Catalan’s Constant and Pi – Relationship Explained

catalans-constantconstantsintegrationpisequences-and-series

How related are $G$ (Catalan's constant) and $\pi$?

I seem to encounter $G$ a lot when computing definite integrals involving logarithms and trig functions.

Example:

It is well known that
$$G=\int_0^{\pi/4}\log\cot x\,\mathrm{d}x$$
So we see that
$$G=\int_0^{\pi/4}\log\sin(x+\pi/2)\,\mathrm{d}x-\int_0^{\pi/4}\log\sin x\,\mathrm{d}x$$
So we set out on the evaluation of
$$L(\phi)=\int_0^\phi\log\sin x\,\mathrm{d}x,\qquad \phi\in(0,\pi)$$
we recall that
$$\sin x=x\prod_{n\geq1}\frac{\pi^2n^2-x^2}{\pi^2n^2}$$
Applying $\log$ on both sides,
$$\log\sin x=\log x+\sum_{n\geq1}\log\frac{\pi^2n^2-x^2}{\pi^2n^2}$$
integrating both sides from $0$ to $\phi$,
$$L(\phi)=\phi(\log\phi-3)+\sum_{n\geq1}\phi\log\frac{\pi^2n^2-\phi^2}{\pi^2n^2}+\pi n\log\frac{\pi n+\phi}{\pi n-\phi}$$
With the substitution $u=x+\pi/2$,
$$
\begin{align}
\int_0^\phi \log\cos x\,\mathrm{d}x=&\int_0^{\phi}\log\sin(x+\pi/2)\,\mathrm{d}x\\
=&\int_{\pi/2}^{\phi+\pi/2}\log\sin x\,\mathrm{d}x\\
=&\int_{0}^{\phi+\pi/2}\log\sin x\,\mathrm{d}x-\int_{0}^{\pi/2}\log\sin x\,\mathrm{d}x\\
=&L(\phi+\pi/2)+\frac\pi2\log2
\end{align}
$$

So
$$G=L\bigg(\frac{3\pi}4\bigg)-L\bigg(\frac\pi4\bigg)+\frac\pi2\log2$$
And after a lot of algebra,
$$G=\frac\pi4\bigg(\log\frac{27\pi^2}{16}+2\log2-6\bigg)+\pi\sum_{n\geq1}\bigg[\frac14\log\frac{(16n^2-9)^3}{256n^4(16n^2-1)}+n\log\frac{(4n+3)(4n-1)}{(4n-3)(4n+1)}\bigg]$$

So yeah I guess I found a series for $G$ in terms of $\pi$, but are there any other sort of these representations of $G$ in terms of $\pi$?

really important edit

As it turns out, the series
$$\frac\pi4\bigg(\log\frac{27\pi^2}{16}+2\log2-6\bigg)+\pi\sum_{n\geq1}\bigg[\frac14\log\frac{(16n^2-9)^3}{256n^4(16n^2-1)}+n\log\frac{(4n+3)(4n-1)}{(4n-3)(4n+1)}\bigg]$$
does not converge, however it is a simple fix, and the series
$$G=\frac\pi4\bigg(\log\frac{3\pi\sqrt{3}}2-1\bigg)+\pi\sum_{n\geq1}\bigg[\frac14\log\frac{(16n^2-9)^3}{256n^4(16n^2-1)}+n\log\frac{(4n+3)(4n-1)}{(4n-3)(4n+1)}-1\bigg]$$
does converge to $G$.

Quite amazingly, we can use this to find a really neat infinite product identity. Here's how.

Using the rules of exponents and logarithms, we may see that
$$\frac{G}\pi+\frac12-\log\bigg(3^{3/4}\sqrt{\frac\pi2}\bigg)=\sum_{n\geq1}\log\bigg[\frac1{4en}\bigg(\frac{(16n^2-9)^3}{16n^2-1}\bigg)^{1/4}\bigg(\frac{(4n+3)(4n-1)}{(4n-3)(4n+1)}\bigg)^n\bigg]$$
Then using the fact that
$$\log\prod_{i}a_i=\sum_{i}\log a_i$$
We have
$$\frac{G}\pi+\frac12-\log\bigg(3^{3/4}\sqrt{\frac\pi2}\bigg)=\log\bigg[\prod_{n\geq1}\frac1{4en}\bigg(\frac{(16n^2-9)^3}{16n^2-1}\bigg)^{1/4}\bigg(\frac{(4n+3)(4n-1)}{(4n-3)(4n+1)}\bigg)^n\bigg]$$
Then taking $\exp$ on both sides,
$$\prod_{n\geq1}\frac1{4en}\bigg(\frac{(16n^2-9)^3}{16n^2-1}\bigg)^{1/4}\bigg(\frac{(4n+3)(4n-1)}{(4n-3)(4n+1)}\bigg)^n=\sqrt{\frac{2e}{3\pi\sqrt{3}}}e^{G/\pi}$$
Or perhaps more aesthetically,
$$\prod_{n\geq1}\frac1{4en}\bigg(\frac{(16n^2-9)^3}{16n^2-1}\bigg)^{1/4}\bigg(\frac{(4n+3)(4n-1)}{(4n-3)(4n+1)}\bigg)^n=\sqrt{\frac{2}{3\pi\sqrt{3}}}\exp\bigg(\frac{G}{\pi}+\frac12\bigg)$$

