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Complex

These are the lecture notes of a one-semester undergraduate course. For many of our students, complex analysis is their first rigorous analysis class. We tried to rely on as few concepts from real analysis as possible.

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Complex

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A First Course in

Complex Analysis
Version 1.41

Matthias Beck

Gerald Marchesi

Department of Mathematics
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA 94132
beck@math.sfsu.edu

Department of Mathematical Sciences

Binghamton University (SUNY)
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
marchesi@math.binghamton.edu

Dennis Pixton

Lucas Sabalka

Department of Mathematical Sciences

Binghamton University (SUNY)
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
dennis@math.binghamton.edu

Department of Mathematics & Computer Science

Saint Louis University
St Louis, MO 63112
lsabalka@slu.edu

Copyright 20022012 by the authors. All rights reserved. The most current version of this book
is available at the websites
http://www.math.binghamton.edu/dennis/complex.pdf
http://math.sfsu.edu/beck/complex.html.
This book may be freely reproduced and distributed, provided that it is reproduced in its entirety
from the most recent version. This book may not be altered in any way, except for changes in
format required for printing or other distribution, without the permission of the authors.

These are the lecture notes of a one-semester undergraduate course which we have taught several
times at Binghamton University (SUNY) and San Francisco State University. For many of our
students, complex analysis is their first rigorous analysis (if not mathematics) class they take,
and these notes reflect this very much. We tried to rely on as few concepts from real analysis as
possible. In particular, series and sequences are treated from scratch." This also has the (maybe
disadvantageous) consequence that power series are introduced very late in the course.
We thank our students who made many suggestions for and found errors in the text. Special thanks go to Joshua Palmatier, Collin Bleak, Sharma Pallekonda, and Dmytro Savchuk at
Binghamton University (SUNY) for comments after teaching from this book.

Contents
1

Complex Numbers
1.0 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1 Definitions and Algebraic Properties .
1.2 From Algebra to Geometry and Back
1.3 Geometric Properties . . . . . . . . . .
1.4 Elementary Topology of the Plane . .
1.5 Theorems from Calculus . . . . . . . .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Optional Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Differentiation
2.1 First Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Differentiability and Holomorphicity
2.3 Constant Functions . . . . . . . . . . .
2.4 The CauchyRiemann Equations . . .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Examples of Functions
3.1 Mbius Transformations . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Infinity and the Cross Ratio . . . . . . . . .
3.3 Stereographic Projection . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4 Exponential and Trigonometric Functions .
3.5 The Logarithm and Complex Exponentials
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Integration
4.1 Definition and Basic Properties
4.2 Cauchys Theorem . . . . . . .
4.3 Cauchys Integral Formula . . .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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CONTENTS
5

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59
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61
64
67

Harmonic Functions
6.1 Definition and Basic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Mean-Value and Maximum/Minimum Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

70
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72
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Power Series
7.1 Sequences and Completeness . . .
7.2 Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7.3 Sequences and Series of Functions
7.4 Region of Convergence . . . . . . .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Consequences of Cauchys Theorem

5.1 Extensions of Cauchys Formula . . .
5.2 Taking Cauchys Formula to the Limit
5.3 Antiderivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Taylor and Laurent Series

8.1 Power Series and Holomorphic Functions . . . .
8.2 Classification of Zeros and the Identity Principle
8.3 Laurent Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Isolated Singularities and the Residue Theorem

9.1 Classification of Singularities . . . . . . . . .
9.2 Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.3 Argument Principle and Rouchs Theorem .
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10 Discrete Applications of the Residue Theorem

10.1 Infinite Sums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10.2 Binomial Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10.3 Fibonacci Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10.4 The Coin-Exchange Problem . . . . . . . .
10.5 Dedekind sums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Solutions to Selected Exercises

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Chapter 1

Complex Numbers
Die ganzen Zahlen hat der liebe Gott geschaffen, alles andere ist Menschenwerk.
(God created the integers, everything else is made by humans.)
Leopold Kronecker (18231891)

1.0

Introduction

The real numbers have many nice properties. There are operations such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication as well as division by any real number except zero. There are useful laws that
govern these operations such as the commutative and distributive laws. You can also take limits
and do calculus. But you cannot take the square root of 1. Equivalently, you cannot find a root
of the equation
x2 + 1 = 0.
(1.1)
Most of you have heard that there is a new number i that is a root of the Equation (1.1).
That is, i2 + 1 = 0 or i2 = 1. We will show that when the real numbers are enlarged to a
new system called the complex numbers that includes i, not only do we gain a number with
interesting properties, but we do not lose any of the nice properties that we had before.
Specifically, the complex numbers, like the real numbers, will have the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication as well as division by any complex number except zero. These
operations will follow all the laws that we are used to such as the commutative and distributive
laws. We will also be able to take limits and do calculus. And, there will be a root of Equation
(1.1).
In the next section we show exactly how the complex numbers are set up and in the rest
of this chapter we will explore the properties of the complex numbers. These properties will
be both algebraic properties (such as the commutative and distributive properties mentioned
already) and also geometric properties. You will see, for example, that multiplication can be
described geometrically. In the rest of the book, the calculus of complex numbers will be built
on the properties that we develop in this chapter.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

1.1

Definitions and Algebraic Properties

There are many equivalent ways to think about a complex number, each of which is useful in its
own right. In this section, we begin with the formal definition of a complex number. We then
interpret this formal definition in more useful and easier to work with algebraic language. Then,
in the next section, we will see three more ways of thinking about complex numbers.
The complex numbers can be defined as pairs of real numbers,
C = {( x, y) : x, y R} ,
equipped with the addition

( x, y) + ( a, b) = ( x + a, y + b)
and the multiplication

( x, y) ( a, b) = ( xa yb, xb + ya) .
One reason to believe that the definitions of these binary operations are good is that C is an
extension of R, in the sense that the complex numbers of the form ( x, 0) behave just like real
numbers; that is, ( x, 0) + (y, 0) = ( x + y, 0) and ( x, 0) (y, 0) = ( xy, 0). So we can think of the
real numbers being embedded in C as those complex numbers whose second coordinate is zero.
The following basic theorem states the algebraic structure that we established with our definitions. Its proof is straightforward but nevertheless a good exercise.
Theorem 1.1. (C, +, ) is a field; that is:

( x, y), ( a, b) C : ( x, y) + ( a, b) C

(1.2)

( x, y), ( a, b), (c, d) C : ( x, y) + ( a, b) + (c, d) = ( x, y) + ( a, b) + (c, d)

(1.3)

( x, y), ( a, b) C : ( x, y) + ( a, b) = ( a, b) + ( x, y)

(1.4)

( x, y) C : ( x, y) + (0, 0) = ( x, y)

(1.5)

( x, y) C : ( x, y) + ( x, y) = (0, 0)

(1.6)

( x, y), ( a, b), (c, d) C : ( x, y) ( a, b) + (c, d) = ( x, y) ( a, b) + ( x, y) (c, d)

( x, y), ( a, b) C : ( x, y) ( a, b) C

(1.7)
(1.8)

( x, y), ( a, b), (c, d) C : ( x, y) ( a, b) (c, d) = ( x, y) ( a, b) (c, d)

(1.9)

( x, y), ( a, b) C : ( x, y) ( a, b) = ( a, b) ( x, y)

(1.10)

( x, y) C : ( x, y) (1, 0) = ( x, y)

y
x
( x, y) C \ {(0, 0)} : ( x, y) x2 +y2 , x2 +y2 = (1, 0)

(1.11)
(1.12)

Remark. What we are stating here can be compressed in the language of algebra: equations (1.2)
(1.6) say that (C, +) is an Abelian group with unit element (0, 0); equations (1.8)(1.12) say that
(C \ {(0, 0)}, ) is an abelian group with unit element (1, 0). (If you dont know what these terms
mean, dont worry: we will not have to deal with them.)

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

The definition of our multiplication implies the innocent looking statement

(0, 1) (0, 1) = (1, 0) .

(1.13)

This identity together with the fact that

( a, 0) ( x, y) = ( ax, ay)
allows an alternative notation for complex numbers. The latter implies that we can write

( x, y) = ( x, 0) + (0, y) = ( x, 0) (1, 0) + (y, 0) (0, 1) .

If we thinkin the spirit of our remark on the embedding of R in Cof ( x, 0) and (y, 0) as the
real numbers x and y, then this means that we can write any complex number ( x, y) as a linear
combination of (1, 0) and (0, 1), with the real coefficients x and y. (1, 0), in turn, can be thought
of as the real number 1. So if we give (0, 1) a special name, say i, then the complex number that
we used to call ( x, y) can be written as x (1) + y(i ), or in short,
x + iy .
The number x is called the real part and y the imaginary part1 of the complex number x + iy, often
denoted as Re( x + iy) = x and Im( x + iy) = y. The identity (1.13) then reads
i 2 = 1 .
We invite the reader to check that the definitions of our binary operations and Theorem 1.1 are
coherent with the usual real arithmetic rules if we think of complex numbers as given in the form
x + iy. This algebraic way of thinking about complex numbers has a name: a complex number
written in the form x + iy where x and y are both real numbers is in rectangular form.
In fact, much more can now be said with the introduction of the square root of 1. It is not
just that the polynomial z2 + 1 has roots, but every polynomial has roots in C:
Theorem 1.2 (see Theorem 5.7). Every non-constant polynomial of degree d has d roots (counting
multiplicity) in C.
The proof of this theorem requires some important machinery, so we defer its proof and an
extended discussion of it to Chapter 5.

1.2

From Algebra to Geometry and Back

Although we just introduced a new way of writing complex numbers, lets for a moment return
to the ( x, y)-notation. It suggests that one can think of a complex number as a two-dimensional
real vector. When plotting these vectors in the plane R2 , we will call the x-axis the real axis and
the y-axis the imaginary axis. The addition that we defined for complex numbers resembles
vector addition. The analogy stops at multiplication: there is no usual multiplication of two

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

4
z1 +W z2

z
D 1

z2 k

Figure 1.1: Addition of complex numbers.

vectors in R2 that gives another vector, and certainly not one that agrees with our definition of
the product of two complex numbers.
Any vector in R2 is defined by its two coordinates. On the other hand, it is also determined
by its length and the angle it encloses with, say, the positive real axis; lets define these concepts
thoroughly. The absolute value (sometimes also called the modulus) r = |z| R of z = x + iy is
q
r = | z | : = x 2 + y2 ,
and an argument of z = x + iy is a number R such that
x = r cos

and

y = r sin .

A given complex number z = x + iy has infinitely many possible arguments. For instance,
the number 1 = 1 + 0i lies on the x-axis, and so has argument 0, but we could just as well say
it has argument 2, 4, 2, or 2 (k ) for any integer k. The number 0 = 0 + 0i has modulus
0, and every number is an argument. Aside from the exceptional case of 0, for any complex
number z, the arguments of z all differ by a multiple of 2, just as we saw for the example z = 1.
The absolute value of the difference of two vectors has a nice geometric interpretation:
Proposition 1.3. Let z1 , z2 C be two complex numbers, thought of as vectors in R2 , and let d(z1 , z2 )
denote the distance between (the endpoints of) the two vectors in R2 (see Figure 1.2). Then
d ( z1 , z2 ) = | z1 z2 | = | z2 z1 | .
Proof. Let z1 = x1 + iy1 and z2 = x2 + iy2 . From geometry we know that
q
d ( z1 , z2 ) = ( x1 x2 )2 + ( y1 y2 )2 .
This is the definition of |z1 z2 |. Since ( x1 x2 )2 = ( x2 x1 )2 and (y1 y2 )2 = (y2 y1 )2 , this
is also equal to |z2 z1 |.
That |z1 z2 | = |z2 z1 | simply says that the vector from z1 to z2 has the same length as its
inverse, the vector from z2 to z1 .
It is very useful to keep this geometric interpretation in mind when thinking about the absolute value of the difference of two complex numbers.
1 The

name has historical reasons: people thought of complex numbers as unreal, imagined.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

z1 z2

z
4D 1

z2 k

Figure 1.2: Geometry behind the distance between two complex numbers.
The first hint that the absolute value and argument of a complex number are useful concepts
is the fact that they allow us to give a geometric interpretation for the multiplication of two
complex numbers. Lets say we have two complex numbers: x1 + iy1 , with absolute value r1
and argument 1 , and x2 + iy2 , with absolute value r2 and argument 2 . This means we can
write x1 + iy1 = (r1 cos 1 ) + i (r1 sin 1 ) and x2 + iy2 = (r2 cos 2 ) + i (r2 sin 2 ). To compute the
product, we make use of some classic trigonometric identities:

( x1 + iy1 )( x2 + iy2 ) = (r1 cos 1 ) + i (r1 sin 1 ) (r2 cos 2 ) + i (r2 sin 2 )

= (r1 r2 cos 1 cos 2 r1 r2 sin 1 sin 2 ) + i (r1 r2 cos 1 sin 2 + r1 r2 sin 1 cos 2 )

= r1 r2 (cos 1 cos 2 sin 1 sin 2 ) + i (cos 1 sin 2 + sin 1 cos 2 )

= r1 r2 cos(1 + 2 ) + i sin(1 + 2 ) .
So the absolute value of the product is r1 r2 and one of its arguments is 1 + 2 . Geometrically,
we are multiplying the lengths of the two vectors representing our two complex numbers and
adding their angles measured with respect to the positive x-axis.2
. . . . . . . . . . . . ..
1 + 2....... .
....
...
..
.
.

...
2
.
.
....
.
.
.
.
..
.
. . ..
..
... z ..... .
.
zF 1 ..
..
2 f ...
...
.
..
.
.
...1 ..
..
..
..
..
...
.
..
..
..
..
.
x

z1 z2
Figure 1.3: Multiplication of complex numbers.
In view of the above calculation, it should come as no surprise that we will have to deal with
quantities of the form cos + i sin (where is some real number) quite a bit. To save space,
bytes, ink, etc., (and because Mathematics is for lazy people3 ) we introduce a shortcut notation
2 One

should convince oneself that there is no problem with the fact that there are many possible arguments for
complex numbers, as both cosine and sine are periodic functions with period 2.
3 Peter Hilton (Invited address, Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference 2000)

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

Algebraic:
Formal
( x, y)

rectangular

exponential

x + iy

rei

cartesian

polar

Geometric:

y
x

Figure 1.4: Five ways of thinking about a complex number z C.

and define
ei = cos + i sin .
At this point, this exponential notation is indeed purely a notation. We will later see in Chapter 3
that it has an intimate connection to the complex exponential function. For now, we motivate this
maybe strange-seeming definition by collecting some of its properties. The reader is encouraged
to prove them.
Lemma 1.4. For any , 1 , 2 R,
(a) ei1 ei2 = ei(1 +2 )
(b) 1/ei = ei
(c) ei(+2 ) = ei

(d) ei = 1
(e)

d i
d e

= i ei .

With this notation, the sentence The complex number x + iy has absolute value r and argument now becomes the identity
x + iy = rei .
The left-hand side is often called the rectangular form, the right-hand side the polar form of this
complex number.
We now have five different ways of thinking about a complex number: the formal definition,
in rectangular form, in polar form, and geometrically using Cartesian coordinates or polar coordinates. Each of these five ways is useful in different situations, and translating between them is
an essential ingredient in complex analysis. The five ways and their corresponding notation are
listed in Figure 1.4.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

1.3

Geometric Properties

From very basic geometric properties of triangles, we get the inequalities

|z| Re z |z|

and

|z| Im z |z| .

(1.14)

The square of the absolute value has the nice property

| x + iy|2 = x2 + y2 = ( x + iy)( x iy) .

This is one of many reasons to give the process of passing from x + iy to x iy a special name:
x iy is called the (complex) conjugate of x + iy. We denote the conjugate by
x + iy = x iy .
Geometrically, conjugating z means reflecting the vector corresponding to z with respect to the
real axis. The following collects some basic properties of the conjugate. Their easy proofs are left
for the exercises.
Lemma 1.5. For any z, z1 , z2 C,
(a) z1 z2 = z1 z2
(b) z1 z2 = z1 z2
(c) (z1 /z2 ) = z1 /z2
(d) z = z
(e) |z| = |z|
(f) |z|2 = zz
(g) Re z = (z + z) /2
(h) Im z = (z z) /(2i )
(i) ei = ei .
From part (f) we have a neat formula for the inverse of a non-zero complex number:
z 1 =

1
z
= 2.
z
|z|

A famous geometric inequality (which holds for vectors in Rn ) is the triangle inequality

| z1 + z2 | | z1 | + | z2 | .

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

By drawing a picture in the complex plane, you should be able to come up with a geometric
proof of this inequality. To prove it algebraically, we make extensive use of Lemma 1.5:

| z1 + z2 |2 = ( z1 + z2 ) ( z1 + z2 )
= ( z1 + z2 ) ( z1 + z2 )
= z1 z1 + z1 z2 + z2 z1 + z2 z2
= | z1 |2 + z1 z2 + z1 z2 + | z2 |2
= |z1 |2 + 2 Re (z1 z2 ) + |z2 |2 .
Finally by (1.14)

| z1 + z2 |2 | z1 |2 + 2 | z1 z2 | + | z2 |2
= | z1 |2 + 2 | z1 | | z2 | + | z2 |2
= | z1 |2 + 2 | z1 | | z2 | + | z2 |2
= (|z1 | + |z2 |)2 ,
which is equivalent to our claim.
For future reference we list several variants of the triangle inequality:
Lemma 1.6. For z1 , z2 , . . . , zn C, we have the following identities:
(a) The triangle inequality: |z1 z2 | |z1 | + |z2 |.
(b) The reverse triangle inequality: |z1 z2 | |z1 | |z2 |.
(c) The triangle inequality for sums:

n
n

zk |zk | .
k =1 k =1
The first inequality is just a rewrite of the original triangle inequality, using the fact that
|z| = |z|, and the last follows by induction. The proof of the reverse triangle inequality is left
as Exercise 22.

1.4

Elementary Topology of the Plane

In Section 1.2 we saw that the complex numbers C, which were initially defined algebraically, can
be identified with the points in the Euclidean plane R2 . In this section we collect some definitions
and results concerning the topology of the plane. While the definitions are essential and will be
used frequently, we will need the following theorems only at a limited number of places in the
remainder of the book; the reader who is willing to accept the topological arguments in later
proofs on faith may skip the theorems in this section.
Recall that if z, w C, then |z w| is the distance between z and w as points in the plane. So
if we fix a complex number a and a positive real number r, then the set of z satisfying |z a| = r

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

is the set of points at distance r from a; that is, this is the circle with center a and radius r. The
inside of this circle is called the open disk with center a and radius r, and is written Dr ( a); that is,
Dr ( a) = {z C : |z a| < r }. Notice that Dr ( a) does not include the points on the circle itself.
We need some terminology for talking about subsets of C.
Definition 1.7. Suppose E is any subset of C.
(a) A point a is an interior point of E if some open disk with center a is a subset of E.
(b) A point b is a boundary point of E if every open disk centered at b contains a point in E and
also a point that is not in E.
(c) A point c is an accumulation point of E if every open disk centered at c contains a point of E
different from c.
(d) A point d is an isolated point of E if it lies in E and some open disk centered at d contains no
point of E other than d.
The idea is that if you dont move too far from an interior point of E then you remain in E;
but at a boundary point you can make an arbitrarily small move and get to a point inside E and
you can also make an arbitrarily small move and get to a point outside E.
Definition 1.8. A set is open if all its points are interior points. A set is closed if it contains all its
boundary points.
Example 1.9. For R > 0 and z0 C, {z C : |z z0 | < R} and {z C : |z z0 | > R} are open.
{z C : |z z0 | R} is closed.
Example 1.10. C and the empty set are open. They are also closed!
Definition 1.11. The boundary of a set E, written E, is the set of all boundary points of E. The
interior of E is the set of all interior points of E. The closure of E, written E, is the set of points in
E together with all boundary points of E.
Example 1.12. If G is the open disk {z C : |z z0 | < R} then
G = { z C : | z z0 | R }

and

G = {z C : |z z0 | = R} .

That is, G is a closed disk and G is a circle.

One notion that is somewhat subtle in the complex domain is the idea of connectedness. Intuitively, a set is connected if it is in one piece. In the reals a set is connected if and only if it is
an interval, so there is little reason to discuss the matter. However, in the plane there is a vast
variety of connected subsets, so a definition is necessary.
Definition 1.13. Two sets X, Y C are separated if there are disjoint open sets A and B so that
X A and Y B. A set W C is connected if it is impossible to find two separated non-empty
sets whose union is equal to W. A region is a connected open set.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

The idea of separation is that the two open sets A and B ensure that X and Y cannot just
stick together. It is usually easy to check that a set is not connected. For example, the intervals
X = [0, 1) and Y = (1, 2] on the real axis are separated: There are infinitely many choices for
A and B that work; one choice is A = D1 (0) (the open disk with center 0 and radius 1) and
B = D1 (2) (the open disk with center 2 and radius 1). Hence the union of X and Y, which is
[0, 2] \ {1}, is not connected. On the other hand, it is hard to use the definition to show that a set
is connected, since we have to rule out any possible separation.
One type of connected set that we will use frequently is a curve.
Definition 1.14. A path or curve in C is the image of a continuous function : [ a, b] C, where
[ a, b] is a closed interval in R. The path is smooth if is differentiable.
We say that the curve is parametrized by . It is a customary and practical abuse of notation to
use the same letter for the curve and its parametrization. We emphasize that a curve must have
a parametrization, and that the parametrization must be defined and continuous on a closed and
bounded interval [ a, b].
Since we may regard C as identified with R2 , a path can be specified by giving two continuous
real-valued functions of a real variable, x (t) and y(t), and setting (t) = x (t) + y(t)i. A curve is
closed if ( a) = (b) and is a simple closed curve if (s) = (t) implies either s = a and t = b or
s = b and t = a, that is, the curve does not cross itself.
The following seems intuitively clear, but its proof requires more preparation in topology:
Proposition 1.15. Any curve is connected.
The next theorem gives an easy way to check whether an open set is connected, and also gives
a very useful property of open connected sets.
Theorem 1.16. If W is a subset of C that has the property that any two points in W can be connected by
a curve in W then W is connected. On the other hand, if G is a connected open subset of C then any two
points of G may be connected by a curve in G; in fact, we can connect any two points of G by a chain of
horizontal and vertical segments lying in G.
A chain of segments in G means the following: there are points z0 , z1 , . . . , zn so that, for each
k, zk and zk+1 are the endpoints of a horizontal or vertical segment which lies entirely in G. (It is
not hard to parametrize such a chain, so it determines a curve.)
As an example, let G be the open disk with center 0 and radius 2. Then any two points
in G can be connected by a chain of at most 2 segments in G, so G is connected. Now let
G0 = G \ {0}; this is the punctured disk obtained by removing the center from G. Then G is
open and it is connected, but now you may need more than two segments to connect points. For
example, you need three segments to connect 1 to 1 since you cannot go through 0.
Warning: The second part of Theorem 1.16 is not generally true if G is not open. For example,
circles are connected but there is no way to connect two distinct points of a circle by a chain of
segments which are subsets of the circle. A more extreme example, discussed in topology texts,
is the topologists sine curve, which is a connected set S C that contains points that cannot
be connected by a curve of any sort inside S.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

The reader may skip the following proof. It is included to illustrate some common techniques
in dealing with connected sets.
Proof of Theorem 1.16. Suppose, first, that any two points of G may be connected by a path that
lies in G. If G is not connected then we can write it as a union of two non-empty separated
subsets X and Y. So there are disjoint open sets A and B so that X A and Y B. Since X and
Y are non-empty we can find points a X and b Y. Let be a path in G that connects a to b.
Then X := X and Y := Y are disjoint, since X and Y are disjoint, and are non-empty
since the former contains a and the latter contains b. Since G = X Y and G we have
= X Y . Finally, since X X A and Y Y B, X and Y are separated by A and B.
But this means that is not connected, and this contradicts Proposition 1.15.
Now suppose that G is a connected open set. Choose a point z0 G and define two sets: A
is the set of all points a so that there is a chain of segments in G connecting z0 to a, and B is the
set of points in G that are not in A.
Let a A. Since a G there is an open disk D with center a that is contained in G. We can
connect z0 to any point z in D by following a chain of segments from z0 to a and then adding at
most two segments in D that connect a to z. That is, each point of D is in A, so we have shown
that A is open.
Now let b B. Since b G there is an open disk D centered at b that lies in G. If z0 could be
connected to any point in D by a chain of segments in G then, extending this chain by at most
two more segments, we could connect z0 to b, and this is impossible. Hence z0 cannot connect to
any point of D by a chain of segments in G, so D B. So we have shown that B is open.
Now G is the disjoint union of the two open sets A and B. If these are both non-empty then
they form a separation of G, which is impossible. But z0 is in A so A is not empty, and so B must
be empty. That is, G = A, so z0 can be connected to any point of G by a sequence of segments in
G. Since z0 could be any point in G, this finishes the proof.

