[Math] Residue/Laurent series of $\frac{z}{1+\sin(z)}$ at $z=-\pi/2$

complex-analysislaurent seriesresidue-calculus

For some reason, I just can't quite figure out how to easily calculate the Laurent series for the following function:

$$
f(z)=\frac{z}{1+\sin(z)},\quad z_0=-\frac{\pi}{2}
$$

I don't really need the whole series, just the residue. The function has a zero of order 2 at $z=-\pi/2$, which would lead to the nasty calculation:

$$
\text{Res}[f,z_0]=\lim_{z\rightarrow-\pi/2}\frac{d}{dz}(z+\pi/2)^2f(z)
$$ The derivative is nasty and we'd have to apply L'H$\hat{\text{o}}$pital's rule 4 times to get the denominator to not vanish (more nastiness).

So Laurent series it is! But for some reason my worn out qual-studying brain can't figure out how to do it. A hint would be lovely!

Best Answer

Write $z = (-\pi/2) + w$. Then $\sin z = \sin (w-\pi/2) = -\cos w$.

Now, you can easily get the beginning of the Taylor expansion of $1 + \sin z$ around $-\pi/2$:

$$1 + \sin z = 1 - \bigl( 1 - \frac{w^2}{2} + \frac{w^4}{4!} - O(w^6)\bigr) = \frac{w^2}{2}\bigl(1 - \frac{w^2}{12} + O(w^4)\bigr)$$

and therefore

$$\begin{align} \frac{z}{1+\sin z} &= \frac{w-\pi/2}{\frac{w^2}{2}\bigl(1 - \frac{w^2}{12} + O(w^4)\bigr)}\\ &= \frac{2w-\pi}{w^2}\bigl(1 + \frac{w^2}{12} + O(w^4)\bigr)\\ &= -\frac{\pi}{w^2} + \frac{2}{w} - \frac{\pi}{12} + \frac{w}{6} + O(w^2). \end{align}$$

Now replace $w$ with $z - (-\pi/2)$.