Calculus – Proving a Series Involving Gamma Function and Pi

calculusdefinite integralsgamma functionintegrationsequences-and-series

I am trying to evaluate this sum:
$$\sum_{n=0}^\infty(-1)^n \frac{\Gamma\left(\frac{n+2}{2}\right)}{\Gamma\left(\frac{n+3}{2}\right)}$$
Wolfram alpha is not able to get a closed form, but the approximation it gives resembles the value of
$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi}}(\pi-2)$$
and this can be proved using an integral and interchanging it with the sum. However, I am looking for a proof that doesn't require the use of integrals, if it exists.

By the way, this is just a special case of the most general
$$\sum_{n=0}^\infty(-1)^n \frac{\Gamma\left(\frac{n+a+1}{2}\right)}{\Gamma\left(\frac{n+a+2}{2}\right)}=\frac{2^{a-1}}{\sqrt\pi}\frac{a\Gamma^2\left(\frac{a}{2}\right)-2\Gamma^2\left(\frac{a+1}{2}\right)} {\Gamma(a)}$$
I wasn't able to prove this result, in any way, so If someone knows a proof to this or the previous result I'd like to read it.

EDIT:

Thank you all for your solutions. Now in order to try to solve the general $a$ sum, consider that it is sufficient to evaluate the following integral:
$$\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}\frac{\cos^a(x)}{1+\cos(x)}dx$$
Just expand $\frac{1}{1+\cos(x)}$ as a geometric series and then use Wallis integral to convince yourself of this fact.

I didn't include this fact before because I didn't want solutions that rely on this integral, since it seems much more doable then the sum, but now I feel it can help to get a full proof that otherwise would be very tough. I tried to evaluate the integral and got the infamous series, so if you have any ideas…

Best Answer

Let $\alpha = a$, $$c_n = \frac{\Gamma\left(\frac{n+\alpha+1}{2}\right)}{\Gamma\left(\frac{n+\alpha+2}{2}\right)}$$ using the fact that $\Gamma(x+1) = x\Gamma(x)$, then $$c_{n+2} = \frac{n+\alpha+1}{n+\alpha+2}c_n$$

Let

$$f(x) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty (-1)^n c_n x^n$$

then,

$$f'(x) = \sum_{n=0}^\infty n(-1)^n c_n x^{n-1}$$

  • Start by proving that: $$\left(1-x^2\right) xf'(x) + \left(\alpha(1 - x^2) - x^2\right)f(x) = \beta - \gamma x$$ with \begin{align} \beta &= \alpha c_0\\ \gamma &= (\alpha + 1)c_1. \end{align} Indeed, \begin{align} \left(1-x^2\right) xf'(x) + \left(\alpha(1 - x^2) - x^2\right)f(x) &= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} n(-1)^nc_nx^n - \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} n(-1)^nc_nx^{n+2} + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \alpha (-1)^n c_nx^n - \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} (\alpha+1) (-1)^n c_nx^{n+2}\\ &= \alpha c_0 -(\alpha+1)c_1 x + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} (-1)^n \underbrace{\left((n+\alpha +2)c_{n+2} - (n+\alpha+1)c_n\right)}_{=0} x^{n+2}\\ &= \beta - \gamma x \end{align}

  • Let $g(x) = f(x)x^\alpha \sqrt{1 - x^2}$, then \begin{align} g'(x) &= f'(x) x^{\alpha}\sqrt{1-x^2} + \alpha f(x) x^{\alpha - 1}\sqrt{1-x^2} - f(x)x^{\alpha}\frac{x}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}\\ &= \frac{x^{\alpha - 1}}{\sqrt{1 - x^2}}\left(\left(1-x^2\right) xf'(x) + \left(\alpha(1 - x^2) - x^2\right)f(x)\right)\\ &=\frac{x^{\alpha - 1}}{\sqrt{1 - x^2}}\left(\beta - \gamma x\right) \end{align}

  • L'Hôpital's rule: since $g(1)=0$, \begin{align} f(1) &=\lim_{x\to 1} \frac{g(x)}{x^\alpha \sqrt{1-x^2}}\\ &=\lim_{x\to 1} \frac{g'(x)}{\displaystyle\alpha x^{\alpha-1}\sqrt{1-x^2} - x^{\alpha} \frac{x}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}}\\ &= \lim_{x\to 1} \frac{\displaystyle\left(\beta -\gamma x\right) \frac{x^{\alpha -1}}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}}{\displaystyle\alpha x^{\alpha-1}\sqrt{1-x^2} - x^{\alpha} \frac{x}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}}\\ &= \lim_{x\to 1} \frac{\displaystyle\left(\beta - \gamma x\right)}{\displaystyle\alpha \left(1-x^2\right) - x^2}\\ &= \gamma - \beta. \end{align}

  • To finish the proof you need to simplify $\gamma - \beta$ which is not difficult.