1.5

Theorems from Calculus

Here are a few theorems from real calculus that we will make use of in the course of the text.
Theorem 1.17 (Extreme-Value Theorem). Any continuous real-valued function defined on a closed and
bounded subset of Rn has a minimum value and a maximum value.
Theorem 1.18 (Mean-Value Theorem). Suppose I R is an interval, f : I R is differentiable, and
x, x + x I. Then there is 0 < a < 1 such that
f ( x + x ) f ( x )
= f 0 ( x + ax ) .
x
Many of the most important results of analysis concern combinations of limit operations. The
most important of all calculus theorems combines differentiation and integration (in two ways):
Theorem 1.19 (Fundamental Theorem of Calculus). Suppose f : [ a, b] R is continuous. Then
Rx
(a) If F is defined by F ( x ) = a f (t) dt then F is differentiable and F 0 ( x ) = f ( x ).

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

(b) If F is any antiderivative of f (that is, F 0 = f ) then

Rb
a

f ( x ) dx = F (b) F ( a).

For functions of several variables we can perform differentiation operations, or integration

operations, in any order, if we have sufficient continuity:
2 f

2 f

Theorem 1.20 (Equality of mixed partials). If the mixed partials xy and yx are defined on an open
set G and are continuous at a point ( x0 , y0 ) in G then they are equal at ( x0 , y0 ).
Theorem 1.21 (Equality of iterated integrals). If f is continuous on the rectangle given by a x b
R bR d
R dR b
and c y d then the iterated integrals a c f ( x, y) dy dx and c a f ( x, y) dx dy are equal.
Finally, we can apply differentiation and integration with respect to different variables in
either order:
Theorem 1.22 (Leibnizs4 Rule). Suppose f is continuous on the rectangle R given by a x b and
f
c y d, and suppose the partial derivative x exists and is continuous on R. Then
d
dx

Z d
c

f ( x, y) dy =

Z d
f
c

( x, y) dy .

Exercises
1. Let z = 1 + 2i and w = 2 i. Compute the following:
(a) z + 3w.
(b) w z.
(c) z3 .
(d) Re(w2 + w).
(e) z2 + z + i.
2. Find the real and imaginary parts of each of the following:
(a)
(b)
(c)

z a
z+ a
3+5i
7i +1 .

( a R).

3
1+ i 3
.
2

(d) in for any n Z.

3. Find the absolute value and conjugate of each of the following:
(a) 2 + i.
(b) (2 + i )(4 + 3i ).
4 Named after Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (16461716). For more information about Leibnitz, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Leibnitz.html.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

(c)

3i .
2+3i

(d) (1 + i )6 .
4. Write in polar form:
(a) 2i.
(b) 1 + i.
(c) 3 +

3i.

(d) i.
(e) (2 i )2 .
(f) |3 4i |.

(g) 5 i.
4
(h) 13i
5. Write in rectangular form:

(a) 2 ei3/4 .
(b) 34 ei/2 .
(c) ei250 .
(d) 2e4i .
6. Write in both polar and rectangular form:
(a) 2i
(b) eln(5) i
(c) e1+i/2
(d)

d +i
d e

7. Prove the quadratic formula works for complex numbers, regardless of whether the discriminant is negative. That is, prove, the roots of the equation az2 + bz + c = 0, where
a, b, c C, are

b b2 4ac
2a
as long as a 6= 0.
8. Use the quadratic formula to solve the following equations. Put your answers in standard
form.
(a) z2 + 25 = 0.
(b) 2z2 + 2z + 5 = 0.
(c) 5z2 + 4z + 1 = 0.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

(d) z2 z = 1.
(e) z2 = 2z.
9. Fix A C and B R. Show that the equation |z2 | + Re( Az) + B = 0 has a solution if and
only if | A2 | 4B. When solutions exist, show the solution set is a circle.
10. Find all solutions to the following equations:
(a) z6 = 1.
(b) z4 = 16.
(c) z6 = 9.
(d) z6 z3 2 = 0.
11. Show that |z| = 1 if and only if 1/z = z.
12. Show that
(a) z is a real number if and only if z = z;
(b) z is either real or purely imaginary if and only if (z)2 = z2 .
13. Find all solutions of the equation z2 + 2z + (1 i ) = 0.
14. Prove Theorem 1.1.
15. Show that if z1 z2 = 0 then z1 = 0 or z2 = 0.
16. Prove Lemma 1.4.
17. Use Lemma 1.4 to derive the triple angle formulas:
(a) cos 3 = cos3 3 cos sin2 .
(b) sin 3 = 3 cos2 sin sin3 .
18. Prove Lemma 1.5.
19. Sketch the following sets in the complex plane:
(a) {z C : |z 1 + i | = 2} .
(b) {z C : |z 1 + i | 2} .
(c) {z C : Re(z + 2 2i ) = 3} .
(d) {z C : |z i | + |z + i | = 3} .
(e) {z C : |z| = |z + 1|} .
20. Show the equation 2|z| = |z + i | describes a circle.
21. Suppose p is a polynomial with real coefficients. Prove that

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

(a) p(z) = p (z).

(b) p(z) = 0 if and only if p (z) = 0.
22. Prove the reverse triangle inequality |z1 z2 | |z1 | |z2 |.
23. Use the previous exercise to show that

1
1

z2 1 3
for every z on the circle z = 2ei .
24. Sketch the following sets and determine whether they are open, closed, or neither; bounded;
connected.
(a) |z + 3| < 2.
(b) |Im z| < 1.
(c) 0 < |z 1| < 2.
(d) |z 1| + |z + 1| = 2.
(e) |z 1| + |z + 1| < 3.
25. What are the boundaries of the sets in the previous exercise?
26. The set E is the set of points z in C satisfying either z is real and 2 < z < 1, or |z| < 1,
or z = 1 or z = 2.
(a) Sketch the set E, being careful to indicate exactly the points that are in E.
(b) Determine the interior points of E.
(c) Determine the boundary points of E.
(d) Determine the isolated points of E.
27. The set E in the previous exercise can be written in three different ways as the union of two
disjoint nonempty separated subsets. Describe them, and in each case say briefly why the
subsets are separated.
28. Show that the union of two regions with nonempty intersection is itself a region.
29. Show that if A B and B is closed, then A B. Similarly, if A B and A is open, show
A is contained in the interior of B.
30. Let G be the annulus determined by the conditions 2 < |z| < 3. This is a connected open
set. Find the maximum number of horizontal and vertical segments in G needed to connect
two points of G.
Rd
31. Prove Leibnizs Rule: Define F ( x ) = c f ( x, y) dy, get an expression for F ( x ) F ( a) as an
f

iterated integral by writing f ( x, y) f ( a, y) as the integral of x , interchange the order of

integrations, and then differentiate using the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

CHAPTER 1. COMPLEX NUMBERS

Optional Lab
Open your favorite web browser and go to http://www.math.ucla.edu/tao/java/Plane.html.
1. Convert the following complex numbers into their polar representation, i.e., give the absolute value and the argument of the number.

34 =
i=
=
2 + 2i =
( 3 + i )/2 =
After you have finished computing these numbers, check your answers with the program.
You may play with the > and < buttons to see what effect it has to change these quantities
slightly.
2. Convert the following complex numbers given in polar representation into their rectangular representation.
2ei0 =

3ei/2 =

ei /2 =

ei3/2 =

2ei2/3 =

After you have finished computing these numbers, check your answers with the program.
You may play with the > and < buttons to see what effect it has to change these quantities
slightly.
3. Pick your favorite five numbers from the ones that youve played around with and put
them in the tables below, both in rectangular and polar form. Apply the functions listed to
your numbers. Think about which representation is more helpful in each instance.
rect.
polar
z+1
z+2i
2z
z
z/2
iz
z
z2
Re z
Im z
i Im z
|z|
1/z
4. Play with other examples until you get a feel for these functions. Then go to the next
applet: elementary complex maps (link on the bottom of the page). With this applet, there
are a lot of questions on the web page. Think about them!

Chapter 2

Differentiation
Mathematical study and research are very suggestive of mountaineering. Whymper made several efforts
before he climbed the Matterhorn in the 1860s and even then it cost the life of four of his party. Now,
however, any tourist can be hauled up for a small cost, and perhaps does not appreciate the difficulty
of the original ascent. So in mathematics, it may be found hard to realise the great initial difficulty of
making a little step which now seems so natural and obvious, and it may not be surprising if such a
step has been found and lost again.
Louis Joel Mordell (18881972)

2.1

First Steps

A (complex) function f is a mapping from a subset G C to C (in this situation we will write
f : G C and call G the domain of f ). This means that each element z G gets mapped to
exactly one complex number, called the image of z and usually denoted by f (z). So far there
is nothing that makes complex functions any more special than, say, functions from Rm to Rn .
In fact, we can construct many familiar looking functions from the standard calculus repertoire,
such as f (z) = z (the identity map), f (z) = 2z + i, f (z) = z3 , or f (z) = 1/z. The former three
could be defined on all of C, whereas for the latter we have to exclude the origin z = 0. On the
other hand, we could construct some functions which make use of a certain representation of z,
for example, f ( x, y) = x 2iy, f ( x, y) = y2 ix, or f (r, ) = 2rei(+ ) .
Maybe the fundamental principle of analysis is that of a limit. The philosophy of the following
definition is not restricted to complex functions, but for sake of simplicity we only state it for
those functions.
Definition 2.1. Suppose f is a complex function with domain G and z0 is an accumulation point
of G. Suppose there is a complex number w0 such that for every e > 0, we can find > 0 so that
for all z G satisfying 0 < |z z0 | < we have | f (z) w0 | < e. Then w0 is the limit of f as z
approaches z0 , in short
lim f (z) = w0 .
z z0

This definition is the same as is found in most calculus texts. The reason we require that z0 is
an accumulation point of the domain is just that we need to be sure that there are points z of the
17

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

domain which are arbitrarily close to z0 . Just as in the real case, the definition does not require
that z0 is in the domain of f and, if z0 is in the domain of f , the definition explicitly ignores the
value of f (z0 ). That is why we require 0 < |z z0 |.
Just as in the real case the limit w0 is unique if it exists. It is often useful to investigate limits
by restricting the way the point z approaches z0 . The following is a easy consequence of the
definition.
Lemma 2.2. Suppose limzz0 f (z) exists and has the value w0 , as above. Suppose G0 G, and suppose
z0 is an accumulation point of G0 . If f 0 is the restriction of f to G0 then limzz0 f 0 (z) exists and has the
value w0 .
The definition of limit in the complex domain has to be treated with a little more care than
its real companion; this is illustrated by the following example.
Example 2.3. The limit limz0 z/z does not exist.
To see this, we try to compute this limit as z 0 on the real and on the imaginary axis. In the
first case, we can write z = x R, and hence
z
x
x
= lim = lim = 1 .
z 0 z
x 0 x
x 0 x
lim

In the second case, we write z = iy where y R, and then

lim

z 0

z
iy
iy
= lim = lim
= 1 .
y0 iy
y0 iy
z

So we get a different limit depending on the direction from which we approach 0. Lemma 2.2
then implies that limz0 z/z does not exist.
On the other hand, the following usual limit rules are valid for complex functions; the
proofs of these rules are everything but trivial and make for nice exercises.
Lemma 2.4. Let f and g be complex functions and c, z0 C. If limzz0 f (z) and limzz0 g(z) exist,
then
(a) lim f (z) + c lim g(z) = lim ( f (z) + c g(z))
z z0

z z0

(b) lim f (z) lim g(z) = lim ( f (z) g(z))

z z0

(c) lim f (z)/ lim g(z) = lim ( f (z)/g(z)) ;

z z0

In the last identity we also require that limzz0 g(z) 6= 0.

Because the definition of the limit is somewhat elaborate, the following fundamental definition looks almost trivial.

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

Definition 2.5. Suppose f is a complex function. If z0 is in the domain of the function and either
z0 is an isolated point of the domain or
lim f (z) = f (z0 )

z z0

then f is continuous at z0 . More generally, f is continuous on G C if f is continuous at every

z G.
Just as in the real case, we can take the limit inside a continuous function:
Lemma 2.6. If f is continuous at an accumulation point z0 and limzz0 g(z) = w0 then limzz0 f ( g(z)) =
f (w0 ). In other words,

lim f ( g(z)) = f

z z0

lim g(z) .

z z0

This lemma implies that direct substitution is allowed when f is continuous at the limit point.
In particular, that if f is continuous at z0 then limzz0 f (z) = f (z0 ).

2.2

Differentiability and Holomorphicity

The fact that limits such as limz0 z/z do not exist points to something special about complex
numbers which has no parallel in the realswe can express a function in a very compact way
in one variable, yet it shows some peculiar behavior in the limit. We will repeatedly notice
this kind of behavior; one reason is that when trying to compute a limit of a function as, say,
z 0, we have to allow z to approach the point 0 in any way. On the real line there are only
two directions to approach 0from the left or from the right (or some combination of those
two). In the complex plane, we have an additional dimension to play with. This means that the
statement A complex function has a limit . . . is in many senses stronger than the statement
A real function has a limit . . . . This difference becomes apparent most baldly when studying
derivatives.
Definition 2.7. Suppose f : G C is a complex function and z0 is an interior point of G. The
derivative of f at z0 is defined as
f 0 (z0 ) = lim

z z0

f ( z ) f ( z0 )
,
z z0

provided this limit exists. In this case, f is called differentiable at z0 . If f is differentiable for
all points in an open disk centered at z0 then f is called holomorphic1 at z0 . The function f is
holomorphic on the open set G C if it is differentiable (and hence holomorphic) at every point
in G. Functions which are differentiable (and hence holomorphic) in the whole complex plane C
are called entire.
1 Some sources use the term analytic instead of holomorphic. As we will see in Chapter 8, in our context, these
two terms are synonymous. Technically, though, these two terms have different definitions. Since we will be using
the above definition, we will stick with using the term holomorphic instead of the term analytic.

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

The difference quotient limit which defines f 0 (z0 ) can be rewritten as

f 0 (z0 ) = lim

h 0

f ( z0 + h ) f ( z0 )
.
h

This equivalent definition is sometimes easier to handle. Note that h need not be a real number
but can rather approach zero from anywhere in the complex plane.
The fact that the notions of differentiability and holomorphicity are actually different is seen
in the following examples.
Example 2.8. The function f (z) = z3 is entire, that is, holomorphic in C: For any z0 C,
lim

z z0

z3 z30
f ( z ) f ( z0 )
= lim
z z0 z z 0
z z0

(z2 + zz0 + z20 )(z z0 )

z z0
z z0
2
= lim z + zz0 + z20 = 3z20 .
=

lim

z z0

Example 2.9. The function f (z) = z2 is differentiable at 0 and nowhere else (in particular, f is
not holomorphic at 0): Lets write z = z0 + rei . Then
2

2
i
2
2
z
+
re
z0 2
0
z0 + rei z0 2
z z0
=
=
z z0
z0 + rei z0
rei
z0 2 + 2z0 rei + r2 e2i z0 2
=
rei

i
2
2z0 re
+ r e2i
=
= 2z0 e2i + re3i .
rei
If z0 6= 0 then the limit of the right-hand side as z z0 does not exist since r 0 and we
get different answers for horizontal approach ( = 0) and for vertical approach ( = /2). (A
more entertaining way to see this is to use, for example, z(t) = z0 + 1t eit , which approaches z0 as
t .) On the other hand, if z0 = 0 then the right-hand side equals re3i = |z|e3i . Hence
2

z

3i

= lim |z|e
lim
= lim |z| = 0 ,
z 0 z
z 0
z 0
which implies that
z2
= 0.
z 0 z
lim

Example 2.10. The function f (z) = z is nowhere differentiable:

lim

z z0

z z0
z z0
z
= lim
= lim ,
z z0 z z 0
z 0 z
z z0

which does not exist, as discussed earlier.

The basic properties for derivatives are similar to those we know from real calculus. In fact,
one should convince oneself that the following rules follow mostly from properties of the limit.
(The chain rule needs a little care to be worked out.)

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

Lemma 2.11. Suppose f and g are differentiable at z C, and that c C, n Z, and h is differentiable
at g(z). Then
0
(a) f (z) + c g(z) = f 0 (z) + c g0 (z)
0
(b) f (z) g(z) = f 0 (z) g(z) + f (z) g0 (z)
(c)

f (z)/g(z)

f 0 (z) g(z) f (z) g0 (z)

g ( z )2

= nzn1
0
(e) h( g(z)) = h0 ( g(z)) g0 (z) .

(d) zn

In the third identity we have to be aware of division by zero.

We end this section with yet another differentiation rule, that for inverse functions. As in the
real case, this rule is only defined for functions which are bijections. A function f : G H is
one-to-one if for every image w H there is a unique z G such that f (z) = w. The function is
onto if every w H has a preimage z G (that is, there exists a z G such that f (z) = w). A
bijection is a function which is both one-to-one and onto. If f : G H is a bijection then g is the
inverse of f if f ( g(z)) = z for all z H.
Lemma 2.12. Suppose G and H are open sets in C, f : G H is a bijection, g : H G is the inverse
function of f , and z0 H. If f is differentiable at g(z0 ), f 0 ( g(z0 )) 6= 0, and g is continuous at z0 , then g
is differentiable at z0 with
1
g 0 ( z0 ) = 0
.
f ( g(z0 ))
Proof. We have:
g0 (z0 ) = lim

z z0

g ( z ) g ( z0 )
g ( z ) g ( z0 )
1
= lim
= lim
.
zz0 f ( g ( z )) f ( g ( z0 ))
zz0 f ( g ( z )) f ( g ( z0 ))
z z0
g ( z ) g ( z0 )

Because g(z) g(z0 ) as z z0 , we obtain:

g 0 ( z0 ) =

lim

g(z) g(z0 )

1
.
f ( g(z)) f ( g(z0 ))
g ( z ) g ( z0 )

Finally, as the denominator of this last term is continuous at z0 , by Lemma 2.6 we have
g 0 ( z0 ) =
lim

g(z) g(z0 )

1
1
= 0
.
f ( g(z)) f ( g(z0 ))
f ( g(z0 ))
g ( z ) g ( z0 )

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

2.3

Constant Functions

As an example application of the definition of the derivative of a complex function, we consider

functions which have a derivative of 0. One of the first applications of the Mean-Value Theorem for real-valued functions, Theorem 1.18, is to show that if a function has zero derivative
everywhere on an interval then it must be constant.
Lemma 2.13. If I is an interval and f : I R is a real-valued function with f 0 ( x ) defined and equal to
0 for all x I, then there is a constant c R such that f ( x ) = c for all x I.
Proof. The Mean-Value Theorem says that for any x, y I,
f (y) f ( x ) = f 0 ( x + a(y x ))(y x )
for some 0 < a < 1. If we know that f 0 is always zero then we know that f 0 ( x + a(y x )) = 0, so
the above equation yields f (y) = f ( x ). Since this is true for any x, y I, f must be constant.
There is a complex version of the Mean-Value Theorem, but we defer its statement to another course. Instead, we will use a different argument to prove that a complex function whose
derivative is always 0 must be constant.
Lemma 2.13 required two key features of the function f , both of which are somewhat obviously necessary. The first is that f be differentiable everywhere in its domain. In fact, if f is
not differentiable everywhere, we can construct functions which have zero derivative almost
everywhere but which have infinitely many values in their range.
The second key feature is that the interval I is connected. It is certainly important for the
domain to be connected in both the real and complex cases. For instance, if we define
(
1
if Re z > 0,
f (z) =
1 if Re z < 0,
then f 0 (z) = 0 for all z in the domain of f but f is not constant. This may seem like a silly
example, but it illustrates a pitfall to proving a function is constant that we must be careful of.
Recall that a region of C is an open connected subset.
Theorem 2.14. If the domain of f is a region G C and f 0 (z) = 0 for all z in G then f is constant.
Proof. We will show that f is constant along horizontal segments and along vertical segments
in G. Then, if x and y are two points in G which can be connected by horizontal and vertical
segments, we have that f ( x ) = f (y). But any two points of a region may be connected by finitely
many such segments by Theorem 1.16, so f has the same value at any two points of G, proving
the theorem.
To see that f is constant along horizontal segments, suppose that H is a horizontal line
segment in G. Since H is a horizontal segment, there is some value y0 R so that the imaginary
part of any z H is Im(z) = y0 . Consider the real part u(z) of the function f . Since Im(z) is
constant on H, we can consider u(z) to be just a function of x, the real part of z = x + iy0 . By
assumption, f 0 (z) = 0, so for z H we have u x (z) = Re( f 0 (z)) = 0. Thus, by Lemma 2.13, u(z) is

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

constant on H. We can argue the same way to see that the imaginary part v(z) of f (z) is constant
on H, since v x (z) = Im( f 0 (z)) = 0. Since both the real and imaginary parts of f are constant on
H, f itself is constant on H.
This same argument works for vertical segments, interchanging the roles of the real and
imaginary parts, so were done.
There are a number of surprising applications of this basic theorem; see Exercises 14 and 15
for a start.

2.4

The CauchyRiemann Equations

When considering real-valued functions f ( x, y) : R2 R of two variables, there is no notion of

the derivative of a function. For such functions, we instead only have partial derivatives f x ( x, y)
and f y ( x, y) (and also directional derivatives) which depend on the way in which we approach
a point ( x, y) R2 . For a complex-valued function f (z) = f ( x, y) : C C, we now have a new
concept of derivative, f 0 (z), which by definition cannot depend on the way in which we approach
a point ( x, y) C. It is logical, then, that there should be a relationship between the complex
f
f
derivative f 0 (z) and the partial derivatives x (z) and y (z) (defined exactly as in the real-valued
case). The relationship between the complex derivative and partial derivatives is very strong and
is a powerful computational tool. It is described by the CauchyRiemann Equations, named after
Augustin Louis Cauchy (17891857)2 and Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann (18261866)3 , (even
though the equations first appeared in the work of Jean le Rond dAlembert and Euler):
Theorem 2.15. (a) Suppose f is differentiable at z0 = x0 + iy0 . Then the partial derivatives of f satisfy
f
f
( z0 ) = i ( z0 ) .
x
y

(2.1)

(b) Suppose f is a complex function such that the partial derivatives f x and f y exist in an open disk
centered at z0 and are continuous at z0 . If these partial derivatives satisfy (2.1) then f is differentiable at
z0 .
In both cases (a) and (b), f 0 is given by
f 0 ( z0 ) =

f
( z0 ) .
x

Remarks. 1. It is traditional, and often convenient, to write the function f in terms of its real and
imaginary parts. That is, we write f (z) = f ( x, y) = u( x, y) + iv( x, y) where u is the real part of f
and v is the imaginary part. Then f x = u x + iv x and i f y = i (uy + ivy ) = vy iuy . Using this
terminology we can rewrite the equation (2.1) equivalently as the following pair of equations:
u x ( x0 , y0 ) =
v y ( x0 , y0 )
u y ( x0 , y0 ) = v x ( x0 , y0 ) .
2 For

more information about Cauchy, see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Cauchy.html.
3 For more information about Riemann, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Riemann.html.