Best Answer

\begin{align}\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}=\frac{\text{G}}{\pi}\tag1\end{align}

(see p81, Deriving Forsyth-Glaisher type series for $\frac{1}{\pi}$ and Catalan's constant by an elementary method. )

From the same source,

\begin{align}\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{16^n(2n+3)}=\frac{\text{G}}{\pi}+\frac{1}{2\pi}\tag2\end{align}

ADDENDUM:

Proof for (1),

It is well known that for $n\geq 0$ integer,

\begin{align}\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}\cos^{2n} x\,dx=\frac{\pi}{2}\cdot\frac{\binom{2n}{n}}{4^n}\end{align}

(Wallis formula)

Therefore for $n\geq 0$ integer,

\begin{align}\frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2\pi^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}=\int_0^1 \left(\int_0^\infty \int_0^\infty t^{2n}\cos^{2n}x \cos^{2n}y \,dx\,dy \right)\,dt\end{align}

therefore,

\begin{align}\pi^2\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}&=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\left(\int_0^1 \left(\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}} t^{2n}\cos^{2n}x \cos^{2n}y \,dx\,dy \right)\,dt\right)\\ &=\int_0^1 \left(\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \left(\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}t^{2n}\cos^{2n}x \cos^{2n}y\right) \,dx\,dy \right)\,dt\\ &=\int_0^1 \left(\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \frac{1}{1-t^2\cos^2 x\cos^2 y}\,dx\,dy \right)\,dt\\ \end{align}

Perform the change of variable $u=\tan x$,$v=\tan y$,

\begin{align}\pi^2\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}&= \int_0^1 \left(\int_0^{\infty} \int_0^{\infty}\frac{1}{(1+u^2)(1+v^2)-t^2}\,du\,dv \right)\,dt\\ &=\int_0^1 \left(\int_0^\infty \frac{1}{\sqrt{1+v^2}}\left[\frac{\arctan\left(\frac{u\sqrt{1+v^2}}{\sqrt{1+v^2-t^2}}\right)}{\sqrt{1+v^2-t^2}}\right]_{u=0}^{u=\infty}\,dv\right)\,dt\\ &=\frac{\pi}{2}\int_0^1 \left(\int_0^\infty \frac{1}{\sqrt{1+v^2}\sqrt{1+v^2-t^2}}\,dv\right)\,dt\\ &=\frac{\pi}{2}\int_0^\infty \frac{1}{\sqrt{1+v^2}}\left[\arctan\left(\frac{t}{\sqrt{1+v^2-t^2}}\right)\right]_{t=0}^{t=1}\,dv\\ &=\frac{\pi}{2}\int_0^\infty \frac{\arctan\left(\frac{1}{v}\right)}{\sqrt{1+v^2}}\,dv\\ \end{align}

Perform the change of variable $y=\dfrac{1}{x}$,

\begin{align}\pi^2\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}&=\frac{\pi}{2}\int_0^\infty \frac{\arctan x}{x\sqrt{1+x^2}}\,dx\\ \end{align}

Perform the change of variable $y=\arctan x$,

\begin{align}\pi^2\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}&=\frac{\pi}{2}\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}\frac{x}{\sin x} \,dx\\ &=\frac{\pi}{2}\Big[x\ln\left(\tan\left(\frac{x}{2}\right)\right)\Big]_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}-\frac{\pi}{2}\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}\ln\left(\tan\left(\frac{x}{2}\right)\right)\,dx\\ &=-\frac{\pi}{2}\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}\ln\left(\tan\left(\frac{x}{2}\right)\right)\,dx\\ \end{align}

Perform the change of variable $y=\frac{x}{2}$,

\begin{align}\pi^2\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}&= -\pi\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{4}}\ln(\tan x)\,dx\\ &=\pi\times \text{G}\\ \end{align}

Therefore,

\begin{align}\boxed{\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{\binom{2n}{n}^2}{4^{2n+1}(2n+1)}=\frac{\text{G}}{\pi}}\end{align}

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