$ is continuous at $t=0$, this forces $C=0$. So $I(t)\equiv 0$ for $t$ near $0$. QED.

pisco
  • 19,748
  • @SetnessRamesory It's in general difficult to reverse this method to construct similar $f(x,t)$. – pisco Aug 30 '22 at 07:35
  • This gives the same vibe as Ramanujan's trick. Can you give more insight on how did you came up with that function? (I guess it wasn't your first choice to put $t$ there). – Zacky Aug 30 '22 at 12:08
  • 1
    @Zacky For some theoretical reason, I am afraid there is no obvious relevance between this and the link, except we used the same names $x,t$ and $f(x,t)$. Yes, you can put $t$ in many different places, $f(x,t)$ can be $$\tag{*}\frac{2 x-t}{x^{2/3} \sqrt{(x+1) \left((x+1)^3-t x\right)}} \quad \frac{2t x-1}{x^{2/3} \sqrt{(x+t) \left((x+t)^3-x\right)}}$$ for example. For all such combinations, there is a procedure, Zeilberger algorithm (creative telescoping), for computing a corresponding $g$ (guaranteed to exist) thus an ODE for $I(t)$, in general however has high order (4 or 5) ...cont – pisco Aug 30 '22 at 22:33
  • 1
    .... The order and complexities of resulting ODE cannot be predicted in advance. I tried some different such $f(x,t)$, only this one produces a nice 1st order ODE for $I(t)$. This is of course anticipated, since we can't expect for every $f(x,t)$ such as $(*)$, the corresponding $I(t)$ to have a nice result. – pisco Aug 30 '22 at 22:36
7

I would like to solve it directly. For $|t|$ large enough, let $$ \tag{1}J\left(t\right)=\int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{2x-1}{x^{2/3}\sqrt{(x+1)((x+1)^3-x/t^2)} }\text{d}x. $$ Firstly, apply the substitution $y=xt$, and $$ (1)={t^{2/3}}\int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{2y-t}{y^{2/3}\sqrt{(y+t)((y+t)^3-y)} }\text{d}y. $$ Secondly, let $z=y^{1/3}$, and $$ (1)=-3t^{2/3}\int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{t-2z^3}{\sqrt{(z^3+t)((z^3+t)^3-z^3)} }\text{d}z. $$ Note that $$ \frac{t-2z^3}{\sqrt{(z^3+t)((z^3+t)^3-z^3)} } =\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+\left ( \frac{2z^3+z+2t}{z^3-z+t} \right )^3}}\cdot\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}z} \frac{2z^3+z+2t}{z^3-z+t}. $$ Eventually, we apply the substitution $$ s= \frac{2z^3+z+2t}{z^3-z+t}. $$ Since $z\in[0,\infty)$, $s\in(2,2]$. Therefore $J(t)$ must be $0$. For complex $t$, these substitutions need to relate contour integration. But it's also good to show that $J(t)=0$.


One checks, $$ \int_{\sqrt{5}-2}^{1} \frac{2x-1}{x^{2/3}\sqrt{(1-x^2) (x^2+4x-1)} }\text{d}x=0. $$


Actually, by performing substitution $ s=\frac{2z^a+z+2t}{z^a-z+t},a>1$ ($a$ no need to be an integer), we obtain $$ \int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{(a-1)x-1}{x^{1-1/a}\sqrt{(x+1)\left((x+1)^3-tx^\frac3a\right)} }\text{d}x\equiv 0. $$

  • Setting $a=5,6,12$, then the following three integrals are derived. $$ \int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{4x-1}{x^{4/5}\sqrt{(x+1)\left ( (x+1)^3+x^\frac35\right ) } }\text{d}x=0,\\ \int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{5x-1}{x^{5/6}\sqrt{(x+1)\left ( (x+1)^3+\sqrt{x}\right ) } }\text{d}x=0,\\ \int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{11x-1}{x^{11/12}\sqrt{(x+1)\left ( (x+1)^3+\sqrt[4]{x}\right ) } }\text{d}x=0. $$
  • For non-integer $a$: set $a=\frac{9}{2}$, and $$ \int_{0}^{\infty} \frac{7x^3-2}{x^{1/3}\sqrt{(x^3+1)\left ( (x^3+1)^3-t x^2 \right ) } } \text{d}x\equiv0. $$ And we deduce the final one $$ \int_{0}^{\infty} \frac{(7x^3-2)f\left(\frac{tx^2}{(1+x^3)^3}\right)}{x^{4/3}\sqrt{1+x^3} } \text{d}x\equiv0. $$ Where $f(x)$ could be almost any function that makes the integral convergent.