(2.2)

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

2. As stated, (a) and (b) are not quite converse statements. However, we will later show that if f
is holomorphic at z0 = x0 + iy0 then u and v have continuous partials (of any order) at z0 . That is,
later we will prove that f = u + iv is holomorphic in an open set G if and only if u and v have
continuous partials that satisfy (2.2) in G.
3. If u and v satisfy (2.2) and their second partials are also continuous, then we obtain
u xx ( x0 , y0 ) = vyx ( x0 , y0 ) = v xy ( x0 , y0 ) = uyy ( x0 , y0 ) ,
that is,
u xx ( x0 , y0 ) + uyy ( x0 , y0 ) = 0 ,
and an analogous identity for v. Functions with continuous second partials satisfying this partial
differential equation on a region G C (though not necessarily (2.2)) are called harmonic on G;
we will study such functions in Chapter 6. Again, as we will see later, if f is holomorphic in an
open set G then the partials of any order of u and v exist; hence we will show that the real and
imaginary part of a function which is holomorphic on an open set are harmonic on that set.
Proof of Theorem 2.15. (a) If f is differentiable at z0 = ( x0 , y0 ) then
f 0 (z0 ) = lim

f (z0 + z) f (z0 )
.
z

As we saw in the last section we must get the same result if we restrict z to be on the real axis
and if we restrict it to be on the imaginary axis. In the first case we have z = x and
f 0 (z0 ) = lim

x 0

f (z0 + x ) f (z0 )
f
f ( x0 + x, y0 ) f ( x0 , y0 )
= lim
=
( x0 , y0 ).
x
x
x
x 0

In the second case we have z = iy and

f 0 (z0 ) = lim

iy0

f (z0 + iy) f (z0 )

f
1 f ( x0 , y0 + y) f ( x0 , y0 )
= lim
= i ( x0 , y0 )
iy
y
y
y0 i

(using 1/i = i). Thus we have shown that f 0 (z0 ) = f x (z0 ) = i f y (z0 ).
(b) To prove the statement in (b), all we need to do is prove that f 0 (z0 ) = f x (z0 ), assuming
the CauchyRiemann equations and continuity of the partials. We first rearrange a difference
quotient for f 0 (z0 ), writing z = x + iy:
f (z0 + z) f (z0 )
f (z0 + z) f (z0 + x ) + f (z0 + x ) f (z0 )
=
z
z
f (z0 + x + iy) f (z0 + x )
f (z0 + x ) f (z0 )
=
+
z
z
y f (z0 + x + iy) f (z0 + x ) x f (z0 + x ) f (z0 )
=

.
z
y
z
x
Now we rearrange f x (z0 ):
z
iy + x
y
x
f x ( z0 ) =
f x ( z0 ) =
i f x ( z0 ) +
f x ( z0 )
z
z
z
z
y
x
=
f y ( z0 ) +
f x ( z0 ) ,
z
z

f x ( z0 ) =

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

where we used equation (2.1) in the last step to convert i f x to i (i f y ) = f y . Now we subtract our
two rearrangements and take a limit:
lim

f (z0 + z) f (z0 )
f x ( z0 )
z

y f (z0 + x + iy) f (z0 + x )
= lim
f y ( z0 )
y
z0 z

x f (z0 + x ) f (z0 )
f x ( z0 ) .
+ lim
x
z0 z

(2.3)

We need to show that these limits are both 0. The fractions x/z and y/z are bounded by
1 in modulus so we just need to see that the limits of the expressions in parentheses are 0. The
second term in (2.3) has a limit of 0 since, by definition,
f x (z0 ) = lim

x 0

f (z0 + x ) f (z0 )
x

and taking the limit as z 0 is the same as taking the limit as x 0. We cant do this for the
first expression since both x and y are involved, and both change as z 0.
For the first term in (2.3) we apply Theorem 1.18, the real mean-value theorem, to the real
and imaginary parts of f . This gives us real numbers a and b, with 0 < a, b < 1, so that
u( x0 + x, y0 + y) u( x0 + x, y0 )
= uy ( x0 + x, y0 + ay)
y
v( x0 + x, y0 + y) v( x0 + x, y0 )
= vy ( x0 + x, y0 + by) .
y
Using these expressions, we have
f (z0 + x + iy) f (z0 + x )
f y ( z0 )
y

= uy ( x0 + x, y0 + ay) + ivy ( x0 + x, y0 + by) uy ( x0 , y0 ) + ivy ( x0 , y0 )

= uy ( x0 + x, y0 + ay) uy ( x0 , y0 ) + i vy ( x0 + x, y0 + ay) vy ( x0 , y0 ) .
Finally, the two differences in parentheses have zero limit as z 0 because uy and vy are
continuous at ( x0 , y0 ).

Exercises
1. Use the definition of limit to show for any zo C that limzz0 ( az + b) = az0 + b.
2. Evaluate the following limits or explain why they dont exist.
3

(a) lim izz+i1 .

z i

(b) lim ( x + i (2x + y)).

z 1 i

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

3. Prove Lemma 2.4.

4. Prove Lemma 2.4 by using the formula for f 0 given in Theorem 2.15.
5. Apply the definition of the derivative to give a direct proof that f 0 (z) = 1/z2 when
f (z) = 1/z.
6. Show that if f is differentiable at z then f is continuous at z.
7. Prove Lemma 2.6.
8. Prove Lemma 2.11.
9. Find the derivative of the function T (z) :=
is T 0 (z) = 0?

az+b
cz+d ,

where a, b, c, d C and ad bc 6= 0. When

10. Prove that if f (z) is given by a polynomial in z then f is entire. What can you say if f (z) is
given by a polynomial in x = Re z and y = Im z?
11. Prove or find a counterexample: If u( x, y) and v( x, y) are continuous then f (z) = u( x, y) +
iv( x, y) is continuous; if u and v are differentiable then f (z) is differentiable.
12. Where are the following functions differentiable? Where are they holomorphic? Determine
their derivatives at points where they are differentiable.
(a) f (z) = e x eiy .
(b) f (z) = 2x + ixy2 .
(c) f (z) = x2 + iy2 .
(d) f (z) = e x eiy .
(e) f (z) = cos x cosh y i sin x sinh y.
(f) f (z) = Im z.
(g) f (z) = |z|2 = x2 + y2 .
(h) f (z) = z Im z.
(i) f (z) = (ix + 1)/y.
(j) f (z) = 4(Re z)(Im z) i (z)2 .
(k) f (z) = 2xy i ( x + y)2 .
(l) f (z) = z2 z2 .
13. Consider the function

xy( x + iy)
f (z) =
x 2 + y2

if z 6= 0,
if z = 0.

(As always, z = x + iy.) Show that f satisfies the CauchyRiemann equations at the origin
z = 0, yet f is not differentiable at the origin. Why doesnt this contradict Theorem 2.15
(b)?

CHAPTER 2. DIFFERENTIATION

14. Prove: If f is holomorphic in the region G C and always real valued, then f is constant
in G. (Hint: Use the CauchyRiemann equations to show that f 0 = 0.)
15. Prove: If f (z) and f (z) are both holomorphic in the region G C then f (z) is constant in
G.
16. Suppose that f (z) = u( x, y) + iv( x, y) is holomorphic. Find v given u:
(a) u( x, y) = x2 y2
(b) u( x, y) = cosh y sin x
(c) u( x, y) = 2x2 + x + 1 2y2
(d) u( x, y) =

x
x 2 + y2

17. Suppose f (z) is entire, with real and imaginary parts u(z) and v(z) satisfying u(z)v(z) = 3
for all z. Show that f is constant.
18. Is x/( x2 + y2 ) harmonic on C? What about x2 /( x2 + y2 )?
19. The general real homogeneous quadratic function of ( x, y) is
u( x, y) = ax2 + bxy + cy2 ,
where a, b and c are real constants.
(a) Show that u is harmonic if and only if a = c.
(b) If u is harmonic then show that it is the real part of a function of the form f (z) = Az2 ,
where A is a complex constant. Give a formula for A in terms of the constants a, b
and c.

Chapter 3

Examples of Functions
Obvious is the most dangerous word in mathematics.
E. T. Bell

3.1

Mbius Transformations

The first class of functions that we will discuss in some detail are built from linear polynomials.
Definition 3.1. A linear fractional transformation is a function of the form
f (z) =

az + b
,
cz + d

where a, b, c, d C. If ad bc 6= 0 then f is called a Mbius1 transformation.

Exercise 10 of the previous chapter states that any polynomial (in z) is an entire function.
az+b
From this fact we can conclude that a linear fractional transformation f (z) = cz
+d is holomorphic
in C \ {d/c} (unless c = 0, in which case f is entire).
One property of Mbius transformations, which is quite special for complex functions, is the
following.
Lemma 3.2. Mbius transformations are bijections. In fact, if f (z) =
is given by
dz b
f 1 ( z ) =
.
cz + a

az+b
cz+d

then the inverse function of f

Remark. Notice that the inverse of a Mbius transformation is another Mbius transformation.
Proof. The case where c = 0 is left to the reader. If c 6= 0, note that f : C \ {d/c} C \ { a/c}.
Suppose f (z1 ) = f (z2 ), that is,
az1 + b
az2 + b
=
.
cz1 + d
cz2 + d
1 Named

after August Ferdinand Mbius (17901868). For more information about Mbius, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Mobius.html.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

As the denominators are nonzero, this is equivalent to

( az1 + b)(cz2 + d) = ( az2 + b)(cz1 + d) ,

which can be rearranged to

( ad bc)(z1 z2 ) = 0 .
Since ad bc 6= 0 this implies that z1 = z2 , which means that f is one-to-one. The reader should
verify the formula for f 1 : C \ { a/c} C \ {d/c}. Just like f , f 1 is one-to-one, which implies
that f is onto.
Aside from being prime examples of one-to-one functions, Mbius transformations possess
fascinating geometric properties. En route to an example of such, we introduce some terminology. Special cases of Mbius transformations are translations f (z) = z + b, dilations f (z) = az,
and inversions f (z) = 1/z. The next result says that if we understand those three special Mbius
transformations, we understand them all.
Proposition 3.3. Suppose f (z) =

az+b
cz+d

is a linear fractional transformation. If c = 0 then

f (z) =

a
b
z+ ,
d
d

if c 6= 0 then
f (z) =

bc ad 1
c2 z +

d
c

a
.
c

In particular, every linear fractional transformation is a composition of translations, dilations, and inversions.
Proof. Simplify.
With the last result at hand, we can tackle the promised theorem about the following geometric property of Mbius transformations.
Theorem 3.4. Mbius transformations map circles and lines into circles and lines.
Proof. Translations and dilations certainly map circles and lines into circles and lines, so by the
last proposition, we only have to prove the theorem for the inversion f (z) = 1/z.
Before going on, we find a standard form for the equation of a straight line. Starting with
ax + by = c (where z = x + iy), let = a + bi. Then z = ax + by + i ( ay bx ) so z + z =
z + z = 2 Re(z) = 2ax + 2by. Hence our standard equation for a line becomes
z + z = 2c,

Re(z) = c .

(3.1)

Circle case: Given a circle centered at z0 with radius r, we can modify its defining equation
|z z0 | = r as follows:

| z z0 |2 = r 2
(z z0 )(z z0 ) = r2
zz z0 z zz0 + z0 z0 = r2

|z|2 z0 z zz0 + |z0 |2 r2 = 0 .

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

Now we want to transform this into an equation in terms of w, where w = 1/z. If we solve
w = 1/z for z we get z = 1/w, so we make this substitution in our equation:
2
1
z0 1 z0 1 + | z0 |2 r 2 = 0
w
w
w

1 z0 w z0 w + | w |2 | z0 |2 r 2 = 0 .
(To get the second line we multiply by |w|2 = ww and simplify.) Now if r happens to be equal to
|z0 | then this equation becomes 1 z0 w z0 w = 0, which is of the form (3.1) with = z0 , so we
have a straight line in terms of w. Otherwise |z0 |2 r2 is non-zero so we can divide our equation
by it. We obtain
z0
z0
1
w
= 0.
w+
| w |2
2
2
2
2
2
| z0 | r
| z0 | r
| z0 | r 2
We define
w0 =

| z0 |2 r 2

s 2 = | w0 | 2

| z0 |2 r 2

r2
| z0 |2 r 2
| z0 |2

=
.
(|z0 |2 r2 )2 (|z0 |2 r2 )2
(|z0 |2 r2 )2

Then we can rewrite our equation as

| w | 2 w0 w w0 w + | w0 | 2 s 2 = 0
ww w0 w ww0 + w0 w0 = s2

(w w0 )(w w0 ) = s2
| w w0 | 2 = s 2 .
This is the equation of a circle in terms of w, with center w0 and radius s.
Line case: We start with the equation of a line in the form (3.1) and rewrite it in terms of w, as
above, by substituting z = 1/w and simplifying. We get
z0 w + z0 w = 2cww .
If c = 0, this describes a line in the form (3.1) in terms of w. Otherwise we can divide by 2c:
z0
z0
ww w w = 0
2c
2c

z0
z0 | z0 |2
w
w
2 =0
2c
2c
4c

2
2

w z0 = | z0 | .

2c
4c2
This is the equation of a circle with center z0 /(2c) and radius |z0 |/(2|c|).
There is one fact about Mbius transformations that is very helpful to understanding their
geometry. In fact, it is much more generally useful:

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

Lemma 3.5. Suppose f is holomorphic at a with f 0 ( a) 6= 0 and suppose 1 and 2 are two smooth curves
which pass through a, making an angle of with each other. Then f transforms 1 and 2 into smooth
curves which meet at f ( a), and the transformed curves make an angle of with each other.
In brief, an holomorphic function with non-zero derivative preserves angles. Functions which
preserve angles in this way are also called conformal.
Proof. For k = 1, 2 we write k parametrically, as zk (t) = xk (t) + iyk (t), so that zk (0) = a. The
complex number z0k (0), considered as a vector, is the tangent vector to k at the point a. Then f
transforms the curve k to the curve f (k ), parameterized as f (zk (t)). If we differentiate f (zk (t))
at t = 0 and use the chain rule, we see that the tangent vector to the transformed curve at the
point f ( a) is f 0 ( a)z0k (0). Since f 0 ( a) 6= 0, the transformation from z10 (0) and z20 (0) to f 0 ( a)z10 (0)
and f 0 ( a)z20 (0) is a dilation. A dilation is the composition of a scale change and a rotation and
both of these preserve the angles between vectors.

3.2

Infinity and the Cross Ratio

Infinity is not a numberthis is true whether we use the complex numbers or stay in the reals.
However, for many purposes we can work with infinity in the complexes much more naturally
and simply than in the reals.
In the complex sense there is only one infinity, written . In the real sense there is also a
negative infinity, but = in the complex sense. In order to deal correctly with infinity
we have to realize that we are always talking about a limit, and complex numbers have infinite
limits if they can become larger in magnitude than any preassigned limit. For completeness we
repeat the usual definitions:
Definition 3.6. Suppose G is a set of complex numbers and f is a function from G to C.
(a) limzz0 f (z) = means that for every M > 0 we can find > 0 so that, for all z G
satisfying 0 < |z z0 | < , we have | f (z)| > M.
(b) limz f (z) = L means that for every e > 0 we can find N > 0 so that, for all z G satisfying
|z| > N, we have | f (z) L| < e.
(c) limz f (z) = means that for every M > 0 we can find N > 0 so that, for all z G
satisfying |z| > N we have | f (z)| > M.
In the first definition we require that z0 is an accumulation point of G while in the second and
third we require that is an extended accumulation point of G, in the sense that for every
B > 0 there is some z G with |z| > B.
The usual rules for working with infinite limits are still valid in the complex numbers. In
fact, it is a good idea to make infinity an honorary complex number so that we can more easily
manipulate infinite limits. We then define algebraic rules for dealing with our new point, ,
based on the usual laws of limits. For example, if limzz0 f (z) = and limzz0 g(z) = a is finite
then the usual limit of sum = sum of limits rule gives limzz0 ( f (z) + g(z)) = . This leads us

to want the rule + a = . We do this by defining a new set, C:

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

:= C {}, together with the following

Definition 3.7. The extended complex plane is the set C
algebraic properties: For any a C,
(1)

+ a = a + = ;

(2)

if a 6= 0 then a = a = = ;

(3)

if a 6= 0 then a/ = 0 and a/0 = .

The extended complex plane is also called the Riemann sphere (or, in a more advanced course, the
complex projective line, denoted CP1 ).
If a calculation involving infinity is not covered by the rules above then we must investigate
the limit more carefully. For example, it may seem strange that + is not defined, but if we
take the limit of z + (z) = 0 as z we will get 0, but the individual limits of z and z are
both .
Now we reconsider Mbius transformations with infinity in mind. For example, f (z) = 1/z
is now defined for z = 0 and z = , with f (0) = and f () = 0, so one might argue the proper
Lets consider the other basic types of Mbius transformations.
domain for f (z) is actually C.
A translation f (z) = z + b is now defined for z = , with f () = + b = , and a dilation
f (z) = az (with a 6= 0) is also defined for z = , with f () = a = . Since every Mbius
transformation can be expressed as a composition of translations, dilations and the inversion
f (z) = 1/z we see that every Mbius transformation may be interpreted as a transformation of
onto C.
The general case is summarized below:
C
Lemma 3.8. Let f be the Mbius transformation
f (z) =

az + b
.
cz + d

If c = 0 then f () = , and, otherwise,

Then f is defined for all z C.

a
d
f () =
and
f
= .
c
c
With this interpretation in mind we can add some insight to Theorem 3.4. Recall that f (z) =
1/z transforms circles that pass through the origin to straight lines, but the point z = 0 must
be excluded from the circle. However, now we can put it back, so f transforms circles that
pass through the origin to straight lines plus . If we remember that corresponds to being
arbitrarily far away from the origin we can visualize a line plus infinity as a circle passing through
. If we make this a definition, then Theorem 3.4 can be expressed very simply: any Mbius
transforms circles to circles. For example, the transformation
transformation of C
f (z) =

z+i
zi

transforms i to 0, i to , and 1 to i. The three points i, i and 1 determine a circle (the unit
circle |z| = 1) and the three image points 0, and i also determine a circle (the imaginary axis

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

plus the point at infinity). Hence f transforms the unit circle onto the imaginary axis plus the
point at infinity.
determine a unique circle
This example relies on the idea that three distinct points in C
passing through them. If the three points are on a straight line or if one of the points is then
are
the circle is a straight line plus . Conversely, if we know where three distinct points in C
transformed by a Mbius transformation then we should be able to figure out everything about
the transformation. There is a computational device that makes this easier to see.
with z1 , z2 , and z3 distinct, then their
Definition 3.9. If z, z1 , z2 , and z3 are any four points in C
cross-ratio is defined by
(z z1 )(z2 z3 )
[z, z1 , z2 , z3 ] =
.
(z z3 )(z2 z1 )
Here if z = z3 , the result is infinity, and if one of z, z1 , z2 , or z3 is infinity, then the two terms on
the right containing it are canceled.
Lemma 3.10. If f is defined by f (z) = [z, z1 , z2 , z3 ] then f is a Mbius transformation which satisfies
f (z1 ) = 0,

f (z2 ) = 1,

f ( z3 ) = .

Moreover, if g is any Mbius transformation which transforms z1 , z2 and z3 as above then g(z) = f (z)
for all z.
Proof. Everything should be clear except the final uniqueness statement. By Lemma 3.2 the
inverse f 1 is a Mbius transformation and, by Exercise 7 in this chapter, the composition h =
g f 1 is a Mbius transformation. Notice that h(0) = g( f 1 (0)) = g(z1 ) = 0. Similarly, h(1) = 1
az+b
and h() = . If we write h(z) = cz
+d then
b
= b = 0
d
a
= h() =
= c = 0
c
a+b
a+0
a
1 = h (1) =
=
=
= a = d ,
c+d
0+d
d
0 = h (0) =

so
h(z) =

az + 0
a
az + b
=
= z = z.
cz + d
0+d
d

But since h(z) = z for all z we have h( f (z)) = f (z) and so g(z) = g ( f 1 f )(z) = ( g f 1 )
f (z) = h( f (z)) = f (z).
to 0, 1 and by a Mbius transformation, then
So if we want to map three given points of C
the cross-ratio gives us the only way to do it. What if we have three points z1 , z2 and z3 and we
want to map them to three other points, w1 , w2 and w3 ?
and w1 , w2 and w3 are distinct points in
Theorem 3.11. Suppose z1 , z2 and z3 are distinct points in C
Then there is a unique Mbius transformation h satisfying h(z1 ) = w1 , h(z2 ) = w2 and h(z3 ) = w3 .
C.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

Proof. Let h = g1 f where f (z) = [z, z1 , z2 , z3 ] and g(w) = [w, w1 , w2 , w3 ]. Uniqueness follows
as in the proof of Lemma 3.10.
This theorem gives an explicit way to determine h from the points z j and w j but, in practice,
it is often easier to determine h directly from the conditions f (zk ) = wk (by solving for a, b, c
and d).

3.3

Stereographic Projection

The addition of to the complex plane C gives the plane a very useful structure. This structure
is revealed by a famous function called stereographic projection. Stereographic projection also
gives us a way of visualizing the extended complex planethat is, with the point at infinityin
R3 , as the unit sphere. It also provides a way of seeing that a line in the extended complex
plane is really a circle, and of visualizing Mbius functions.
To begin, think of C as the xy-plane in R3 = {( x, y, z)}: C = {( x, y, 0) R3 }. To describe
stereographic projection, we will be less concerned with actual complex numbers x + iy and more
with their coordinates. Consider the unit sphere S2 := {( x, y, z) R3 | x2 + y2 + z2 = 1}. Then
the sphere and the complex plane intersect in the set {( x, y, 0)| x2 + y2 = 1}, which corresponds
to the equator on the sphere and the unit circle on the complex plane. Let N denote the North
Pole (0, 0, 1) of S2 , and let S denote the South Pole (0, 0, 1).
from N is the map : S2 C
defined as
Definition 3.12. The stereographic projection of S2 to C
2
follows. For any point P S \ { N }, as the z-coordinate of P is strictly less than 1, the line
through N and P intersects C in exactly one point, Q. Define ( P) := Q. We also declare that

( N ) = C.
Proposition 3.13. The map is the bijection

( x, y, z) =

x
y
,
,0
1z 1z

with inverse map

( p, q, 0) =

2q
p2 + q2 1
2p
,
,
p2 + q2 + 1 p2 + q2 + 1 p2 + q2 + 1

where we declare (0, 0, 1) = and 1 () = (0, 0, 1).

Proof. That is a bijection follows from the existence of the inverse function, and is left as an
exercise. For P = ( x, y, z) S2 \ { N }, the straight line through N and P is given by, for t ,
r (t) = N + t( P N ) = (0, 0, 1) + t[( x, y, z) (0, 0, 1)] = (tx, ty, 1 + t(z 1)) .
When r (t) hits C, the third coordinate is 0, so it must be that t = 1/(1 z). Plugging this value
of t into the formula for r yields as stated.
To see the formula for the inverse map 1 , we begin with a point Q = ( p, q, 0) C and solve
for a point P = ( x, y, z) S2 so that ( P) = Q. The point P satisfies the equation x2 + y2 + z2 = 1.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

The equation ( P) = Q tells us that x/(1 z) = p and y/(1 z) = q. Thus, we solve three
equations for three unknowns. The latter two equations yield
p2 + q2 =

1 z2
1+z
x 2 + y2
=
=
.
(1 z )2
(1 z )2
1z

Solving p2 + q2 = (1 + z)/(1 z) for z and then plugging this into the identities x = p(1 z)
and y = q(1 z) proves the desired formula. It is easy to check that 1 and 1 are now
both the identity; we leave these as exercises. This proves the proposition.
We use the formulas above to prove the following.
Theorem 3.14. The stereographic projection takes the set of circles in S2 bijectively to the set of circles
where for a circle S2 we have that ()that is, () is a line in Cif and only if
in C,
N .
Proof. A circle in S2 is the intersection of S2 with some plane P. If we have a normal vector
( x0 , y0 , z0 ) to P, then there is a unique real number k so that the plane P is given by
P = {( x, y, z) R3 |( x, y, z) ( x0 , y0 , z0 ) = k } = {( x, y, z) R3 | xx0 + yy0 + zz0 = k }.
Without loss of generality, we can assume that ( x0 , y0 , z0 ) S2 by possibly changing k. We may
also assume without loss of generality that 0 k 1, since if k < 0 we can replace ( x0 , y0 , z0 )
with ( x0 , y0 , z0 ), and if k > 1 then P S2 = .
Consider the circle of intersection P S2 . A point ( p, q, 0) in the complex plane lies on the
image of this circle under if and only if 1 ( p, q, 0) satisfies the defining equation for P. Using
the equations from Proposition 3.13 for 1 ( p, q, 0), we see that

(z0 k) p2 + (2x0 ) p + (z0 k)q2 + (2y0 )q = z0 + k .

If z0 k = 0, this is a straight line in the pq-plane. Moreover, every line in the pq-plane can
be obtained in this way. Notice that z0 = k if and only if N P, which is if and only if the image
under is a straight line.
If z0 k 6= 0, then completing the square yields

x0
p+
z0 k

y0
+ q+
z0 k

1 k2
.
( z0 k )2

Depending on whether the right hand side of this equation is positive, 0, or negative, this is
the equation of a circle, point, or the empty set in the pq-plane, respectively. These three cases
happen when k < 1, k = 1, and k > 1, respectively. Only the first case corresponds to a circle in
S2 . It is an exercise to verify that every circle in the pq-plane arises in this manner.
We can now think of the extended complex plane as a sphere in R3 , called the Riemann sphere.
It is particularly nice to think about the basic Mbius transformations via their effect on the
Riemann sphere. We will describe inversion. It is worth thinking about, though beyond the scope
of these notes, how other basic Mbius functions behave. For instance, a rotation f (z) = ei z,

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

composed with 1 , can be seen to be a rotation of S2 . We encourage the reader to verify this
and consider the harder problems of visualizing a real dilation, f (z) = rz, or a translation,
f (z) = z + b. We give the hint that a real dilation is in some sense dual to a rotation, in that
each moves points along perpendicular sets of circles. Translations can also be visualized via
how they move points along sets of circles.
We now use stereographic projection to take another look at f (z) = 1/z. We want to know
what this function does to the sphere S2 . We will take a point ( x, y, z) on S2 , project it to the
plane by stereographic projection, , apply f to the point that results, and then pull this point
back to S2 by 1 .
We know ( x, y, z) = ( x/(1 z), y/(1 z)) which we now regard as the complex number
x
y
+i
.
1z
1z
We use

1
p qi
.
= 2
p + qi
p + q2

We know from a previous calculation that p2 + q2 = (1 + z)/(1 z). This gives

x
y
x
y
1z
x
y
f
+i
=
i
=
+i
.
1z
1z
1z
1z
1+z
1+z
1+z
Rather than plug this result into the formulas for 1 , we can just ask what triple of numbers
will be mapped to this particular pair using the formulas ( x, y, z) = ( x/(1 z), y/(1 z)). The
answer is clearly ( x, y, z).
Thus we have shown that the effect of f (z) = 1/z on S2 is to take ( x, y, z) to ( x, y, z). This
is a rotation around the x-axis by 180 degrees.
We now have a second argument that f (z) = 1/z takes circles and lines to circles and lines.
A circle or line in C is taken to a circle on S2 by 1 . Then f (z) = 1/z rotates the sphere which
certainly takes circles to circles. Now takes circles back to circles and lines. We can also say
that the circles that go to lines under f (z) = 1/z are the circles though 0. This is because 0 is
mapped to (0, 0, 1) under 1 so a circle through 0 in C goes to a circle through the south pole
in S2 . Now 180-degree rotation about the x-axis takes the south pole to the north pole, and our
circle is now passing through N. But we know that will take this circle to a line in C.
We end by mentioning that there is in fact a way of putting the complex metric on S2 . It is
certainly not the (finite) distance function induced by R3 . Indeed, the origin in the complex plane
corresponds to the South Pole S of S2 . We have to be able to get arbitrarily far away from the
origin in C, so the complex distance function has to increase greatly with the z coordinate. The
the larger their distance to the
closer points are to the North Pole N (corresponding to in C),
origin, and to each other! In this light, a line in the Riemann sphere S2 corresponds to a circle
in S2 through N. In the regular sphere, the circle has finite length, but as a line on the Riemann
sphere with the complex metric, it has infinite length.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

3.4

Exponential and Trigonometric Functions

To define the complex exponential function, we once more borrow concepts from calculus,
namely the real exponential function2 and the real sine and cosine, andin additionfinally
make sense of the notation eit = cos t + i sin t.
Definition 3.15. The (complex) exponential function is defined for z = x + iy as
exp(z) = e x (cos y + i sin y) = e x eiy .
This definition seems a bit arbitrary, to say the least. Its first justification is that all exponential
rules which we are used to from real numbers carry over to the complex case. They mainly follow
from Lemma 1.4 and are collected in the following.
Lemma 3.16. For all z, z1 , z2 C,
(a) exp (z1 ) exp (z2 ) = exp (z1 + z2 )
(b)

1
exp(z)

= exp (z)

(c) exp (z + 2i ) = exp (z)

(d) |exp (z)| = exp (Re z)
(e) exp(z) 6= 0
(f)

d
dz

exp (z) = exp (z) .

Remarks. 1. The third identity is a very special one and has no counterpart for the real exponential
function. It says that the complex exponential function is periodic with period 2i. This has many
interesting consequences; one that may not seem too pleasant at first sight is the fact that the
complex exponential function is not one-to-one.
2. The last identity is not only remarkable, but we invite the reader to meditate on its proof. When
proving this identity through the CauchyRiemann equations for the exponential function, one
can get another strong reason why Definition 3.15 is reasonable. Finally, note that the last identity
also says that exp is entire.
We should make sure that the complex exponential function specializes to the real exponential
function for real arguments: if z = x R then
exp( x ) = e x (cos 0 + i sin 0) = e x .
The trigonometric functionssine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, etc.also have complex analogues; however, they dont play the same prominent role as in the real case. In fact, we can
define them as merely being special combinations of the exponential function.
2 It

is a nontrivial question how to define the real exponential function. Our preferred way to do this is through
a power series: e x = k0 x k /k! . In light of this definition, the reader might think we should have simply defined
the complex exponential function through a complex power series. In fact, this is possible (and an elegant definition);
however, one of the promises of these lecture notes is to introduce complex power series as late as possible. We agree
with those readers who think that we are cheating at this point, as we borrow the concept of a (real) power series
to define the real exponential function.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

5
6

exp
/

3
5
6
1

Figure 3.1: Image properties of the exponential function.

Definition 3.17. The (complex) sine and cosine are defined as
sin z =

1
(exp(iz) exp(iz))
2i

cos z =

and

1
(exp(iz) + exp(iz)) ,
2

respectively. The tangent and cotangent are defined as

tan z =

exp(2iz) 1
sin z
= i
cos z
exp(2iz) + 1

and

cot z =

cos z
exp(2iz) + 1
=i
,
sin z
exp(2iz) 1

respectively.
Note that to write tangent and cotangent in terms of the exponential function, we used the
fact that exp(z) exp(z) = exp(0) = 1. Because exp is entire, so are sin and cos.
As with the exponential function, we should first make sure that were not redefining the real
sine and cosine: if z = x R then
sin z =

1
1
(exp(ix ) exp(ix )) = (cos x + i sin x (cos( x ) + i sin( x ))) = sin x .
2i
2i

A similar calculation holds for the cosine. Not too surprisingly, the following properties follow
mostly from Lemma 3.16.
Lemma 3.18. For all z, z1 , z2 C,
sin(z) = sin z

cos(z) = cos z

sin(z + 2 ) = sin z

cos(z + 2 ) = cos z

tan(z + ) = tan z

cot(z + ) = cot z

sin(z + /2) = cos z

sin (z1 + z2 ) = sin z1 cos z2 + cos z1 sin z2
2

cos z + sin z = 1
sin0 z = cos z

cos(z + /2) = sin z

cos (z1 + z2 ) = cos z1 cos z2 sin z1 sin z2
cos2 z sin2 z = cos(2z)
cos0 z = sin z .

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

Finally, one word of caution: unlike in the real case, the complex sine and cosine are not
boundedconsider, for example, sin(iy) as y .
We end this section with a remark on hyperbolic trig functions. The hyperbolic sine, cosine,
tangent, and cotangent are defined as in the real case:
Definition 3.19.
1
(exp(z) exp(z))
2
sinh z
exp(2z) 1
tanh z =
=
cosh z
exp(2z) + 1

1
(exp(z) + exp(z))
2
cosh z
exp(2z) + 1
coth z =
=
.
sinh z
exp(2z) 1

sinh z =

cosh z =

As such, they are also special combinations of the exponential function. They still satisfy the
identities you already know, including
d
cosh z = sinh z.
dz

d
sinh z = cosh z
dz

Moreover, they are now related to the trigonometric functions via the following useful identities:
sinh(iz) = i sin z

3.5

and

cosh(iz) = cos z .

The Logarithm and Complex Exponentials

The complex logarithm is the first function well encounter that is of a somewhat tricky nature.
It is motivated as being the inverse function to the exponential function, that is, were looking for
a function Log such that
exp(Log z) = z = Log(exp z) .
As we will see shortly, this is too much to hope for. Lets write, as usual, z = r ei , and suppose
that Log z = u(z) + iv(z). Then for the first equation to hold, we need
exp(Log z) = eu eiv = r ei = z ,
that is, eu = r = |z| u = ln |z| (where ln denotes the real natural logarithm; in particular
we need to demand that z 6= 0), and eiv = ei v = + 2k for some k Z. A reasonable
definition of a logarithm function Log would hence be to set Log z = ln |z| + i Arg z where Arg z
gives the argument for the complex number z according to some conventionfor example, we
could agree that the argument is always in (, ], or in [0, 2 ), etc. The problem is that we need
to stick to this convention. On the other hand, as we saw, we could just use a different argument
convention and get another reasonable logarithm. Even worse, by defining the multi-valued
map
arg z = { : is a possible argument of z}
and defining the multi-valued logarithm as
log z = ln |z| + i arg z ,

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

we get something thats not a function, yet it satisfies

exp(log z) = z .
We invite the reader to check this thoroughly; in particular, one should note how the periodicity
of the exponential function takes care of the multi-valuedness of our logarithm log.
The multi-valued log is, of course, not a function, and hence we cant even consider it to be
our sought-after inverse of the exponential function. Lets try to make things well defined.
Definition 3.20. Given a region G, any continuous function Log : G C that satisfies exp(Log z) =
z is a branch of the logarithm (on G). Let Arg z denote that argument of z which is in (, ] (the
principal argument of z). Then the principal logarithm is defined as
Log z = ln |z| + i Arg z .
Strictly speaking, the principal logarithm is not a branch of the logarithm, but its restriction
to the region {z C : Arg z 6= } is. Any branch of the logarithm on a region G can be similarly
extended to a function defined on G \ {0}. Furthermore, the evaluation of any branch of the
logarithm at z can differ from Log z only by a multiple of 2i; the reason for this is once more
the periodicity of the exponential function.
So what about the other equation Log(exp z) = z? Lets try the principal logarithm: Suppose
z = x + iy, then
Log(exp z) = Log(e x eiy ) = ln |e x eiy | + i Arg(e x eiy ) = ln e x + i Arg(eiy ) = x + i Arg(eiy ) .
The right-hand side is equal to z = x + iy only if y (, ]. The same happens with any
other branch Log of the logarithmthere will always be some (in fact, many) y-values for which
Log(exp z) 6= z.
To end our discussion of the logarithm on a happy note, we prove that any branch of the
logarithm has the same derivative; one just has to be cautious about where each logarithm is
holomorphic.
Theorem 3.21. Suppose Log is a branch of the logarithm. Then Log is differentiable wherever it is
continuous and
1
Log0 z = .
z
Proof. The idea is to apply Lemma 2.12 to exp and Log, but we need to be careful about the
domains of these functions, so that we get actual inverse functions. Suppose Log maps C \ {0}
to G (this is typically a half-open strip; you might want to think about what it looks like if
Log = Log). We apply Lemma 2.12 with f : G C \ {0} , f (z) = exp(z) and g : C \ {0}
G, g(z) = Log(z): if Log is continuous at z then

Log0 z =

1
exp0 (Log z)

1
1
= .
exp(Log z)
z

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

We finish this section by defining complex exponentials. For two complex numbers a and b,
the natural definition ab = exp(b log a) (which is a concept borrowed from calculus) would in
general yield more than one value (Exercise 41), so it is not always useful. We turn instead to the
principal logarithm:
Definition 3.22. For a complex number a C, the exponential function with base a is the multivalued function
az := exp(z log a).
The principal value of az at z (unfortunately) uses the same notation, and is defined as
az := exp(z Log a) .
When we write az we are referring to the principal value unless otherwise stated.
It now makes sense to talk about the exponential function with base e. In calculus one proves
the equivalence of the real exponential function (as given, for example, through a power series)
and the function f ( x ) = e x where e is Eulers3 number and can be defined, for example, as
e = limn (1 + 1/n)n . With our definition of az , we can now make a similar remark about
the complex exponential function. Because e is a positive real number and hence Arg e = 0, we
obtain
ez = exp(z Log e) = exp (z (ln |e| + i Arg e)) = exp (z ln e) = exp (z) .
A word of caution: this only works out this nicely because we have now carefully defined az for
complex numbers. Different definitions will make it so that ez 6= exp(z)!

Exercises
1. Show that if f (z) =

az+b
cz+d

is a Mbius transformation then f 1 (z) =

dzb
cz+ a .

2. Show that the derivative of a Mbius transformation is never zero.

3. Prove that any Mbius transformation different from the identity map can have at most
two fixed points. (A fixed point of a function f is a number z such that f (z) = z.)
4. Prove Proposition 3.3.
5. Show that the Mbius transformation f (z) =
z = 1) onto the imaginary axis.

1+ z
1 z

maps the unit circle (minus the point

6. Suppose that f is holomorphic on the region G and f ( G ) is a subset of the unit circle. Show
that f is constant. (Hint: Consider the function (1 + f (z))/(1 f (z)) and use Exercise 5
and a variation of Exercise 14 in Chapter 2.)
3 Named after Leonard Euler (17071783). For more information about Euler, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Euler.html.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

7. Suppose

A=

a b
c d

is a 2 2 matrix of complex numbers whose determinant ad bc is non-zero. Then we can

az+b
define a corresponding Mbius transformation TA by TA (z) = cz
+d .
Show that TA TB = TA B . (Here denotes composition and denotes matrix multiplication.)
8. Let f (z) = 2z/(z + 2). Draw two graphs, one showing the following six sets in the z plane
and the other showing their images in the w plane. Label the sets. (You should only need
to calculate the images of 0, 2, and 1 i; remember that Mbius transformations
preserve angles.)
(a) The x-axis plus .
(b) The y-axis plus .
(c) The line x = y plus .
(d) The circle with radius 2 centered at 0.
(e) The circle with radius 1 centered at 1.
(f) The circle with radius 1 centered at 1.
9. Find Mbius transformations satisfying each of the following. Write your answers in stanaz+b
dard form, as cz
+d .
(a) 1 0, 2 1, 3 . (Use the cross-ratio.)
(b) 1 0, 1 + i 1, 2 . (Use the cross-ratio.)
(c) 0 i, 1 1, i.
10. Let C be the circle with center 1 + i and radius 1. Using the cross-ratio, with different
choices of zk , find two different Mbius transformations that transform C onto the real axis
plus infinity. In each case, find the image of the center of the circle.
11. Let C be the circle with center 0 and radius 1. Find a Mbius transformation which transforms C onto C and transforms 0 to 1/2.
12. Describe the image of the region under the transformation:
(a) The disk |z| < 1 under w = (iz i )/(z + 1).
(b) The quadrant x > 0, y > 0 under w = (z i )/(z + i ).
(c) The strip 0 < x < 1 under w = z/(z 1).
13. The Jacobian of a transformation u = u( x, y), v = v( x, y) is the determinant of the matrix
"
#
u
x
v
x

u
y
v
y

.
2

Show that if f = u + iv is holomorphic then the Jacobian equals | f 0 (z)| .

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

of f (z) = (z2 1)(2z + 1).

14. Find the fixed points in C
15. Find the Mbius transformation f :
(a) f maps 0 1, 1 , 0.
(b) f maps 1 1, 1 i, i 1.
(c) f maps the x-axis to y = x, the y-axis to y = x, and the unit circle to itself.
16. Show that the image of the line y = a under inversion is the circle with center i/(2a) and
radius 1/(2a).
Show that z is on the circle passing through
17. Suppose z1 , z2 and z3 are distinct points in C.
z1 , z2 and z3 if and only if [z, z1 , z2 , z3 ] is real or infinite.
18. Find the image under the stereographic projection of the following points:
(0, 0, 1), (0, 0, 1), (1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0), (1, 1, 0).
19. Prove that the stereographic projection of Proposition 3.13 is a bijection by verifying that
1 and 1 are the identity.
20. Consider the plane P determined by x + y z = 0. What is a unit normal vector to P?
Compute the image of P S2 under the stereographic projection .
21. Prove that every circle in the extended complex plane is the image of some circle in S2
under the stereographic projection .
22. Describe the effect of the basic Mbius transformations rotation, real dilation, and translation on the Riemann sphere. (Hint: For the first two, consider all circles in S2 centered on
the NS axis, and all circles through both N and S. For translation, consider two families of
circles through N, orthogonal to and perpendicular to the translation.)
23. Prove that sin(z) = sin(z) and cos(z) = cos(z).
24. Let z = x + iy and show that
(a) sin z = sin x cosh y + i cos x sinh y.
(b) cos z = cos x cosh y i sin x sinh y.
25. Prove that the zeros of sin z are all real-valued.
26. Describe the images of the following sets under the exponential function exp(z):
(a) the line segment defined by z = iy, 0 y 2.
(b) the line segment defined by z = 1 + iy, 0 y 2.
(c) the rectangle {z = x + iy C : 0 x 1, 0 y 2 }.
27. Prove Lemma 3.16.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

28. Prove Lemma 3.18.

29. Let z = x + iy and show that
(a) |sin z|2 = sin2 x + sinh2 y = cosh2 y cos2 x.
(b) |cos z|2 = cos2 x + sinh2 y = cosh2 y sin2 x.
(c) If cos x = 0 then

|cot z|2 =

cosh2 y 1
cosh2 y

(d) If |y| 1 then

|cot z|2

sinh2 y + 1
2

sinh y

= 1+

1
2

sinh y

1
sinh2 1

30. Show that tan(iz) = i tanh z.

31. Convert the following expressions to the form x + iy.
(a) ei
(b) e
(c) ii
(d) esin i
(e) exp(Log(3 + 4i ))

(f) 1 + i

(g) 3(1 i )

(h) ((i + 1)/ 2)4

32. Find the principal values of
(a) log i.
(b) (1)i .
(c) log(1 + i ).
33. Determine the image of the strip {z C : /2 < Re z < /2} under the function
f (z) = sin z. (Hint: Exercise 24 makes it easy to convert parametric equations for horizontal
or vertical lines to parametric equations for their images. Note that the equations x = A sin t
and y = B cos t represent an ellipse and the equations x = A cosh t and y = B sinh t
represent a hyperbola. Start by finding the images of the boundary lines of the strip, and
then find the images of a few horizontal segments and vertical lines in the strip.)
34. Is arg(z) = arg(z) true for the multiple-valued argument? What about Arg(z) = Arg(z)
for the principal branch?

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

35. Is there a difference between the set of all values of log(z2 ) and the set of all values of
2 log z? (Try some fixed numbers for z.)
36. For each of the following functions, determine all complex numbers for which the function is holomorphic. If you run into a logarithm, use the principal value (unless stated
otherwise).
(a) z2 .
(b) (sin z)/(z3 + 1).
(c) Log(z 2i + 1) where Log(z) = ln |z| + i Arg(z) with 0 Arg(z) < 2.
(d) exp(z).
(e) (z 3)i .
(f) iz3 .
37. Find all solutions to the following equations:
(a) Log(z) = i/2.
(b) Log(z) = 3i/2.
(c) exp(z) = i.
(d) sin z = cosh 4.
(e) cos z = 0.
(f) sinh z = 0.
(g) exp(iz) = exp(iz).
(h) z1/2 = 1 + i.
38. Find the image of the annulus 1 < |z| < e under the principal value of the logarithm.
39. Show that | az | = aRe z if a is a positive real constant.
40. Fix c C \ {0}. Find the derivative of f (z) = zc .
41. Prove that exp(b log a) is single-valued if and only if b is an integer. (Note that this means
that complex exponentials dont clash with monomials zn .) What can you say if b is rational?
42. Describe the image under exp of the line with equation y = x. To do this you should find
an equation (at least parametrically) for the image (you can start with the parametric form
x = t, y = t), plot it reasonably carefully, and explain what happens in the limits as t
and t .
43. For this problem, f (z) = z2 .
(a) Show that the image under f of a circle centered at the origin is a circle centered at the
origin.

CHAPTER 3. EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONS

(b) Show that the image under f of a ray starting at the origin is a ray starting at the
origin.
(c) Let T be the figure formed by the horizontal segment from 0 to 2, the circular arc from
2 to 2i, and then the vertical segment from 2i to 0. Draw T and f ( T ).
(d) Is the right angle at the origin in part (c) preserved? Is something wrong here?
(Hint: Use polar coordinates.)
44. As in the previous problem, let f (z) = z2 . Let Q be the square with vertices at 0, 2, 2 + 2i
and 2i. Draw f ( Q) and identify the types of image curves corresponding to the segments
from 2 to 2 + 2i and from 2 + 2i to 2i. They are not parts of either straight lines or circles.
(Hint: You can write the vertical segment parametrically as z(t) = 2 + it. Eliminate the
parameter in u + iv = f (z(t)) to get a (u, v) equation for the image curve.)

Chapter 4

Integration
Everybody knows that mathematics is about miracles, only mathematicians have a name for them:
theorems.
Roger Howe

4.1

Definition and Basic Properties

We begin integration by focusing on 1-dimensional integrals over lines. We delay discussion of

antiderivatives until Chapter 5.
At first sight, complex integration is not really anything different from real integration. For a
continuous complex-valued function : [ a, b] R C, we define
Z b
a

Z b

(t) dt =

Re (t) dt + i

Z b
a

Im (t) dt .

(4.1)

For a function which takes complex numbers as arguments, we integrate over a curve
(instead of a real interval). Suppose this curve is parametrized by (t), a t b. If one
meditates about the substitution rule for real integrals, the following definition, which is based
on (4.1) should come as no surprise.
Definition 4.1. Suppose is a smooth curve parametrized by (t), a t b, and f is a complex
function which is continuous on . Then we define the integral of f on as
Z

f =

f (z) dz =

Z b

f ((t))0 (t) dt .

This definition can be naturally extended to piecewise smooth curves, that is, those curves
whose parametrization (t), a t b, is only piecewise differentiable, say (t) is differentiable
on the intervals [ a, c1 ], [c1 , c2 ], . . . , [cn1 , cn ], [cn , b]. In this case we simply define
Z

f =

Z c1
a

f ((t)) (t) dt +

Z c2
c1

f ((t)) (t) dt + +

Z b
cn

f ((t))0 (t) dt .

In what follows, well usually state our results for smooth curves, bearing in mind that practically
all can be extended to piecewise smooth curves.
47

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

Example 4.2. As our first example of the application of this definition, we will compute the
integral of the function f (z) = z2 = ( x2 y2 ) i (2xy) over several curves from the point z = 0
to the point z = 1 + i.
(a) Let be the line segment from z = 0 to z = 1 + i. A parametrization of this curve is
(t) = t + it, 0 t 1. We have 0 (t) = 1 + i and f ((t)) = (t it)2 , and hence
Z

f =

Z 1
0

(t it)2 (1 + i ) dt = (1 + i )

Z 1
0

(t2 2it2 t2 ) dt =

2
2i (1 + i )
= (1 i ) .
3
3

(b) Let be the arc of the parabola y = x2 from z = 0 to z = 1 + i. A parametrization of this

curve is (t) = t + it2 , 0 t 1. Now we have 0 (t) = 1 + 2it and

2
f ((t)) = t2 t2
i 2t t2 = t2 t4 2it3 ,
whence
Z

f =

Z 1
0

(t t 2it ) (1 + 2it) dt =

Z 1
0

(t2 + 3t4 2it5 ) dt =

1
1
1
14
i
+ 3 2i =
.
3
5
6
15 3

(c) Let be the union of the two line segments 1 from z = 0 to z = 1 and 2 from z = 1 to
z = 1 + i. Parameterizations are 1 (t) = t, 0 t 1 and 2 (t) = 1 + it, 0 t 1. Hence
Z

1
1
1
f+
f =
t2 (1) dt +
(1 it)2 i dt = + i
3

0
0
1
2

1 1
4 2
1
= + i.
= + i 1 2i
3
2 3
3 3

f =

Z 1
0

(1 2it t2 ) dt

The complex integral has some standard properties, most of which follow from their real
siblings in a straightforward way. The first property to observe is that the actual choice of
parametrization of does not matter.
Proposition
4.3. Let be a smooth curve and let f be any function which is continuous on . The
R
integral f is independent of the parametrization of chosen. More technically, suppose a smooth curve
is parametrized by both (t), a t b and (t), c t d, and let : [c, d] [ a, b] be the map which
takes to " (that is, = ). Then
Z d
c

f ((t)) (t) dt =

Z b
a

f ((t))0 (t) dt .

The proof of this is left to Exercise 16.

To state some further properties of complex line integration, we first define the useful concept
of the length of a curve.
Definition 4.4. The length of a smooth curve is
Z b

0 (t) dt
length() :=
a

for any parametrization (t), a t b, of .

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

The definition of length is with respect to any parametrization of because the length of a
curve should be independent of the parametrization. Since complex line integrals are independent of parametrization (Proposition 4.3), our definition is well-defined.
Example 4.5. Let be the line segment from 0 to 1 + i, which can be parametrized by (t) = t + it
for 0 t 1. Then 0 (t) = 1 + i and so
length() =

Z 1
0

|1 + i | dt =

Z 1
0

2 dt =

Example 4.6. Let be the unit circle, which can be parametrized by (t) = eit for 0 t 2.
Then 0 (t) = ieit and
length() =

Z 2

|ieit | dt =

Z 2
0

dt = 2 .

We are now ready to observe some basic facts about how the line integral behaves with respect
to function addition, scalar multiplication, inverse parametrization, and curve concatenation. We
can also state a useful formula for relating the modulus of an integral to the maximum value of
the given function and the length of the given curve, which we will be using repeatedly in future
chapters.
Proposition 4.7. Suppose is a smooth curve, f and g are complex functions which are continuous on
, and c C.
R
R
R
(a) ( f + cg) = f + c g .
(b) If isRparametrized
R by (t), a t b, define the curve by (t) = ( a + b t), a t b.
Then f = f .
(c) If 1 and 2 are curves so that 2 starts where 1 ends,
theR curve 1 2 by following 1 to
R then define
R
its end and then continuing on 2 to its end. Then 1 2 f = 1 f + 2 f .
R

(d) f maxz | f (z)| length() .
The curve defined in (b) is the curve that we obtain by traveling through in the opposite
direction.
Proof.
(a) This follows directly from the definition of the integral and the properties of real integrals.
(b) This follows with the real change of variables s = a + b t:
Z

f =

Z b
a

Z a
b

f (( a + b t)) (( a + b t)) dt =
f ((s)) 0 (s) ds =

Z b
a

f (( a + b t)) 0 ( a + b t) dt

f ((s)) 0 (s) ds =

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

(c) We need a suitable parameterization (t) for 1 2 . If 1 has domain [ a1 , b1 ] and 2 has
domain [ a2 , b2 ] then we can use
(
1 (t)
for a1 t b1 ,
(t) =
2 (t b1 + a2 ) for b1 t b1 + b2 a2 .
That 1 (b1 ) equal 2 ( a2 ) is necessary to make sure that this parameterization is piecewise
smooth. Now we break the integral over 1 2 into two pieces and apply the change of
variables s = t b1 + a2 :
Z

f =
1 2

Z b1 +b2 a2
a1
Z b1
a1

=
=

Z b1
a1
Z b1
a1

f ((t))0 (t) dt +

Z b1 +b2 a2

f (1 (t))10 (t) dt +
f (1 (t))10 (t) dt +
f+

(d) To prove (d), let = Arg

f ((t))0 (t) dt

Z b1 +b2 a2
b1
Z b2
a2

f (2 (t b1 + a2 ))20 (t b1 + a2 ) dt

f (2 (s))20 (s) ds

f.
2

f . Then

Z

Z b
Z b

i
i
0

f = e
f = Re e
f ((t)) (t) dt
=
Re f ((t))ei 0 (t) dt

a
a
Z b
Z b

| f ((t))| 0 (t) dt
f ((t))ei 0 (t) dt =
a

Z b

0 (t) dt = max | f (z)| length() .
max | f ((t))|
atb

4.2

Cauchys Theorem

We now turn to the central theorem of complex analysis. It is based on the following concept.
Definition 4.8. A curve C is closed if its endpoints coincide, that is, for any parametrization
(t), a t b, we have that ( a) = (b).
Suppose 0 and 1 are closed curves in the open set G C, parametrized by 0 (t), 0 t 1
and 1 (t), 0 t 1, respectively. Then 0 is G-homotopic to 1 (we write 0 G 1 ) if there is a
continuous function h : [0, 1]2 G such that
h(t, 0) = 0 (t) ,
h(t, 1) = 1 (t) ,
h(0, s) = h(1, s) .

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

Figure 4.1: This square and circle are (C \ {0})-homotopic.

The function h(t, s) is called a homotopy. A homotopy h(t, s) is a curve for each fixed s, and, as
s goes from 0 to 1, these curves continuously transform from 0 to 1 . The last condition simply
says that each of these curves is also closed. An example is depicted in Figure 4.1.
Here is the theorem on which most of what will follow is based.
Theorem 4.9 (Cauchys Theorem1 ). Suppose G C is open, f is holomorphic in G, and 0 G 1 via
a homotopy with continuous second partials. Then
Z

f =
0

f.
1

Remarks. 1. The condition on the smoothness of the homotopy can be omitted; however, then the
proof becomes too advanced for the scope of these notes. In all the examples and exercises that
well have to deal with here, the homotopies will be nice enough to satisfy the condition of this
theorem.
2. It is assumed that Johann Carl Friedrich Gau (17771855)2 knew a version of this theorem in
1811 but only published it in 1831. Cauchy published his version in 1825, Weierstra3 his in 1842.
Cauchys theorem is often called the CauchyGoursat Theorem, since Cauchy assumed that the
derivative of f was continuous, a condition which was first removed by Goursat4 .
An important special case is the one where a curve is G-homotopic to a point, that is, a
constant curve (see Figure 4.2 for an example). In this case we simply say is G-contractible (we
write G 0).
1 Many

authors state Cauchys Theorem with the condition of continuous second partials replaced by some weaker
condition.
2 For more information about Gau, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Gauss.html.
3 For more information about Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstra (18151897), see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Weierstrass.html.
4 For more information about Edouard Jean-Baptiste Goursat (18581936), see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Goursat.html.

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

Figure 4.2: This ellipse is (C \ R)-contractible.

The fact that an integral over a point is zero has the following immediate consequence.
Corollary 4.10. Suppose G C is open, f is holomorphic in G, and G 0 via a homotopy with
continuous second partials. Then
Z
f = 0.

The fact that any closed curve is C-contractible (Exercise 18a) yields the following special case
of the previous corollary.
Corollary 4.11. If f is entire and is any smooth closed curve, then
Z

f = 0.

There are many proofs of Cauchys Theorem. A particularly nice one follows from the complex Greens Theorem. We will use the (real) Second Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. We note
that with more work, Cauchys Theorem can be derived from scratch, and does not require any
other major theorems.
Proof of Theorem 4.9. Suppose h is the given homotopy from 0 to 1 . For 0 s 1, let s be the
curve parametrized by h(t, s), 0 t 1. Consider the function
I (s) =

f
s

R
R
as a function in s (so I (0) = 0 f and I (1) = 0 f ). We will show that I is constant with respect
to s, and hence the statement of the theorem follows with I (0) = I (1). Consider the derivative of
I. By Leibnizs Rule,

Z
Z 1
d
d 1
h

h
I (s) =
f (h(t, s))
dt =
f (h(t, s))
dt .
ds
ds 0
t
t
0 s

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

By the product rule, the chain rule, and equality of mixed partials,5

Z 1
d
2 h
h h
0
I (s) =
+ f (h(t, s))
f (h(t, s))
dt
ds
s t
st
0

Z 1
2 h
h h
0
+ f (h(t, s))
dt
=
f (h(t, s))
t s
ts
0

Z 1

h
=
f (h(t, s))
dt .
s
0 t

Finally, by the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (applied separately to the real and imaginary
parts of the above integral), we have
h
h
d
I (s) = f (h(1, s)) (1, s) f (h(0, s)) (0, s) = 0 .
ds
s
s

4.3

Cauchys Integral Formula

Cauchys Theorem, Theorem 4.9, yields almost immediately the following helpful result.
Theorem 4.12 (Cauchys Integral Formula for a Circle). Let CR be the counterclockwise circle with
radius R centered at w and suppose f is holomorphic at each point of the closed disk D bounded by CR .
Then
Z
1
f (z)
f (w) =
dz .
2i CR z w
Proof. All circles Cr with center w and radius r are homotopic in D \ {w}, and the function
f (z)/(z w) is holomorphic in an open set containing D \ {w}. So Cauchys Theorem, Theorem 4.9, gives
Z
Z
f (z)
f (z)
dz =
dz .
CR z w
Cr z w
Now by Exercise 15,
Z
1
dz = 2i ,
Cr z w
and we obtain with Proposition 4.7(d)
Z
Z
Z

Z

f
(
z
)
f
(
z
)
1
f
(
z
)

f
(
w
)

dz
C z w dz 2i f (w) = C z w dz f (w) C z w dz = C
zw
r
r
r
R

f (z) f (w)
length (Cr ) = max | f (z) f (w)| 2r
max

zw
r
zCr
zCr

= 2 max | f (z) f (w)| .

zCr

On the right-hand side, we can now take r as small as we want, andbecause f is continuous
at wthis means we can make | f (z) f (w)| as small as we like. Hence the left-hand side has no
choice but to be zero, which is what we claimed.
5 Here

is where we use our assumption that h has continuous second partials.

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

This is a useful theorem by itself, but it can be made more generally useful. For example, it
will be important to have Cauchys integral formula when w is anywhere inside CR , not just at the
center of CR . In fact, in many cases in which a point w is inside a simple closed curve we can
see a homotopy from to a small circle around w so that the homotopy misses w and remains
in the region where f is holomorphic. In that case the theorem remains true, since, by Cauchys
theorem, the integral of f (z)/(z w) around is the same as the integral of f (z)/(z w)
around a small circle centered at w, and Theorem 4.12 then applies to evaluate the integral. In
this discussion we need to be sure that the orientation of the curve and the circle match. In
general, we say a simple closed curve is positively oriented if it is parameterized so that the
inside is on the left of . For a circle this corresponds to a counterclockwise orientation.
Heres the general form:
Theorem 4.13 (Cauchys Integral Formula). Suppose f is holomorphic on the region G, w G, and
is a positively oriented, simple, closed, smooth, G-contractible curve such that w is inside . Then
1
f (w) =
2i

f (z)
dz .
zw

A nice special case of Cauchys formula is obtained when is a circle centered at w, parametrized
by, say, z = w + reit , 0 t 2. Theorem 4.13 gives (if the conditions are met)

Z 2
Z 2

f w + reit
1
1
it
it
f (w) =
dt
=
ire
f
w
+
re
dt .
2i 0 w + reit w
2 0
Even better, we automatically get similar formulas for the real and imaginary parts of f simply
by taking real and imaginary parts on both sides. These identities have the flavor of mean values.
Lets summarize them in the following statement, which is often called a mean-value theorem.
Corollary 4.14. Suppose f is holomorphic on and inside the circle z = w + rei , 0 2. Then
Z 2

1
f (w) =
f w + rei d .
2 0
Furthermore, if f = u + iv,
u(w) =

1
2

Z 2
0

u w + rei d

and

v(w) =

1
2

Z 2
0

v w + rei d .

This is called a mean-value theorem because it is stating that f (w) is equal to an integral that
is literally the mean of the values of f along the circle of radius r:
1
2

Z 2
0

Z 2

1
1
f w + rei d =
f w + rei r d = lim
2r 0
0 2r

f (w + rei )(r ) ,

where in the final sum the step size is .

We have already indicated how to prove Cauchys Integral Formula by combining Cauchys
theorem and the special case, Theorem 4.12. All we need is to find a homotopy in G \ {w}
between and a small circle with center at w. In all practical cases we can see immediately how
to construct such a homotopy, but it is not at all clear how to do so in complete generality; in
fact, it is not even clear how to make sense of the inside of in general. The justification for
this is one of the first substantial theorems ever proved in topology. We can state it as follows:

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

Theorem 4.15 (Jordan Curve Theorem). If is a positively oriented, simple, closed curve in C, then
C \ consists of two connected open sets, the inside and the outside of . If a closed disk D centered at w
lies inside , then there is a homotopy s from to the positively oriented boundary of D. For 0 < s < 1,
s is inside and outside of D.
Remarks. 1. The Jordan Curve Theorem is named after French mathematician Camille Jordan
(1838-1922)6 (the Jordan of Jordan normal form and Jordan matrix, but not GaussJordan elimination).
This theorem, although intuitively obvious, is surprisingly difficult to prove. The usual
statement of the Jordan curve theorem does not contain the homotopy information; we have
borrowed this from a companion theorem to the Jordan curve theorem which is sometimes called
the annulus theorem. If you want to explore this kind of mathematics you should take a course
in topology.

Exercises
1. Use the definition of length to find the length of the following curves:
(a) (t) = 3t + i for 1 t 1
(b) (t) = i + eit for 0 t 1
(c) (t) = i sin(t) for t
(d) (t) = (t, t2 ) for 0 t 2
2. Integrate the function f (z) = z over the three curves given in Example 4.2.
R
3. Evaluate 1/z dz where (t) = sin t + i cos t, 0 t 2.
4. Integrate the following functions over the circle |z| = 2, oriented counterclockwise:
(a) z + z.
(b) z2 2z + 3.
(c) 1/z4 .
(d) xy.

R
R
R
R
5. Evaluate the integrals x dz, y dz, z dz and z dz along each of the following paths.
Note that you can get the second two integrals after you calculate the first two by writing z
and z as x iy.
(a) is the line segment from 0 to 1 i.
(b) is the counterclockwise circle |z| = 1.
(c) is the counterclockwise circle |z a| = r. Use (t) = a + reit .
6 For more information on C. Jordan, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Jordan .

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION
6. Evaluate

e3z dz for each of the following paths:

(a) The straight line segment from 1 to i.

(b) The circle |z| = 3.

7.
8.
9.
10.

(c) The parabola y = x2 from x = 0 to x = 1.

R
Evaluate z2 dz where is the parabola with parametric equation (t) = t + it2 , 0 t
1.
R
Compute z where is the semicircle from 1 through i to 1.
R
Compute ez where is the line segment from 0 to a point z0 .
R
Find |z|2 where is the line segment from 2 to 3 + i.

R
11. Compute z + 1z where is parametrized by (t), 0 t 1, and satisfies Im (t) > 0,
(0) = 4 + i, and (1) = 6 + 2i.
R
12. Find sin z where is parametrized by (t), 0 t 1, and satisfies (0) = i and
(1) = .
R 2 ik
1
13. This problem asks you to evaluate 2
e d.
0
(a) Show that the value is 1 if k = 0.
(b) Show that the value is 0 if k is a non-zero integer.
(c) What do you get if k = 1/2?
R
14. Evaluate z1/2 dz where is the unit circle and z1/2 is the principal branch. You can use
the parameterization ( ) = ei for , and remember that the principal branch

is defined by z1/2 = rei/2 if z = rei for .

15. Let be the circle with radius r centered at w, oriented counterclockwise. You can parameterize this curve as z(t) = w + reit for 0 t 2. Use the definition of an integral to show
that
Z
dz
= 2i .
zw
16. Prove Proposition 4.3.
17. Prove that G is an equivalence relation.
18.

(a) Prove that any closed curve is C-contractible.

(b) Prove that any two closed curves are C-homotopic.

R
19. Show that zn dz = 0 for any closed smooth and any integer n 6= 1. (If n is negative,
assume that does not pass through the origin, since otherwise the integral is not defined.)

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

20. Exercise 19 excluded n = 1 for a very good reason: Exercises 3 and 15 (with w = 0) give
counterexamples.
Generalizing these, if m is any integer then find a closed curve so that
R 1
z
dz
=
2mi.
(Hint:
Follow the counterclockwise unit circle through m complete cycles

(for m > 0). What should you do if m < 0? What if m = 0?)

21. Let r be the circle centered at 2i with radius r, oriented counterclockwise. Compute
Z
r

dz
.
+1

(This integral depends on r.)

22. Suppose p is a polynomial and is a closed smooth path in C. Show that
Z

p = 0.

23. Compute the real integral

Z 2
0

d
2 + sin

by writing the sine function in terms of the exponential function and making the substitution z = ei to turn the real integral into a complex integral.
24. Prove the following integration by parts statement. Let f and g be holomorphic in G, and
suppose G is a smooth curve from a to b. Then
Z

f g = f ((b)) g((b)) f (( a)) g(( a))

f 0g .

25. Suppose f and g are holomorphic on the region G, is a closed, smooth, G-contractible
curve, and f (z) = g(z) for all z . Prove that f (z) = g(z) for all z inside .
26. Prove Corollary 4.10 using Theorem 4.13.
27. Suppose a is a complex number and 0 and 1 are two counterclockwise circles (traversed
just once) so that a is inside both of them. Explain geometrically why 0 and 1 are homotopic in C \ { a} .
R
28. Let r be the counterclockwise circle with center at 0 and radius r. Find r zdz
a . You should
get different answers for r < | a| and r > | a|. (Hint: In one case r is contractible in C \ { a}.
In the other you can combine Exercises 15 and 27.)
29. Let r be the counterclockwise circle with center at 0 and radius r. Find
Z
r

dz
2z 8

CHAPTER 4. INTEGRATION

for r = 1, r = 3 and r = 5. (Hint: Since z2 2z 8 = (z 4)(z + 2) you can find a partial

fraction decomposition of the form
z2

1
A
B
=
+
.
2z 8
z4 z+2

Now use Exercise 28.)

30. Use the Cauchy integral formula to evaluate the integral in Exercise 29 when r = 3. (Hint:
The integrand can be written in each of following ways:
1
1
1/(z 4)
1/(z + 2)
=
=
=
.
z2 2z 8
(z 4)(z + 2)
z+2
z4
Which of these forms corresponds to the Cauchy integral formula for the curve 3 ?)
31. Find
Z
|z+1|=2

32. What is

Z
|z|=1

33. Evaluate

and

z2
.
4 z2
sin z
?
z

|z|=2

ez
z ( z 3)

|z|=4

ez
.
z ( z 3)

Chapter 5

Consequences of Cauchys Theorem

If things are nice there is probably a good reason why they are nice: and if you do not know at least one
reason for this good fortune, then you still have work to do.
Richard Askey

5.1

Extensions of Cauchys Formula

We now derive formulas for f 0 and f 00 which resemble Cauchys formula (Theorem 4.13).
Theorem 5.1. Suppose f is holomorphic on a region G, w G, and is a positively oriented, simple,
closed, smooth, G-contractible curve such that w is inside . Then
f 0 (w) =
and
f 00 (w) =

1
2i
1
i

f (z)
dz
( z w )2

f (z)
dz .
( z w )3

This innocent-looking theorem has a very powerful consequence: just from knowing that f
is holomorphic we know of the existence of f 00 , that is, f 0 is also holomorphic in G. Repeating
this argument for f 0 , then for f 00 , f 000 , etc., gives the following statement, which has no analog
whatsoever in the reals.
Corollary 5.2. If f is differentiable in a region G then f is infinitely differentiable in G.
Proof of Theorem 5.1. The idea of the proof is very similar to the proof of Cauchys integral formula (Theorem 4.13). We will study the following difference quotient, which we can rewrite as
follows by Theorem 4.13.

Z
Z
f (w + w) f (w)
1
1
f (z)
1
f (z)
=
dz
dz
w
w 2i z (w + w)
2i z w
Z
1
f (z)
=
dz .
2i (z w w)(z w)
59

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

Hence we will have to show that the following expression gets arbitrarily small as w 0:

Z
Z
f (w + w) f (w)
1
f (z)
1
f (z)
f (z)

dz =

dz
w
2i (z w)2
2i (z w w)(z w) (z w)2
Z
1
f (z)
= w
dz .
2i (z w w)(z w)2
This can be made arbitrarily small if we can show that the integral stays bounded as w 0.
In fact, by Proposition 4.7(d), it suffices to show that the integrand stays bounded as w 0
(because and hence length() are fixed). Let M = maxz | f (z)|. Since is a closed set,
there is some positive so that the open disk of radius around w does not intersect ; that is,
|z w| for all z on . By the reverse triangle inequality we have, for all z ,

f (z)
M
| f (z)|

(z w w)(z w)2 (|z w| |w|)|z w|2 ( |w|)2 ,
which certainly stays bounded as w 0. The proof of the formula for f 00 is very similar and
will be left for the exercises (see Exercise 2).
Remarks. 1. Theorem 5.1 suggests that there are similar formulas for the higher derivatives of f .
This is in fact true, and theoretically one could obtain them one by one with the methods of the
proof of Theorem 5.1. However, once we start studying power series for holomorphic functions,
we will obtain such a result much more easily; so we save the derivation of formulas for higher
derivatives of f for later (see Corollary 8.8).
2. Theorem 5.1 can also be used to compute certain integrals. We give some examples of this
application next.
Example 5.3.
Z
|z|=1

sin(z)
d

dz
=
2i
sin
(
z
)
= 2i cos(0) = 2i .

z2
dz
z =0

Example 5.4. To compute the integral

Z
|z|=2

dz
,
z2 ( z 1)

we first split up the integration path as illustrated in Figure 5.1: Introduce an additional path
which separates 0 and 1. If we integrate on these two new closed paths (1 and 2 ) counterclockwise, the two contributions along the new path will cancel each other. The effect is that we
transformed an integral for which two singularities were inside the integration path into a sum
of two integrals, each of which has only one singularity inside the integration path; these new

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

2
1
0

Figure 5.1: Example 5.4

integrals we know how to deal with.
Z
|z|=2

dz
=
2
z ( z 1)

Z
1

dz
+
2
z ( z 1)

dz
1)

Z
2

z2 ( z

1/z2
1/(z 1)
dz
+
dz
=
z2
2 z 1
1

d 1
1
= 2i
+ 2i 2

dz z 1 z=0
1

1
+ 2i
= 2i
(1)2
Z

= 0.
Example 5.5.
Z
|z|=1

5.2

cos(z)
d2
dz = i 2 cos(z)
= i ( cos(0)) = i .
3
z
dz
z =0

Taking Cauchys Formula to the Limit

Many beautiful applications of Cauchys formula arise from considerations of the limiting behavior of the formula as the curve gets arbitrarily large. We shall look at a few applications along
these lines in this section, but this will be a recurring theme throughout the rest of the book.
The first application is understanding the roots of polynomials. As a preparation we prove
the following inequality, which is generally quite useful. It simply says that for large enough z, a
polynomial of degree d looks almost like a constant times zd .
Lemma 5.6. Suppose p(z) is a polynomial of degree d with leading coefficient ad . Then there is real
number R0 so that
1
| ad | |z|d | p(z)| 2 | ad | |z|d
2
for all z satisfying |z| R0 .

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

Proof. Since p(z) has degree d, its leading coefficient ad is not zero, and we can factor out ad zd :

| p(z)| = ad zd + ad1 zd1 + ad2 zd2 + + a1 z + a0

a1
a0
a d 1
a d 2
d
++
+
.
= | a d | | z | 1 +
+
ad z
a d z2
a d z d 1
ad zd
Then the sum inside the last factor has limit 1 as z so its modulus is between 1/2 and 2 for
all large enough z.
Theorem 5.7 (Fundamental Theorem of Algebra1 ). Every non-constant polynomial has a root in C.
Proof. 2 Suppose (by way of contradiction) that p does not have any roots, that is, p(z) 6= 0 for all
z C. Then Cauchys formula gives us
1
1
=
p (0)
2i

Z
CR

1/p(z)
dz
z

where CR is the circle of radius R around the origin. Notice that the value of the integral does
not depend on R, so we have
Z
1
dz
1
= lim
.
()
R 2i CR z p ( z )
p (0)
But now we can see that the limit of the integral is 0: By Lemma 5.6 we have |z p(z)| 21 | ad | |z|d+1
for all large z, where d is the degree of p(z) and ad is the leading coefficient of p(z). Hence, using
Proposition 4.7(d) and the formula for the circumference of a circle we see that the integral can
be bounded as

1 Z
2
dz
2
1

2i C zp(z) 2 | a | Rd+1 (2R) = | a | Rd
d
d
R
and this has limit 0 as R . But, plugging into (), we have shown that
impossible.

1
p (0)

= 0, which is

Remarks. 1. This statement implies that any polynomial p can be factored into linear terms of
the form z a where a is a root of p, as we can apply the corollary, after getting a root a, to
p(z)/(z a) (which is again a polynomial by the division algorithm), etc. (see also Exercise 11).
2. A compact reformulation of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra is to say that C is algebraically closed. In contrast, R is not algebraically closed.
1 The

Fundamental Theorem of Algebra was first proved by Gau (in his doctoral dissertation in 1799, which had
a flawlater, he provided three rigorous proofs), although its statement had been assumed to be correct long before
Gaus time.
2 It is amusing that such an important algebraic result can be proved purely analytically. There are proofs of the
Fundamental Theorem of Algebra which do not use complex analysis. On the other hand, all proofs use some analysis
(such as the intermediate-value theorem). The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra refers to Algebra in the sense that
it existed in 1799, not to modern algebra. Thus, it has been remarked that the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra is
neither fundamental to algebra nor even a theorem of algebra.

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

Example 5.8. The polynomial p( x ) = 2x4 + 5x2 + 3 is such that all of its coefficients are real.
However, p has no roots in R. The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra states that p must have one
root (in fact, 4 roots) in C:

p( x ) = ( x2 + 1)(2x2 + 3) = ( x + i )( x i )( 2x + 3i )( 2x 3i ).
A powerful consequence of (the first half of) Theorem 5.1 is the following.
Corollary 5.9 (Liouvilles3 Theorem4 ). Every bounded entire function is constant.
Proof. Suppose | f (z)| M for all z C. Given any w C, we apply Theorem 5.1 with the circle
CR of radius R centered at w. Note that we can choose any R because f is entire. Now we apply
Proposition 4.7 (d), remembering that CR has circumference 2R and |z w| = R for all z on CR :

Z

0

f (z)
1
f (z)

f (w) = 1

2R = 1 max | f (z)| 2R = max | f (z)|
2i C (z w)2 dz 2 max

2
z
zR ( z w )
2 zR R2
R
R
M

.
R
The right-hand side can be made arbitrarily small, as we are allowed to make R as large as we
want. This implies that f 0 = 0, and hence, by Theorem 2.14, f is constant.
As an example of the usefulness of Liouvilles theorem we give another proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra, which is close to Gaus original proof:
Another proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra. Suppose (by way of contradiction) that p does
not have any roots, that is, p(z) 6= 0 for all z C. Then, because p is entire, the function
f (z) = 1/p(z) is entire. But f 0 as |z| becomes large as a consequence of Lemma 5.6; that is,
f is also bounded (Exercise 10). Now apply Corollary 5.9 to deduce that f is constant. Hence p
is constant, which contradicts our assumptions.
As one more example of this theme of getting results from Cauchys formula by taking the
limit as a path goes to infinity, we compute an improper integral.
Example 5.10. Let be the counterclockwise semicircle formed by the segment S of the real axis
from R to R followed by the circular arc T of radius R in the upper half plane from R to R,
where R > 1. Let g(z) = 1/(z + i ). We shall integrate the function
f (z) =

1/(z + i )
g(z)
1
=
=
.
+1
zi
zi

Since g(z) is holomorphic inside and on and i is inside , we can apply Cauchys formula:
1
2i
3 For

dz
1
=
2
z +1
2i

g(z)
1
1
dz = g(i ) =
= ,
zi
i+i
2i

more information about Joseph Liouville (18091882), see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Liouville.html.
4 This theorem is for historical reasons erroneously attributed to Liouville. It was published earlier by Cauchy; in
fact, Gau may well have known about it before Cauchy.

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

and so

Z
S

dz
+
2
z +1

Z
T

dz
=
2
z +1

dz
1
= 2i = .
+1
2i

()

Now this formula holds for all R > 1, so we can take the limit as R . First, z2 + 1 |z|2 /2
for large enough z by Lemma 5.6, so we can bound the integral over T using Proposition 4.7(d):

Z

2
2
dz

T z2 + 1 R2 R = R
and this has limit 0 as R . On the other hand, we can parameterize the integral over S using
z = t, R t R, obtaining
Z
Z R
dz
dt
=
.
2+1
z
1
+
t2
S
R
As R this approaches an improper integral. Making these observations in the limit of the
formula () as R now produces
Z

dt
= .
+1

Of course this integral can be evaluated almost as easily using standard formulas from calculus. However, just a slight modification of this example leads to an improper integral which is
far beyond the scope of basic calculus; see Exercise 14.

5.3

Antiderivatives

We begin this section with a familiar definition from real calculus:

Definition 5.11. Let G be a region of C. For any functions f , F : G C, if F is holomorphic on
G and F 0 (z) = f (z) for all z G, then F is an antiderivative of f on G, also known as a primitive of
f on G.
In short, an antiderivative of f is a function with F 0 = f .
Example 5.12. We have already seen that F (z) = z2 is entire and has derivative f (z) = 2z. Thus,
F is an antiderivative of f on any region G of C.
Just like in the real case, there are complex versions of the Fundamental Theorems of Calculus. The Fundamental Theorems of Calculus makes a number of important claims: that continuous functions are integrable, their antiderivatives are continuous and differentiable, and that
antiderivatives provide easy ways to compute values of definite integrals. The difference between
the real case and the complex case is that for the complex case, we need to think about integrals
over arbitrary curves in 2-dimensional regions.
We state the Second Fundamental Theorem first, as our proof of the First Fundamental Theorem invokes the Second.

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

Theorem 5.13 (Second Fundamental Theorem of Calculus). Suppose G C is a region. Let G

be a smooth curve with parametrization (t), a t b. If F is any primitive of f on G then
Z

f = F ((b)) F (( a)) .

Proof. This follows immediately from the definition of the integral and the real version of the
Second Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.
We now mention three interesting corollaries of the Second Fundamental Theorem.
R
Corollary 5.14. If f is holomorphic on a simply-connected region G then f is independent of the path
G between ( a) and (b).
When a line integral only depends on the endpoints of the path chosen, the integral is called
path-independent. Example 4.2 shows that this situation is quite special; it also says that the
function z2 does not have an antiderivative in, for example, the region {z C : |z| < 2}.
(Actually, the function z2 does not have an antiderivative in any nonempty regionprove it!)
There is a useful trick to keep in mind to use Corollary 5.14 that comes from viewing the
complex plane as part of the Riemann sphere. Let f be a function defined on a region G C
containing
R the origin, and let G {0} be a curve in G avoiding the origin. Consider the
integral f (z) dz. The dz in this integral is the differential for integration with respect to the
variable z, but just like in real calculus we can change variables. So, consider the variable w :=
1/z. Changing variables from z to w inverts the Riemann sphere through the equator, exchanging
the origin and infinity. Let 0 denote the image of the curve under this inversion, so if is
parametrized by time t, 0 (t) := (1t) , and let G 0 := {w C|w = 1/z for some z G }. Since
dz
does not go through the origin, 0 is well defined. The differential dz is just dw
dw = w12 dw, so

Z
Z
1
1
f (z) dz =
f
dw .
2
0
w
w

R
R
Define g(w) := f (1/w)/w2 , so f (z) dz = 0 g(w) dw. For example, when f (z) = zn for some
integer n, g(w) = wn2 . Technically, since f is not defined at , g is not defined at 0 and so
G 0 never contains 0, but if L = limw0 g(w) exists then we can extend g continuously to the
origin by setting g(0) = L, so we can add 0 to G 0 . When 0 G 0 , we can
the
R think of applying
R
0
Fundamental Theorems to g on G instead of to f on G. By construction, f (z) dz = 0 g(w) dw,
so whatever we can say about the second integral automatically
applies to the first. Thus,
if G is
R
R
0
not simply connected but G is, then by Corollary 5.14 0 g is path-independent so f is also
n
path-independent.
R If we apply this to the example of f (z) = z for some integer n, we get an
easy proof that 1 f = 0 for all n 6= 1, as follows. For n > 1, f is holomorphic at 0 so the
Corollary applies to show the integral is 0 (equivalently, Cauchys theorem applies). For n < 1,
g is holomorphic at 0 so the Corollary applies. For n = 1, f = g and the Corollary does not
apply, indicating that n = 1 really is a special case.
Coming back to the statement of Corollary 5.14, if is closed (that is, ( a) = (b)) we
immediately get the following nice consequence (which also follows from Cauchys Integral
Formula).

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

Corollary 5.15. Suppose G C is open, is a smooth closed curve in G, and f has an antiderivative on
G. Then
Z
f = 0.

This corollary is immediately useful as a test for existence of primitives:

R
Example 5.16. The function 1/z satisfies 1/z dz = 2i, where is a circle of any radius
centered at the origin, by Exercise 15 in the previous chapter. Since this integral is nonzero, 1/z
can have no antiderivative in C \ {0}.
We now turn to the First Fundamental Theorem.
Theorem 5.17 (First Fundamental Theorem of Calculus). Suppose G C is a region, and fix some
basepoint z0 G. For each point z G, let z denote a smooth curve in GRfrom z0 to z. Let f : G C
be a holomorphic function such that, for any simple closed curve G, f = 0. Then the function
F (z) : G C defined by
Z
F (z) :=

is holomorphic on G with F 0 (z) = f (z).

Proof. We leave this proof as Exercise 15.
A special case of the First Fundamental Theorem applies to regions that satisfy the following
definition.
Definition 5.18. A region G C is simply connected if every simple closed curve in G is Gcontractible. That is, for any simple closed curve G, the interior of in C is also completely
contained in G.
Loosely, simply connected means G has no holes.
Corollary 5.19. Every holomorphic function on a simply-connected region has a primitive.
Proof. Cauchys Theorem tells us that such a function satisfies the stated prerequisites for the
First Fundamental Theorem.
One consequence of the First Fundamental Theorem comes from its proof: we will not really
need the fact that every closed curve in G is contractible, just that every closed curve gives a zero
integral for f . This fact can be exploited to give a sort of converse statement to Corollary 4.10.
Corollary 5.20 (Moreras5 Theorem). Suppose f is continuous in the region G and
Z

f =0

for all smooth closed paths G. Then f is holomorphic in G.

5 For more information about Giancinto Morera (18561907), see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Morera.html.

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

Proof. As in the proof of Theorem 5.17, we fix a z0 G and define

F (z) =

f,
z

where z is any smooth curve in G from z0 to z. As in the proof of the First Fundamental
Theorem, this is a well-defined function because all closed paths give a zero integral for f and
we can show that F is a primitive for f in G. Because F is holomorphic on G, Corollary 5.2 gives
that f is also holomorphic on G.

Exercises
1. Compute the following integrals, where C is the boundary of the square with corners at
4 4i:
ez
dz.
3
C z
Z
ez
(b)
dz.
2
C ( z i )
Z
sin(2z)
dz.
(c)
2
C (z )
Z z
e cos(z)
(d)
dz.
3
C (z )
(a)

2. Prove the formula for f 00 in Theorem 5.1.

3. Integrate the following functions over the circle |z| = 3, oriented counterclockwise:
(a) Log(z 4i ).
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)

1
z1/2 .
1
.
z2 4
exp z
.
z3

cos z 2
.
z
z

3
i .
sin z
.
(z2 +1/2)2
exp z
, where
( z w )2
1
.
(z+4)(z2 +1)

4. Evaluate

5. Prove that

w is any fixed complex number with |w| 6= 3.

e2z dz
|z|=3 (z1)2 (z2) .

z exp z2 dz = 0 for any closed curve .

6. Show that exp(sin z) has an antiderivative on C.

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

7. Show that F (z) =
equal to arctan z?

i
2

Log(z + i ) 2i Log(z i ) is a primitive of

1
1+ z2

for Re(z) > 0. Is F (z)

8. Find a region on which f (z) = exp(1/z) has an antiderivative. (Your region should be as
large as you can make it. How does this compare with the real function f ( x ) = e1/x ?)
9. Compute the following integrals; use the principal value of zi . (Hint: one of these integrals
is considerably easier than the other.)
(a)

Z
1

(b)

zi dz where 1 (t) = eit , 2 t

zi dz where 2 (t) = eit ,

3
2 .

10. Suppose f is continuous on C and limz f (z) = 0. Show that f is bounded. (Hint: From
the definition of limit at infinity (with e = 1) there is R > 0 so that | f (z) 0| = | f (z)| < 1
if |z| > R. Is f bounded for |z| R?)
11. Let p be a polynomial of degree n > 0. Prove that there exist complex numbers c, z1 , z2 , . . . , zk
and positive integers j1 , . . . , jk such that
p(z) = c (z z1 ) j1 (z z2 ) j2 (z zk ) jk ,
where j1 + + jk = n.
12. Show that a polynomial of odd degree with real coefficients must have a real zero. (Hint:
Exercise 21b in Chapter 1.)
13. Suppose f is entire and there exist constants a and b such that | f (z)| a|z| + b for all z C.
Prove that f is a linear polynomial (that is, of degree at most 1).
14. In this problem F (z) = eiz /(z2 + 1) and R > 1. Modify the example at the end of Section 5.2:
R
(a) Show that F (z) dz = /e if is the counterclockwise semicircle formed by the
segment S of the real axis from R to R, followed by the circular arc T of radius R in
the upper half plane from R to R.

(b) Show that eiz 1 for z in the upper half plane, and conclude that | F (z)| 2/|z|2 for
z large enough.
(c) Show that limR

R
T

F (z) dz = 0, and hence limR

R
S

F (z) dz = /e.

(d) Conclude, by parameterizing the integral over S in terms of t and just considering the
real part, that
Z
cos(t)

dt = .
2+1
t
e

15. Prove Theorem 5.17, as follows.

(a) Use Cauchys Theorem to show that, for a given z G, the value of F (z) is independent of the choice of z .

CHAPTER 5. CONSEQUENCES OF CAUCHYS THEOREM

(b) Use the Second Fundamental Theorem to show that, for any z, z0 G and any G
connecting z to z0 ,
Z
F (z0 ) F (z) =
f.

(c) Use the fact that f is continuous to show that for any fixed z C and any e > 0, there
is a > 0 such that for each z C with |z| < ,

F (z) F (z + z)

f (z) < e.

z
(d) Conclude that F 0 (z) = f (z).
16. Prove Corollary 5.14.
17. Prove Corollary 5.15.
18. This exercise gives an alternative proof of Cauchys integral formula (Theorem 4.13) that
does not depend on Cauchys Theorem (Theorem 4.9). Suppose f is holomorphic on the
region G, w G, and is a positively oriented, simple, closed, smooth, G-contractible
curve such that w is inside .
(a) Consider the function g : [0, 1] C,
g(t) =

f (w + t(z w))
dz .
zw

Show that g0 = 0. (Hint: Use Theorem 1.22 (Leibnizs rule) and then find a primitive
f
for t (z + t(w z)).)
(b) Prove Theorem 4.13 by evaluating g(0) and g(1).

Chapter 6

Harmonic Functions
The shortest route between two truths in the real domain passes through the complex domain.
J. Hadamard

6.1

Definition and Basic Properties

We will now spend a chapter on certain functions defined on subsets of the complex plane which
are real valued. The main motivation for studying them is that the partial differential equation
they satisfy is very common in the physical sciences.
Recall from Section 2.4 the definition of a harmonic function:
Definition 6.1. Let G C be a region. A function u : G R is harmonic in G if it has continuous
second partials in G and satisfies the Laplace1 equation
u xx + uyy = 0
in G.
There are (at least) two reasons why harmonic functions are part of the study of complex
analysis, and they can be found in the next two theorems.
Proposition 6.2. Suppose f = u + iv is holomorphic in the region G. Then u and v are harmonic in G.
Proof. First, by Corollary 5.2, f is infinitely differentiable, and hence so are u and v. In particular,
u and v have continuous second partials. By Theorem 2.15, u and v satisfy the CauchyRiemann
equations
u x = vy
and
uy = v x
in G. Hence
u xx + uyy = (u x ) x + uy

= vy

+ (v x )y = vyx v xy = 0

in G. Note that in the last step we used the fact that v has continuous second partials. The proof
that v satisfies the Laplace equation is similar.
1 For more information about Pierre-Simon Laplace (17491827), see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Laplace.html.

CHAPTER 6. HARMONIC FUNCTIONS

Proposition 6.2 shouts for a converse theorem. There are, however, functions which are harmonic in a region G but not the real part (say) of an holomorphic function in G (Exercise 3). We
do obtain a converse of Proposition 6.2 if we restrict ourselves to simply connected regions.
Theorem 6.3. Suppose u is harmonic on a simply connected region G. Then there exists a harmonic
function v such that f = u + iv is holomorphic in G.
Remark. The function v is called a harmonic conjugate of u.
Proof. We will explicitly construct the holomorphic function f (and thus v = Im f ). First, let
g = u x iuy .
The plan is to prove that g is holomorphic, and then to construct an antiderivative of g, which will
be almost the function f that were after. To prove that g is holomorphic, we use Theorem 2.15:
first because u is harmonic, Re g = u x and Im g = uy have continuous partials. Moreover, again
because u is harmonic, they satisfy the CauchyRiemann equations:

(Re g) x = u xx = uyy = (Im g)y

and

(Re g)y = u xy = uyx = (Im g) x .

Now that we know that g is holomorphic in G, we can use Theorem 5.17 to obtain a primitive
h of g on G. (Note that for the application of this theorem we need the fact that G is simply
connected.) Suppose we decompose h into its real and imaginary parts as h = a + ib. Then, again
using Theorem 2.15,
g = h0 = a x + ibx = a x iay .
(The second equation follows from the CauchyRiemann equations.) But the real part of g is u x ,
so that we obtain u x = a x or u( x, y) = a( x, y) + c(y) for some function c which only depends
on y. On the other hand, comparing the imaginary parts of g and h0 yields uy = ay or
u( x, y) = a( x, y) + c( x ), and c depends only on x. Hence c has to be constant, and u = a + c. But
then
f = hc
is a function holomorphic in G whose real part is u, as promised.
Remark. In hindsight, it should not be surprising that the function g which we first constructed is
the derivative of the sought-after function f . Namely, by Theorem 2.15 such a function f = u + iv
must satisfy
f 0 = u x + iv x = u x iuy .
(The second equation follows from the CauchyRiemann equations.) It is also worth mentioning
that the proof shows that if u is harmonic in G then u x is the real part of a function holomorphic
in G regardless of whether G is simply connected or not.

CHAPTER 6. HARMONIC FUNCTIONS

As one might imagine, the two theorems weve just proved allow for a powerful interplay
between harmonic and holomorphic functions. In that spirit, the following theorem might appear
not too surprising. It is, however, a very strong result, which one might appreciate better when
looking back at the simple definition of a harmonic function.
Corollary 6.4. A harmonic function is infinitely differentiable.
Proof. Suppose u is harmonic in G. Fix z0 G and r > 0 such that the disk
D = { z C : | z z0 | < r }
is contained in G. D is simply connected, so by the last theorem, there exists a function f
holomorphic in D such that u = Re f on D. By Corollary 5.2, f is infinitely differentiable on D,
and hence so is its real part u. Because z0 D, we showed that u is infinitely differentiable at z0 ,
and because z0 was chosen arbitrarily, we proved the statement.
Remark. This is the first in a series of proofs which uses the fact that the property of being
harmonic is a local propertyit is a property at each point of a certain region. Note that we did
not construct a function f which is holomorphic in G; we only constructed such a function on
the disk D. This f might very well differ from one disk to the next.

6.2

Mean-Value and Maximum/Minimum Principle

The following identity is the harmonic analog of Cauchys integral formula, Theorem 4.13.
Theorem 6.5. Suppose u is harmonic in the region G and {z C : |z w| r } G. Then
u(w) =

1
2

Z 2
0

u w + reit dt .

Proof. The disk D = {z C : |z w| r } is simply connected, so by Theorem 6.3 there is a

function f holomorphic on D such that u = Re f on D. Now we apply Corollary 4.14 to f :
f (w) =

1
2

Z 2
0

f w + reit dt .

The statement follows by taking the real part on both sides.

Theorem 6.5 states that harmonic functions have the mean-value property. The following result
is a fairly straightforward consequence of this property. The function u : G C R has a strong
relative maximum at w if there exists a disk D = {z C : |z w| < R} G such that u(z) u(w)
for all z D and u(z0 ) < u(w) for some z0 D. The definition of a strong relative minimum is
analogous.
Theorem 6.6. If u is harmonic in the region G, then it does not have a strong relative maximum or
minimum in G.

CHAPTER 6. HARMONIC FUNCTIONS

Proof. Assume (by way of contradiction) that w is a strong local maximum of u in G. Then there
is a disk in G centered at w containing a point z0 with u(z0 ) < u(w). Suppose |z0 w| = r; we
apply Theorem 6.5 with this r:
u(w) =

1
2

Z 2
0

u w + reit dt .

Intuitively, this cannot hold, because some of the function values were integrating are smaller
than u(w), contradicting the mean-value property. To make this into a thorough argument,
suppose that z0 = w + reit0 for 0 t0 < 2. Because u(z0 ) < u(w)and u is continuous, there is a
whole interval of parameters, say t0 t < t1 , such that u w + reit < u(w).

Figure 6.1: Proof of Theorem 6.6.

Now we split up the mean-value integral:
Z 2

1
u w + reit dt
2 0
Z t
Z t1
Z 2

0
1
it
it
it
u w + re dt
u w + re dt +
u w + re dt +
=
2
0
t0
t1

u(w) =

All the integrands can be bounded by u(w), for the middle integral we get a strict inequality.
Hence
Z t

Z t1
Z 2
0
1
u(w) dt +
u(w) <
u(w) dt +
u(w) dt = u(w) ,
2
0
t0
t1
a contradiction. The same argument works if we assume that u has a relative minimum. But
in this case theres actually a short cut: if u has a strong relative minimum then the harmonic
function u has a strong relative maximum, which we just showed cannot exist.
A look into the (not so distant) future.
We will see in Corollary 8.14 a variation of this theorem for a weak relative maximum w, in
the sense that there exists a disk D = {z C : |z w| < R} G such that all z D satisfy
u(z) u(w). Corollary 8.14 says that if u is harmonic and non-constant in the region G, then it
does not have a weak relative maximum or minimum in G. A special yet important case of the

CHAPTER 6. HARMONIC FUNCTIONS

above maximum/minimum principle is obtained when considering bounded regions. Corollary 8.14
implies that if u is harmonic in the closure of the bounded region G then
max u(z) = max u(z)
z G

and

min u(z) = min u(z) .

z G

(Here G denotes the boundary of G.) Well exploit this fact in the next two corollaries.
Corollary 6.7. Suppose u is harmonic in the closure of the bounded region G. If u is zero on G then u
is zero in G.
Proof. By the remark we just made
u(z) max u(z) = max u(z) = max 0 = 0
z G

and
u(z) min u(z) = min u(z) = min 0 = 0 ,
z G

so u has to be zero in G.
Corollary 6.8. If two harmonic functions agree on the boundary of a bounded region then they agree in
the region.
Proof. Suppose u and v are harmonic in G G and they agree on G. Then u v is also harmonic
in G G (Exercise 2) and u v is zero on G. Now apply the previous corollary.
The last corollary states that if we know a harmonic function on the boundary of some region
then we know it inside the region. One should remark, however, that this result is of a completely
theoretical nature: it says nothing about how to extend a function given on the boundary of a
region to the full region. This problem is called the Dirichlet2 problem and has a solution for
all simply-connected regions. There is a fairly simple formula (involving the so-called Poisson3
kernel) if the region in question is a disk; for other regions one needs to find a conformal map to
the unit disk. All of this is beyond the scope of these notes, we just remark that Corollary 6.8
says that the solution to the Dirichlet problem is unique.

Exercises
1. Show that all partial derivatives of a harmonic function are harmonic.
2. Suppose u and v are harmonic, and c R. Prove that u + cv is also harmonic.

3. Consider u(z) = u( x, y) = ln x2 + y2 .
(a) Show that u is harmonic in C \ {0}.
2 For

more information about Johann Peter Gustav Dirichlet (18051859), see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Dirichlet.html.
3 For more information about Simon Denis Poisson (17811840), see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Poisson.html.

CHAPTER 6. HARMONIC FUNCTIONS

(b) Prove that u is not the real part of a function which is holomorphic in C \ {0}.
4. Let u( x, y) = e x sin y.
(a) Show that u is harmonic on C.
(b) Find an entire function f such that Re( f ) = u.
5. Is it possible to find a real function v so that x3 + y3 + iv is holomorphic?

Chapter 7

Power Series
It is a pain to think about convergence but sometimes you really have to.
Sinai Robins

7.1

Sequences and Completeness

As in the real case (and there will be no surprises in this chapter of the nature real versus complex), a (complex) sequence is a function from the positive (sometimes the nonnegative) integers
to the complex numbers. Its values are usually denoted by an (as opposed to, say, a(n)) and we
commonly denote the sequence by ( an )
n=1 , ( an )n1 , or simply ( an ). The notion of convergence
of a sequence is based on the following sibling of Definition 2.1.
Definition 7.1. Suppose ( an ) is a sequence and a C such that for all e > 0 there is an integer
N such that for all n N, we have | an a| < e. Then the sequence ( an ) is convergent and a is its
limit; in symbols we write
lim an = a .
n

If no such a exists then the sequence ( an ) is divergent.

Example 7.2. limn in /n = 0: Given e > 0, choose N > 1/e. Then for any n N,
n
n
n
i

0 = i = | i | = 1 1 < e .
n
n
n
n
N
Example 7.3. The sequence ( an = in ) diverges: Given a C, choose e = 1/2. We consider two
cases: If Re a 0, then for any N, choose n N such that an = 1. (This is always possible since
a4k+2 = i4k+2 = 1 for any k 0.) Then

| a a n | = | a + 1| 1 >

1
.
2

If Re a < 0, then for any N, choose n N such that an = 1. (This is always possible since
a4k = i4k = 1 for any k > 0.) Then

| a a n | = | a 1| 1 >
76

1
.
2

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

The following limit laws are the relatives of the identities stated in Lemma 2.4.
Lemma 7.4. Let ( an ) and (bn ) be convergent sequences and c C.
(a) lim an + c lim bn = lim ( an + c bn ) .
n

(b) lim an lim bn = lim ( an bn ) .

limn an
(c)
= lim
n
limn bn

an
bn

In the quotient law we have to make sure we do not divide by zero.

If f is continuous at a then
lim f ( an ) = f ( a)

lim an = a ,

where we require that an be in the domain of f .

The most important property of the real number system is that we can, in many cases, determine that a sequence converges without knowing the value of the limit. In this sense we can use the
sequence to define a real number.
We will assume that the reals are complete as an axiom. There are many equivalent ways of
formulating the completeness property for the reals, including:
Axiom (Monotone Sequence Property). Any bounded monotone sequence converges.
Notice that the Monotone Sequence Property implies the Least Upper Bound Property, which
states that every non-empty set of real numbers with an upper bound in fact has a supremum,
or least upper bound.
Remember that a sequence is monotone if it is either non-decreasing (xn+1 xn for all n) or
non-increasing (xn+1 xn for all n).
Example 7.5. If 0 r < 1 then limn r n = 0: First, the sequence converges because it is
decreasing and bounded below by 0. If the limit is L then, using the laws of limits, we get
L = limn r n = limn r n+1 = r limn r n = rL. From L = rL we get (1 r ) L = 0, so L = 0
since 1 r 6= 0
The following is a consequence of the Monotone Sequence Property (via the Least Upper
Bound Property), although it is often listed as a separate axiom:1
Theorem 7.6 (Archimedean2 Property). If x is any real number then there is an integer N which is
greater than x.
1 Both

the Archimedean Property and the Least Upper Bound Property can be used in (different) axiom systems
for R.
2 For more on Archimedes, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes. Archimedes attributes this property
to Euxodus. For more on Euxodus, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euxodus.

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

This essentially says that infinity is not inside the real numbers. Notice that this was already
used in Example 7.2. For a proof see Exercise 5. It is interesting to see that the Archimedean principle underlies the construction of an infinite decimal expansion for any real number, while the
monotone sequence property shows that any such infinite decimal expansion actually converges
to a real number.
We close this discussion of limits with a pair of standard limits. The first of these can be
established by calculus methods (like LHospitals rule, by treating n as the variable); both of
them can be proved by more elementary considerations.
Lemma 7.7. (a) Exponentials beat polynomials: for any polynomial p(n) and any b R with |b| > 1,
limn p(n)/bn = 0.
(b) Factorials beat exponentials: for any a R, limn an /n! = 0.
Note this lemma also works for a, b C.

7.2

Series

A series is a sequence ( an ) whose members are of the form an = nk=1 bk (or an = nk=0 bk ); here
(bk ) is the sequence of terms of the series. The an = nk=1 bk (or an = nk=0 bk ) are the partial sums of
the series. If we wanted to be lazy we would define convergence of a series simply by referring to
convergence of the partial sums of the seriesafter all, we just defined series through sequences.
However, there are some convergence features which take on special appearances for series, so
we should mention them here explicitly. For starters, a series converges to the limit (or sum) a by
definition if
n

bk = a .
n

lim an = lim

k =1

To express this in terms of Definition 7.1, for any e > 0 we have to find an N such that for all
nN

n

bk a < e .
k =1

In the case of a convergent series, we usually express its limit as a =
k =1 bk or a = k 1 bk .
Example 7.8. Occasionally we can find the limit of a sequence by manipulating the partial sums:

n
1
1
1
k(k + 1) = nlim
k k+1

k 1
k =1

1
1 1
1 1
1
1
= lim
1
+

n
2
2 3
3 4
n n+1

1 1 1 1 1
1
1
= lim 1 + + + +
n
2 2 3 3 4
n n+1

1
= lim 1
= 1.
n
n+1
A series where most of the terms cancel like this is called a telescoping series.

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

Most of the time we need to use the completeness property to check convergence of a series,
and it is fortunate that the monotone sequence property has a very convenient translation into the
language of series of real numbers. The partial sums of a series form a nondecreasing sequence
if the terms of the series are nonnegative, and this observation immediately yields the following:
Lemma 7.9. If bk are nonnegative real numbers then
k =1 bk converges if and only if the partial sums are
bounded.
If bk are nonnegative real numbers and the partial sums of the series
k =1 bk are unbounded
then the partial sums converge to infinity, so we can write
b
=
.
Using
this terminology,
k =1 k

we can rephrase Lemma 7.9 to say: k=1 bk converges in the reals if and only if it is bounded.
We have already used the simple fact that convergence of a sequence ( an ) is equivalent to the
convergence of ( an1 ), and both of these sequences have the same limit. If an is the nth partial
sum of the series k1 bk then an = an1 + bn . From this we conclude the following:
Lemma 7.10. If k1 bk converges then limn bn = 0.
The contrapositive of this lemma is often used, and is called the Test for Divergence:
Lemma 7.11 (Test for Divergenge). If limn bn 6= 0, then k1 bk diverges.
A common mistake is to try to use the converse of this lemma, but the converse is false:
Example 7.12. The harmonic series k1 1/k diverges (even though the limit of the general term
is 0): If we assume the series converges, say to L, then we have
1 1 1 1 1
+ + + + +
2 3 4 5 6
1 1 1 1 1 1
> + + + + + +
2 2 4 4 6 6
1 1
= 1+ + +
2 3
= L.

L = 1+

But now we have L > L, which is impossible.

There is one notion of convergence thats special to series: we say that k1 ck converges
absolutely if k1 |ck | < . Be careful: We are defining the phrase converges absolutely, but this
definition does not say anything about convergence of the series k1 ck ; we need a proof:
Theorem 7.13. If a series converges absolutely then it converges.
Proof. First consider the case when the terms ck are real. Define c+
k to be ck if ck 0 and 0 if
+
+
ck < 0. Then c+

0
and
c

|
c
|
<

so
c
converges;
let P be its limit.

k 1 k
k 1 k
k 1 k
k

Similarly, define ck to be ck if ck 0, or 0 if ck > 0. Then ck 0 and k1 ck k1 |ck | <

so k1 c
k converges; let N be its limit. Since ck = ck ck we see that k 1 ck converges to
P N.
If ck is complex, write ck = ak + ibk where ak and bk are real. Then k1 | ak | k1 |ck | <
and k1 |bk | k1 |ck | < . By what we just proved, both k1 ak and k1 bk converge to
real numbers, say, A and B. But then k1 ck converges to A + iB.

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

Another common mistake is to try to use the converse of this theorem, but the converse is
false:
(1)k+1

Example 7.14. The alternating harmonic series k1 k

converges, but not absolutely: This
series does not converge absolutely, according to the previous example. To see that it does
converge, rewrite it as follows:
1 1 1 1 1
(1)k+1
= 1 + + +
k
2 3 4 5 6
k 1

1
1 1
1 1
= 1
+

+
2
3 4
5 6

(Technically, there is a small detail to be checked here, since we are effectively ignoring half
the partial sums of the original series. See Exercise 14.) The reader can verify the inequality
2k (2k 1) k (k + 1) for k > 1, so the general term satisfies
1
1
1
1

,
2k 1 2k
2k (2k 1)
k ( k + 1)
so the series converges by comparison with the telescoping series of Example 7.8.
For the rest of this book we shall be concerned almost exclusively with series which converge
absolutely. Hence checking convergence of a series is usually a matter of verifying that a series
of nonnegative reals is finite. We have already used the technique of comparing a series to a
series which is known to converge; this is often called a comparison test. Some variants of the
comparison test will appear when we look at power series. One handy test is the following:
Lemma 7.15 (Integral Test). Suppose f is a non-increasing, positive function defined on [1, ). Then
Z
1

f (t) dt

f ( k ) f (1) +

k =1

f (t) dt

This is immediate from a picture: the integral of f (t) on the interval [k, k + 1] is bounded
between f (k ) and f (k + 1). Adding the pieces gives the inequalities above for the Nth partial
sum versus the integrals from 1 to N and from 1 to N + 1, and the inequality persists in the limit.
Example 7.16. k1 1/k p converges if p > 1 and diverges if p 1.
To summarize, when testing the convergence of a series we have: the Test for Divergence,
the Comparison Test, and the Integral Test, as well as three related tests from calculus: the Limit
Comparison Test, the Root Test, and the Ratio Test.

7.3

Sequences and Series of Functions

The fun starts when one studies sequences ( f n ) of functions f n . We say that such a sequence
converges at z0 if the sequence (of complex numbers) ( f n (z0 )) converges. If a sequence of functions
( f n ) converges at all z in some subset G C then we say that ( f n ) converges pointwise on G. So
far nothing new; but this notion of convergence does not really catch the spirit of the function as
a whole.

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

Definition 7.17. Suppose ( f n ) and f are functions defined on G C. If for all e > 0 there is an
N such that for all z G and for all n N we have

| f n (z) f (z)| < e ,

then ( f n ) converges uniformly in G to f .
Whats the big deal about uniform versus pointwise convergence? It is easiest to describe
the difference with the use of quantifiers, namely denoting for all and denoting there is.
Pointwise convergence on G means

( e > 0) ( z G ) ( N : n N | f n (z) f (z)| < e) ,

whereas uniform convergence on G translates into

( e > 0) ( N : ( z G ) n N | f n (z) f (z)| < e) .

No big dealwe only exchanged two of the quantifiers. In the first case, N may well depend on
z, in the second case we need to find an N which works for all z G. And this can make all the
difference . . . .
The first example illustrating this difference says in essence that if we have a sequence of
functions ( f n ) which converges uniformly on G then for all z0 G
lim lim f n (z) = lim lim f n (z) .

n z z0

z z0 n

We will need similar interchanges of limits constantly.

Proposition 7.18. Suppose ( f n ) is a sequence of continuous functions on the region G converging uniformly to f on G. Then f is continuous on G.
Proof. Let z0 G; we will prove that f is continuous at z0 . By uniform convergence, given e > 0,
there is an N such that for all z G and all n N

| f n (z) f (z)| <

e
.
3

Now we make use of the continuity of the f n s. This means that given (the same) e > 0, there is
a > 0 such that whenever |z z0 | < we have

| f n (z) f n (z0 )| <

e
.
3

All thats left is putting those two inequalities together: by the triangle inequality

| f (z) f (z0 )| = | f (z) f n (z) + f n (z) f n (z0 ) + f n (z0 ) f (z0 )|

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

Once we know the above result about continuity, we can ask about integration of series of
functions. The next theorem should come as no surprise; however, its consequences (which we
will only see in the next chapter) are wide ranging.
Proposition 7.19. Suppose ( f n ) is a sequence of functions that are continuous on a smooth curve and
( f n ) converges uniformly on to f . Then
lim

fn =

Proof. By Proposition 4.7(d), we can estimate

Z
Z

Z

fn

max | f n (z) f (z)| length() .
f
=
f

f
n

But f n f uniformly on , and we can make maxz | f n (z) f (z)| as small as we like.
Since uniform convergence is often of critical importance, we give two practical tests: one
arguing for uniformity and the other against. They are formulated for sequences that converge to
0. If a sequence gn converges to a function g then we can usually apply these tests to f n = g gn ,
which does converge to 0.
Lemma 7.20. If ( f n ) is a sequence of functions and ( Mn ) is a sequence of constants so that ( Mn ) converges
to 0 and, for each n, | f n (z)| Mn for all z in the set G, then ( f n ) converges uniformly to 0 on G.
For example, |zn | r n if z is in the closed disk Dr (0), and r n 0 if r < 1, so zn 0 uniformly
in Dr (0) if r < 1.
Lemma 7.21. If ( f n ) is a sequence of functions which converges uniformly to 0 on a set G and (zn ) is any
sequence in G, then the sequence ( f n (zn )) converges to 0.
This is most often used to prove non-uniform convergence. For example, let f n (z) = zn and let
G be the open unit disk D1 (0). Then |z| < 1 if z is in G, so |z|n 0, and so zn 0. However, let
zn = exp(1/n). Then zn is in G but f n (zn ) = e1 so f n (zn ) does not converge to 0. Therefore zn
does not converge uniformly to 0 on D1 (0).
All of these notions for sequences of functions go verbatim for series of functions. Here we
also have a notion of absolute convergence (which can be combined with uniform convergence).
There is an important result about series of functions, often called the Weierstra M-test.
Proposition 7.22. Suppose ( f k ) is a sequence of functions that are continuous on a region G, for each k,
| f k (z)| Mk for all z G, and k1 Mk converges. Then k1 f k converges absolutely and uniformly
in G.
Proof. For each fixed z we have k1 | f k (z)| k1 Mk < , so k1 f k (z) converges; call the
limit f (z). This defines a function f on G. To see that ( f n ) converges uniformly to f , suppose
e > 0. Since k1 Mk converges there is N so that

k =1

Mk = Mk Mk < e

k>n

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

Figure 7.1: The graph of the functions f n ( x ) := sinn ( x ), showing the difference between pointwise and uniform convergence.
for all n > N. Then, for any z in G, if n N then

n

f (z) f k (z) = f n (z) | f n (z)| Mk < e

k>n
k>n
k =1
k>n
and this satisfies the definition of uniform convergence.
A good example of the difference between pointwise convergence and uniform convergence
can be seen in the following example.
Example 7.23. For simplicity and so we can draw the appropriate pictures, we restrict our attention to the real axis (using x instead of z), although this example also works for complex-defined
functions. Consider the sequence of functions ( f n ) defined by f n ( x ) := sinn ( x ), on the interval
[0, ]. On this interval, for all n and all x we have 0 f n ( x ) 1, with f n ( x ) = 1 if and only if
x = /2. It follows that, for any fixed x [0, ], the sequence ( f n ( x )) converges to 1 if x = /2
or to 0 if x 6= /2. Thus, the sequence ( f n ) converges pointwise to the function f defined by
(
1 if x = /2
f ( x ) :=
.
0 if x 6= /2
Because the functions f n are all continuous but f is not, we can already see by Proposition 7.18
that the convergence must not be uniform. To visualize this, consider Figure 7.1. Away from
x = /2, pointwise convergence to f is seen by the fact that the functions f n are getting closer
and closer to 0. Non-uniform convergence is illustrated by the fact that, as x gets closer and
closer to /2, the functions f take longer and longer to get to 0.
We end this section by noting that everything weve developed here could have been done in
greater generalityfor instance, for functions from Rn or Cn to Rm or Cm .

7.4

Region of Convergence

For the remainder of this chapter (indeed, these lecture notes) we concentrate on some very
special series of functions.

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

Definition 7.24. A power series centered at z0 is a series of the form

c k ( z z0 ) k .

k 0

The fundamental example of a power series is the geometric series, for which all ck = 1.
Lemma 7.25. The geometric series k0 zk converges absolutely for |z| < 1 to the function 1/(1 z).
The convergence is uniform on any set of the form { z C : |z| r } for any r < 1.
Proof. Fix an r < 1, and let D = { z C : |z| r }. We will use Proposition 7.22 with f k (z) = zk
and Mk = r k . Hence the uniform convergence on D of the geometric series will follow if we can
show that k0 r k converges. But this is straightforward: the partial sums of this series can be
written as
n
1 r n +1
r k = 1 + r + + r n 1 + r n = 1 r ,
k =0
whose limit as n exists because r < 1. Hence, by Proposition 7.22, the geometric series
converges absolutely and uniformly on any set of the form {z C : |z| r } with r < 1. Since r
can be chosen arbitrarily close to 1, we have absolute convergence for |z| < 1. It remains to show
that for those z the limit function is 1/(1 z), which follows by

zk = lim

k 0

k =0

1 z n +1
1
=
.
n 1 z
1z

zk = lim

By comparing a general power series to a geometric series we can give a complete description
of its region of convergence.
Theorem 7.26. Any power series k0 ck (z z0 )k has a radius of convergence R. By this we mean
that R is either a nonnegative real number or and satisfies the following:
(a) If r < R then k0 ck (z z0 )k converges absolutely and uniformly on the closed disk Dr (z0 ) of radius
r centered at z0 .
(b) If |z z0 | > R then the sequence of terms (ck (z z0 )k ) is unbounded, so k0 ck (z z0 )k does not
converge.
The open disk DR (z0 ) in which the power series converges absolutely is the region of convergence. (If R = then DR (z0 ) is the entire complex plane, and if R = 0 then DR (z0 ) is the empty
set.) By way of Proposition 7.18, this theorem immediately implies the following.
Corollary 7.27. Suppose the power series k0 ck (z z0 )k has radius of convergence R. Then the series
represents a function which is continuous on DR (z0 ).
While were at it, we might as well state what Proposition 7.19 implies for power series.
Corollary 7.28. Suppose the power series k0 ck (z z0 )k has radius of convergence R and is a smooth
curve in DR (z0 ). Then
Z
Z

ck (z z0 )k dz = ck

k 0

In particular, if is closed then

k 0

k
k0 ck (z z0 ) dz = 0.

(z z0 )k dz .

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

These corollaries will become extremely useful shortlyjust glance ahead at Theorem 8.1.
Proof of Theorem 7.26. Define C to be the set of positive real numbers for which the series k0 ck tk
converges, and define D to be the set of positive real numbers for which it diverges. Clearly every
positive real number is in either C or D, and these sets are disjoint. First we establish three facts
about these sets.
() If t C and r < t then r C, and k0 ck (z z0 )k converges absolutely and uniformly
on Dr (z0 ). To prove this, note that k0 ck tk converges so ck tk 0 as k . In particular,
this
sequence
so |ck | tk M for some constant M. Now if z Dr (z0 ) we have
is bounded,

k
k
ck (z z0 ) |ck | r and

|ck | r k =

k 0

|ck | tk

k 0

r k
t

r k

k 0

r k
t

M
< .
1 r/t

At the last step we recognized the geometric series, which converges since 0 r < t, and so
r (z0 ) follows
0 r/t < 1. This shows that r C, and uniform and absolute convergence on D
from the Weierstra M-test.
() If t D and r > t then r D, and k0 ck (z z0 )k diverges on the complement of
Dr (z0 )that is, for |z z0 | r. To prove this, assume that ck r k is bounded, so |ck | r k M for
some constant M. But now exactly the same argument as in (), but interchanging r and t, shows
that k0 ck tk converges, contradicting the assumption that t is in D.
() There is an extended real number R, satisfying 0 R , so that 0 < r < R implies
r C and R < r < implies r D. Notice that R = 0 works if C = {0}, and R = works if D
is empty; so we assume neither is empty and we start with a0 in C and b0 in D. It is immediate
from () or () that a0 < b0 . We shall define sequences an in C and bn in D which zero in on
R. First, let m0 be the midpoint of the segment [ a0 , b0 ], so m0 = ( a0 + b0 )/2. If m0 lies in C then
we define a1 = m0 and b1 = b0 ; but if m0 lies in D then we define a1 = a0 and b1 = m0 . Note that,
in either case, we have a0 a1 < b1 b0 , a1 is in C, and b1 is in D. Moreover, a1 and b1 are closer
together than a0 and b0 ; in fact, b1 a1 = (b0 a0 )/2. We repeat this procedure to define a2 and
b2 within the interval [ a1 , b1 ], and so on. Summarizing, we have
a n a n +1

for an C;

bn bn + 1

for bn D;

a n < bn ;
bn an = (b0 a0 )/2n .
The sequences an and bn are monotone and bounded (by a0 and b0 ) so they have limits, and these
limits are the same since limn (bn an ) = limn (b0 a0 )/2n = 0. We define R to be this
limit. If 0 < r < R then r < an for all sufficiently large n, since an converges to R, so r is in C by
(). On the other hand, if R < r then bn < r for all sufficiently large n, so r is in D by (). Thus
R is the desired extended real number.
To prove Theorem 7.26, first assume r < R and choose t so that r < t < R. Then t C by
(), so part (a) of 7.26 follows from (). Similarly, if r = |z z0 | > R then choose t so that
R < t < r. Then t D by (), so part (b) of 7.26 follows from ().

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

It is worth mentioning the following corollary, which reduces the calculation of the radius of
convergence to examining the limiting behavior of the terms of the series.
Corollary 7.29. |ck | r k 0 for 0 r < R but |ck | r k is unbounded for r > R.
Warning: Neither Theorem 7.26 nor Corollary 7.29 says anything about convergence on the
circle |z z0 | = R .
Example 7.30. Consider the power series3
1

k! zk .

k 0

We use the Ratio Test from calculus to determine the radius of convergence. Since

k +1
z
z
k!
|z|

( k + 1) ! z k = k + 1 = k + 1 0
as k , the power series converges absolutely for all z. The radius of convergence is R = .
The region of convergence is all of C, the disk of radius infinity about the origin (the center of
the series).
The exercises contain several more examples and methods of computing radii of convergence;
see, in particular, Exercise 29.
There are many operations we may perform on series. We may add constants and polynomials to power series. We may rearrange the terms of a series in the case that the series converges
absolutely. That absolute convergence is both necessary and sufficient for rearrangement is left
as an exercise. Thus, we may add two power series together on a common region of convergence
and rearrange their sum to collect coefficients of the same degree together, as the next example
demonstrates. We have seen that we may differentiate and integrate power series. We may also
multiply series by constants, or multiply power series by polynomials. In fact, we may multiply power series together on their common region of convergence. We leave it as an exercise to
determine a formula for multiplying power series together.

Exercises
1. Let ( an ) be a sequence. A point a is an accumulation point of the sequence if for every e > 0
and every N N there exists some n > N such that | an a| < e. Prove that if a sequence
has more than one accumulation point then the sequence diverges.
2. For each of the sequences, prove convergence or divergence. If the sequence converges,
find the limit.
(a) an = ein/4 .
(b) an =
3 In

(1)n
n .

the next chapter, we will see that this power series represents the exponential function.

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

(c) an = cos n.
(d) an = 2 in2 /(2n2 + 1).
(e) an = sin(1/n).
3. Determine whether each of the following series converges or diverges.
n
(a) n1 1+3i
n
(b) n1 n 1i
n

+2i
(c) n1 1
5
(d) n1

1
n3 + i n

4. Show that the limit of a convergent sequence is unique.

5. Derive the Archimedean Property from the monotone sequence property.
6. Prove the following:
(a) lim an = a

(b) lim an = 0

lim | an | = | a|.

lim | an | = 0.

7. Prove Lemma 7.7.

8. Prove: (cn ) converges if and only if (Re cn ) and (Im cn ) converge.
9. Prove Lemma 7.4.
10. Prove that Z is complete.
11. Use the fact that R is complete to prove that C is complete.
12. Suppose an bn cn for all n and limn an = L = limn cn . Prove that limn bn = L.
This is called the Squeeze Theorem, and is useful in testing a sequence for convergence.

13. Find sup Re e2it : t Q \ Z .
14. Suppose that the sequence (cn ) converges to zero. Show that
n=0 cn converges if and
only if
(
c
+
c
)
converges.
Moreover,
if
the
two
series
converge
then they have
2k +1
k =0 2k
the same limit. Also, give an example where (cn ) does not converge to 0 and one series
diverges while the other converges.
15. Prove that the series k1 bk converges if and only if limn
k = n bk = 0 .
16.

(a) Show that k1 1/2k = 1. One way to do this is to write 1/2k as a difference of powers
of 2 so that you get a telescoping series.
(b) Show that k1 k/(k2 + 1) diverges. (Hint: compare the general term to 1/2k.)
(c) Show that k1 k/(k3 + 1) converges. (Hint: compare the general term to 1/k2 .)

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

17. Discuss the convergence of k0 zk for |z| = 1.

18. Prove Lemma 7.20.
19. Prove Lemma 7.21.
20. Where do the following sequences converge pointwise? Do they converge uniformly on
this domain?
(a) (nzn ) .
n
(b) zn for n > 0.

(c) 1+1nz , defined on {z C : Re z 0}.
21. Let f n ( x ) = n2 xenx .
(a) Show that limn f n ( x ) = 0 for all x 0. Treat x = 0 as a special case; for x > 0 you
can use LHospitals rulebut remember that n is the variable, not x.
R1
(b) Find limn 0 f n ( x ) dx. (Hint: the answer is not 0.)
(c) Why doesnt your answer to part (b) violate Proposition 7.19?
22. Prove that absolute convergence is a sufficient and necessary condition to be able to arbitrarily rearrange the terms of a series without changing the sum.
23. Derive a formula for the product of two power series.
24. Find a power series (and determine its radius of convergence) for the following functions.
(a)
(b)
(c)

1
1+4z .
1
3 2z .
z2
(4 z )2

for |z| < 4

25. Find a power series representation about the origin of each of the following functions.
(a) cos z
(b) cos(z2 )
(c) z2 sin z
(d) (sin z)2
26.

(a) Suppose that the sequence (ck ) is bounded. Show that the radius of convergence of
k0 ck (z z0 )k is at least 1.
(b) Suppose that the sequence (ck ) does not converge to 0. Show that the radius of convergence of k0 ck (z z0 )k is at most 1.

27. Find the power series centered at 1 and compute its radius of convergence for each of the
following functions :

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

(a) f (z) = 1/z.

(b) f (z) = Log z.
28. Use the Weierstra M-test to show that each of the following series converges uniformly on
the given domain:
(a)

on D1 (0).

k 1

(b)

on {z : |z| 2}.

k 0

(c)

zk + 1 on Dr (0), where 0 r < 1.

k 0

29. Suppose L = limk |ck |1/k exists. Show that 1/L is the radius of convergence of k0 ck (z z0 )k .
(Use the natural interpretations if L = 0 or L = .)
30. Find the radius of convergence for each of the following series.
(a)

ak zk , a C.
2

k 0

(b)

kn zk , n Z.

k 0

(c)

zk! .

k 0

(d)

(1)k k(k+1)
.
k z
k 1

(e)

zk
kk .
k 1

(f)

cos(k)zk .

k 0

(g)

4k ( z 2 ) k .

k 0

31. Find a function in closed form (i.e. not a power series) representing each of the following
series.
(a)

z2k
.
k!
k 0

(b)

k ( z 1 ) k 1 .

k 1

(c)

k ( k 1) z k .

k 2

32. Define the functions f n (t) = et/n /n for n > 0 and 0 t < .

CHAPTER 7. POWER SERIES

(a) Show that the maximum of f n (t) is 1/n.

(b) Show that f n (t) converges uniformly to 0 as n .
R
(c) Show that 0 f n (t) dt does not converge to 0 as n
(d) Why doesnt this contradict the theorem that the integral of a uniform limit is the
limit of the integrals?

Chapter 8

Taylor and Laurent Series

We think in generalities, but we live in details.
A. N. Whitehead

8.1

Power Series and Holomorphic Functions

We will see in this section that power series and holomorphic functions are intimately related. In
fact, the two cornerstone theorems of this section are that any power series with a positive radius
of convergence represents a holomorphic function, and conversely, any holomorphic function
can be represented by a power series.
We begin by showing a power series represents a holomorphic function, and consider some
of the consequences of this:
Theorem 8.1. Suppose f (z) = k0 ck (z z0 )k has positive radius of convergence R. Then f is holomorphic in {z C : |z z0 | < R}.
Proof. Given any closed curve {z C : |z z0 | < R}, we have by Corollary 7.28
Z

ck (z z0 )k dz = 0 .

k 0

On the other hand, Corollary 7.27 says that f is continuous. Now apply Moreras theorem
(Corollary 5.20).
A special case of the last result concerns power series with infinite radius of convergence:
those represent entire functions.
Now that we know that power series are holomorphic (i.e., differentiable) on their regions of
convergence we can ask how to find their derivatives. The next result says that we can simply
differentiate the series term by term.
Theorem 8.2. Suppose f (z) = k0 ck (z z0 )k has positive radius of convergence R. Then
f 0 (z) =

k c k ( z z 0 ) k 1 ,

k 1

and the radius of convergence of this power series is also R.

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

Proof. Let f (z) = k0 ck (z z0 )k . Since we know that f is holomorphic in its region of convergence we can use Theorem 5.1. Let be any simple closed curve in {z C : |z z0 | < R} that
goes around z0 exactly oncefor instance, can be taken to be a circle of any radius less than R
centered at z0 , oriented counter-clockwise. Then
f 0 (z) =

1
2i

f (w)
dw.
( w z )2

Note that the power series of f converges uniformly on . We will see in Section 8.3 that
k 0 c k ( w z 0 ) k
= c k ( w z 0 ) k 2
( w z )2
k 0
also converges uniformly on , so that we are free to interchange integral and infinite sum. And
then we use Theorem 5.1 again, but applied to the function (z z0 )k . Here are the details:
1
f (z) =
2i

1
2i

f (w)
dw
( w z )2

k 0 c k ( w z 0 ) k
dw
( w z )2

( w z0 ) k
dw
2
(w z)

d
k
= ck
( w z0 )
dw

1
= ck
2i
k 0

w=z

k 0

k c k ( z z0 )

k 1

k 0

The last statement of the theorem is easy to show: the radius of convergence R of f 0 (z) is at least
R (since we have shown that the series converges whenever |z z0 | < R), and it cannot be larger
than R by comparison to the series for f (z), since the coefficients for (z z0 ) f 0 (z) are bigger than
the corresponding ones for f (z).
Example 8.3. Consider the function f (z) = exp(z). You may recall from calculus that the realdefined, real-valued function e x has an expansion as the power series k0 x k /k! . In fact, a
similar expression holds for the complex-defined, complex-valued f (z). Let g(z) = k0 zk /k! ,
which has an infinite radius of convergence by Exercise 7.30. Then
g0 (z) =

d
zk
d zk
z k 1
zk
=
=
=
dz k! (k 1)! k! = g(z) .
dz k
k!
0
k 0
k 1
k 0

Thus, g(z) has the correct derivative. The question still remains whether f (z) = g(z) or not. To
see that f (z) = g(z), first note that
1
1
=
= exp(z) = f (z) .
f (z)
exp(z)

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

Thus, the function f (z) g(z) has 0 derivative:

d
[ f (z) g(z)] = f 0 (z) g(z) + f (z) g0 (z) = f (z) g(z) + f (z) g(z) = 0 .
dz
This means that g(z)/ f (z) = f (z) g(z) = c for some constant c C. Evaluating at z = 0, we
see c = 1, so g(z) = f (z) as desired.
Example 8.4. We can use the power series expansion for exp(z) to find a power series expansion
of the trigonometric functions. For instance, consider f (z) = sin(z). Then

1 iz
f (z) = sin z =
e eiz
2i
!
(iz)k
(iz)k
1

=
2i k
k!
k!
0
k 0

1
1
(iz)k (1)k (iz)k
=

2i k0 k!

1
2i

2ik zk
k!
k0,k odd

1
2i

2i2l +1 z2l +1
(2l + 1)!
l 0

i2l z2l +1
(2l + 1)!
l 0

(1)l z2l +1
(2l + 1)!
l 0

= z

z3
z5
z7
+ + .
3!
5!
7!

Note that we are allowed to rearrange the terms of the two added sums because the corresponding series have infinite radii of convergence.
Naturally, Theorem 8.2 can be repeatedly applied to f 0 , then to f 00 , and so on. The various
derivatives of a power series can also be seen as ingredients of the series itself. This is the
statement of the following Taylor1 series expansion.
Corollary 8.5. Suppose f (z) = k0 ck (z z0 )k has a positive radius of convergence. Then
ck =

f ( k ) ( z0 )
.
k!

Proof. For starters, f (z0 ) = c0 . Theorem 8.2 gives f 0 (z0 ) = c1 . Applying the same theorem to f 0
gives
f 00 (z) = k (k 1)ck (z z0 )k2
k 2

1 For more information about Brook Taylor (16851731), see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Taylor.html.

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

and f 00 (z0 ) = 2c2 . We can play the same game for f 000 (z0 ), f 0000 (z0 ), etc.
Taylors formulas show that the coefficients of any power series which converges to f on an
open disk D centered at z0 can be determined from the function f restricted to D. It follows
immediately that the coefficients of a power series are unique:
Corollary 8.6 (Uniqueness of power series). If k0 ck (z z0 )k and k0 c0k (z z0 )k are two power
series which both converge to the same function f (z) on an open disk centered at a then ck = c0k for all k.
We now turn to the second cornerstone result, that a holomorphic function can be represented
by a power series, and its implications.
Theorem 8.7. Suppose f is a function which is holomorphic in D = {z C : |z z0 | < R}. Then f
can be represented in D as a power series centered at z0 (with a radius of convergence at least R):
f (z) =

c k ( z z0 )

1
ck =
2i

with

k 0

f (w)
dw .
( w z 0 ) k +1

Here is any positively oriented, simple, closed, smooth curve in D for which z0 is inside .
Proof. Let g(z) = f (z + z0 ); so g is a function holomorphic in {z C : |z| < R}. Fix r < R,
denote the circle centered at the origin with radius r by r , and suppose that |z| < r. Then by
Cauchys integral formula (Theorem 4.13),
1
g(z) =
2i

Z
r

g(w)
dw .
wz

The factor 1/(w z) in this integral can be extended into a geometric series (note that w r
and so |z/w| < 1)
z k
1
1
1
1
=
=
wz
w 1 wz
w k
w
0
which converges uniformly in the variable w r (by Lemma 7.25). Hence Proposition 7.19
applies:
1
g(z) =
2i

Z
r

g(w)
1
dw =
wz
2i

Z
r

z k
1
1
g(w)
dw =
w k 0 w
2i
k 0

Z
r

g(w)
dw zk .
w k +1

Now, since f (z) = g(z z0 ), we apply a change of variables to obtain

f (z) =

1
2i
k 0

Z
r

f (w)
dw (z z0 )k ,
( w z 0 ) k +1

where r is the circle centered at z0 with radius r. The only difference of this right-hand side to
the statement of the theorem are the curves were integrating over. However, r G\{z0 } , and
we can apply Cauchys Theorem 4.9:
Z
r

f (w)
dw =
( w z 0 ) k +1

f (w)
dw .
( w z 0 ) k +1

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

If we compare the coefficients of the power series obtained in Theorem 8.7 with those in
Corollary 8.5, we arrive at the long-promised extension of Theorem 5.1 (which in turn extended
Cauchys integral formula, Theorem 4.13).
Corollary 8.8. Suppose f is holomorphic on the region G, w G, and is a positively oriented, simple,
closed, smooth, G-contractible curve such that w is inside . Then
f (k) ( w ) =

k!
2i

f (z)
dz .
( z w ) k +1

Corollary 8.8 combined with our often-used Proposition 4.7(d) gives an inequality which is
often called Cauchys Estimate:
Corollary 8.9. Suppose f is holomorphic in {z C : |z w| < R} and | f | M. Then

k!M
(k)

f (w) k .
R
Proof. Let be a circle centered at w with radius r < R. Then Corollary 8.8 applies, and we can
estimate using Proposition 4.7(d):

k! Z

f (z)
k!
f (z)
(k)

length() k! M 2r = k!M .

dz
max
f (w) =

k
+
1
k
+
1
2i (z w)
2 z (z w)
2 r k+1
rk
The statement now follows since r can be chosen arbitrarily close to R.
It is worth emphasizing a key aspect of this section: we have proven an alternative characterization of what it means to be holomorphic. Recall that a function is holomorphic in a region
G if it is differentiable at each point z0 G. We now define what it means for a function
to be analytic in G. Fix z0 G. For any function f such that f is continuous in a region
A := {z C|0 < |z z0 | < R} for some R > 0, we can define the Taylor series expansion of f
about z0 as the power series obtained by using the coefficients from Theorem 8.7. More specifically, let be any positively oriented, simple, closed, smooth curve in A for which z0 is inside .
Define
Z
1
f (w)
ck :=
dw .
2i (w z0 )k+1
The Taylor series expansion of f about z0 is the power series k0 ck (z z0 )k . The function f is
analytic at z0 if f is equal to its Taylor series about z0 , and f is analytic in G if f is analytic about
each point in G. This section can be summed up in the following powerful theorem:
Theorem 8.10. For any region G the class of all analytic functions in G coincides with the class of all
holomorphic functions in G.
While these two terms do not always mean the same thing, in the study of complex analysis
they do, and are frequently used interchangeably.

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

8.2

Classification of Zeros and the Identity Principle

Basic algebra shows that if a polynomial p(z) of positive degree d has a zero at a (in other
words, if p( a) = 0) then p(z) has z a as a factor. That is, p(z) = (z a)q(z) where q(z) is a
polynomial of degree d 1. We can then ask whether q(z) itself has a zero at a and, if so, we
can factor out another factor of z a. Continuing in this way we see that we can factor p(z) as
p(z) = (z a)m g(z) where m is a positive integer, not bigger than d, and g(z) is a polynomial
which does not have a zero at a. The integer m is called the multiplicity of the zero a of p(z).
Almost exactly the same thing happens for holomorphic functions:
Theorem 8.11 (Classification of Zeros). Suppose f is a holomorphic function defined on an open set G
and suppose f has a zero at a point a in G. Then there are exactly two possibilities: Either
(a) f is identically zero on some open disk D centered at a (that is, f (z) = 0 for all z in D); or
(b) there is a positive integer m and a holomorphic function g, defined on G, satisfying f (z) = (z
a)m g(z) for all z in G, with g( a) 6= 0.
The integer m in the second case is uniquely determined by f and a and is called the multiplicity of the
zero at a.
Proof. We have a power series expansion for f (z) in some disk Dr ( a) of radius r around a, so
f (z) = k0 ck (z a)k , and c0 = f (0) is zero since a is a zero of f . There are now exactly two
possibilities: Either
(a) ck = 0 for all k; or
(b) there is some positive integer m so that ck = 0 for all k < m but cm 6= 0.
The first case clearly gives us f (z) = 0 for all z in D = Dr ( a). So now consider the second case.
Notice that
f ( z ) = c m ( z a ) m + c m +1 ( z a ) m +1 + = ( z a ) m ( c m + c m +1 ( z a ) + )

= (z a)m

ck+m ( z a )k .

k 0

Then we can define a function g on G by

k 0 c k + m ( z a ) k

g(z) =
f (z)

(z a)m

if |z a| < r
if z G \ { a}

According to our calculations above, the two definitions give the same value when both are
applicable. The function g is holomorphic at a by the first definition and g is holomorphic at
other points of G by the second definition. Finally, g( a) = cm 6= 0.
Clearly m is unique, since it is defined in terms of the power series expansion of f at a, which
is unique.

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

To start using the intimate connection of holomorphic functions and power series, we apply
Theorem 8.11 to obtain the following result, which is sometimes also called the uniqueness theorem.
Theorem 8.12 (Identity Principle). Suppose f and g are holomorphic in a region G and f (zk ) = g(zk )
at a sequence which converges to w G with zk 6= w for all k. Then f (z) = g(z) for all z in G.
Proof. We start by defining h = f g. Then h is holomorphic on G, h(zn ) = 0, and we will be
finished if we can deduce that h is identically zero on G. If b is in G then exactly one of the
following occurs: Either
(a) there is an open disk D centered at b so that h(z) = 0 for all z in D; or
(b) there is an open disk D centered at b so that h(z) 6= 0 for all z in D \ {b}.
To see this, suppose that h(b) 6= 0. Then, by continuity, there is an open disk D centered at
b so that h(z) 6= 0 for all z D, so b satisfies the second condition. If h(b) = 0 then, by the
classification of zeros, either h(z) = 0 for all z in some open disk D centered at b, so that b
satisfies the first condition, or h(z) = (z b)m (z) for all z in G where is holomorphic and
(b) 6= 0. Then, since is continuous, there is an open disk D centered at b so that (z) 6= 0 for
all z in D. Then h(z) = (z b)m (z) 6= 0 for all z in D except z = b, so b satisfies the second
condition.
Now define two sets X, Y G, so that b X if b satisfies the first condition above, and b Y
if b satisfies the second condition. If b X and D is an open disk centered at b as in the first
condition, then it is clear that D X. If b Y and D is an open disk centered at b as in the
second condition, then D Y, since if z D \ {b} then h(z) 6= 0, and we saw that this means z
satisfies the second condition.
Finally, we check that our original point w lies in X. To see this, suppose w Y, and let
D be an open disk centered at w so that h(z) 6= 0 for all z in D except z = b. But, since the
sequence zk converges to w, there is some k so that zk is in D, so h(zk ) = 0. Since zk 6= w, this is
a contradiction.
Now we finish the proof using the definition of connectedness. X and Y are disjoint open
sets whose union is G, so one of them must be empty. Since a is in X, we must have Y = and
X = G. But X = G implies that every z in G satisfies the first condition above, so h(z) = 0.
Using the identity principle, we can prove yet another important property of holomorphic
functions.
Theorem 8.13 (Maximum-Modulus Theorem). Suppose f is holomorphic and non-constant in a region
G. Then | f | does not attain a weak relative maximum in G.
There are many reformulations of this theorem, such as: If G is a bounded region and f is
holomorphic in the closure of G, then the maximum of | f | is attained on the boundary of G.
Proof. Suppose there is a point a in G and an open disk D0 centered at a so that | f ( a)| | f (z)|
for all z in D0 . If f ( a) = 0 then f (z) = 0 for all z in D0 , so f is identically zero, by the
identity principle. So we assume f ( a) 6= 0. In this case we can define a holomorphic function

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

g(z) = f (z)/ f ( a), and we have the condition | g(z)| | g( a)| = 1 for all z in D0 . Since g( a) = 1
we can find, using continuity, a smaller open disk D centered at a so that g(z) has positive real
part for all z in D. Thus the function h = Log g is defined and holomorphic on D, and we have
h( a) = Log( g( a)) = Log(1) = 0 and Re h(z) = Re Log( g(z)) = ln(| g(z)|) ln(1) = 0.
We now refer to Exercise 27, which shows that h must be identically zero in D. Hence
g(z) = eh(z) must be equal to e0 = 1 for all z in D, and so f (z) = f ( a) g(z) must have the constant
value f ( a) for all z in D. Hence, by the identity principle, f (z) has the constant value f ( a) for all
z in G.
Theorem 8.13 can be used to give a proof of the analogous theorem for harmonic functions,
Theorem 6.6, in the process strengthening that theorem to cover weak maxima and weak minima.
Corollary 8.14. If u is harmonic and non-constant in a region G, then it does not have a weak relative
maximum or minimum in G.
Since the last corollary also covers minima of harmonic functions, we should not be too
surprised to find the following result whose proof we leave for the exercises.
Corollary 8.15 (Minimum-Modulus Theorem). Suppose f is holomorphic and non-constant in a region
G. Then | f | does not attain a weak relative minimum at a point a in G unless f ( a) = 0.

8.3

Laurent Series

Theorem 8.7 gives a powerful way of describing holomorphic functions. It is, however, not as
general as it could be. It is natural, for example, to think about representing exp(1/z) as
exp

1
1 1 k
1
= zk ,
=
z
k!
z
k!
k 0
k 0

a power series with negative exponents. To make sense of expressions like the above, we
introduce the concept of a double series

ak = ak + ak .

k Z

k 0

k 1

Here ak C are terms indexed by the integers. A double series converges if and only if both
of its defining series do. Absolute and uniform convergence are defined analogously. Equipped
with this, we can now state the following central definition.
Definition 8.16. A Laurent2 series centered at z0 is a double series of the form kZ ck (z z0 )k .
Example 8.17. The series which started this section is the Laurent series of exp(1/z) centered at
0.
2 For

more information about Pierre Alphonse Laurent (18131854), see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Laurent Pierre.html.

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

Example 8.18. Any power series is a Laurent series (with ck = 0 for k < 0).
We should pause for a minute and ask for which z such a Laurent series can possibly converge. By definition

c k ( z z0 ) k = c k ( z z0 ) k + c k ( z z0 ) k .

k Z

k 0

k 1

The first of the series on the right-hand side is a power series with some radius of convergence
R2 , that is, it converges in {z C : |z z0 | < R2 }. The second we can view as a power series in
1/(z z0 )," it will converge for
1
1
<
| z z0 |
| R1 |
for some R1 , that is, in {z C : |z z0 | > R1 }. For the convergence of our Laurent series,
we need to combine those two notions, whence the Laurent series converges on the annulus
{z C : R1 < |z z0 | < R2 } (if R1 < R2 ). Even better, Theorem 7.26 implies that the convergence is uniform on a set of the form {z C : r1 |z z0 | r2 } for any R1 < r1 < r2 <
R2 . Theorem 8.1 says that the Laurent series represents a function which is holomorphic on
{z C : R1 < |z z0 | < R2 }. The fact that we can conversely represent any function holomorphic in such an annulus by a Laurent series is the substance of the next theorem.
Theorem 8.19. Suppose f is a function which is holomorphic in A = {z C : R1 < |z z0 | < R2 }.
Then f can be represented in A as a Laurent series centered at z0 :
f (z) =

c k ( z z0 ) k

ck =

with

k Z

1
2i

f (w)
dw .
( w z 0 ) k +1

Here is any circle in A centered at z0 .

Remark. By Cauchys Theorem 4.9 we can replace the circle in the formula for the Laurent series
by any closed, smooth path that is A-homotopic to the circle.
Proof. Let g(z) = f (z + z0 ); so g is a function holomorphic in {z C : R1 < |z| < R2 }. Fix
R1 < r1 < |z| < r2 < R2 , and let 1 and 2 be positively oriented circles centered at 0 with radii
r1 and r2 , respectively. By introducing an extra piece (see Figure 8.1), we can apply Cauchys
integral formula (Theorem 4.13) to the path 2 1 :
g(z) =

1
2i

Z
2 1

g(w)
1
dw =
wz
2i

Z
2

g(w)
1
dw
wz
2i

Z
1

g(w)
dw .
wz

(8.1)

For the integral over 2 we play exactly the same game as in Theorem 8.7. The factor 1/(w z)
in this integral can be expanded into a geometric series (note that w 2 and so |z/w| < 1)
1
1
1
=
wz
w 1

z
w

z k
1
,
w k
w
0

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

100

Figure 8.1: Proof of Theorem 8.19.

which converges uniformly in the variable w 2 (by Lemma 7.25). Hence Proposition 7.19
applies:
Z
Z
Z
z k
1
g(w)
g(w)
dw =
g(w)
dw =
dw zk .
k
+
1
w

z
w
w
w
2
2
k 0
k 0 2
The integral over 1 is computed in a similar fashion; now we expand the factor 1/(w z) into
the following geometric series (note that w 1 and so |w/z| < 1)
w k
1
1 1
1
=
=

,
wz
z 1 wz
z k
z
0
which converges uniformly in the variable w 1 (by Lemma 7.25). Again Proposition 7.19
applies:
Z
Z
Z
Z
w k
g(w)
1
g(w)
dw =
g(w)
dw =
g(w)wk dw zk1 =
dw zk .
k
+
1
w

z
z
z
w
1
1
k 0
k 0 1
k 1 1
Putting everything back into (8.1) gives
1
g(z) =
2i

k 0 2

g(w)
dw zk +
k
+
1
w
k 1

Z
1

g(w)
dw zk
k
+
1
w

!
.

We can now change both integration paths to a circle centered at 0 with a radius between R1
and R2 (by Cauchys Theorem 4.9), which finally gives
1
g(z) =
2i

k Z

g(w)
dw zk .
w k +1

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

101

The statement follows now with f (z) = g(z z0 ) and a change of variables.
We finish this chapter with a consequence of the above theorem; because the coefficients of a
Laurent series are given by integrals, we immediately obtain the following:
Corollary 8.20. For a given function in a given region of convergence, the coefficients of the corresponding
Laurent series are uniquely determined.
This result seems a bit artificial; what it says is simply the following: if we expand a function
(that is holomorphic in some annulus) into a Laurent series, there is only one possible outcome.

Exercises
1. For each of the following series, determine where the series converges absolutely and where
it converges uniformly:
(a)

k ( k 1 ) z k 2 .

k 2

(b)

(2k + 1)! z2k+1 .

k 0

(c)

k 0

1
z3

k
.

2. What functions are represented by the series in the previous exercise?

3. Find the power series centered at 1 for exp z.
4. Prove Lemma 3.16 using the power series of exp z centered at 0.
5. By integrating a series for
radius of convergence?

1
1+ z2

term by term, find a power series for arctan(z). What is its

6. Find the terms through third order and the radius of convergence of the power series for
each of the following functions, centered at z0 . Do not find the general form for the coefficients.
(a) f (z) =
(b) f (z) =
(c) f (z) =

1
,
1+ z2
1
e z +1 ,

z0 = 1.
z0 = 0.

1 + z, z0 = 0 (use the principal branch).

(d) f (z) = e , z0 = i.
7. Prove the following generalization of Theorem 8.1: Suppose ( f n ) is a sequence of functions
that are holomorphic on a region G and that ( f n ) converges uniformly to f on G. Then f is
holomorphic in G. (This result is called the Weierstra convergence theorem.)

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

102

8. Use the previous exercise and Corollary 8.9 to prove the following: Suppose ( f n ) is a
sequence of functions that are holomorphic on a region G and that ( f n ) converges uniformly
(k)
to f on G. Then for any k N, the sequence of kth derivatives ( f n ) converges (pointwise)
to f (k) .
9. Prove the minimum-modulus theorem (Corollary 8.15).
10. Find the maximum and minimum of | f (z)| on the unit disc {z C : |z| 1}, where
f (z) = z2 2.
11. Give another proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra (Theorem 5.7), using the minimum-modulus theorem (Corollary 8.15). (Hint: Use Lemma 5.6 to show that a polynomial
does not achieve its minimum modulus on a large circle; then use the minimum-modulus
theorem to deduce that the polynomial has a zero.)
12. Find a Laurent series for

1
(z 1)(z + 1)

centered at z = 1 and specify the region in which it converges.

13. Find a Laurent series for

1
z ( z 2)2

centered at z = 2 and specify the region in which it converges.

14. Find a Laurent series for (z 2)/(z + 1) centered at z = 1 and specify the region in which
it converges.
15. Find the first five terms in the Laurent series for 1/sin z centered at z = 0.
16. Find the first four non-zero terms in the power series expansion of tan z centered at the
origin. What is the radius of convergence?
17.

(a) Find the power series representation for e az centered at 0, where a is any constant.
(b) Show that
ez cos(z) =

1 (1+ i ) z
e
+ e (1 i ) z .
2

(c) Find the power series expansion for ez cos(z) centered at 0.

18. Show that

z1
1
=
z2
( z 1) k
k 0

for |z 1| > 1.
19. Prove: If f is entire and Im( f ) is constant on the unit disc {z C : |z| 1} then f is
constant.

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

20.

103

(a) Find the Laurent series for cos z/z2 centered at z = 0.

(b) Prove that

f (z) =

cos z1
z2
21

if z 6= 0,
if z = 0

is entire.
21. Find the Laurent series for sec z centered at the origin.
22. Suppose that f is holomorphic, f (z0 ) = 0, and f 0 (z0 ) 6= 0. Show that f has a zero of
multiplicity 1 at z0 .
23. Find the multiplicities of the zeros of each of the following functions:
(a) f (z) = ez 1, z0 = 2ki, where k is any integer.
(b) f (z) = sin(z) tan(z), z0 = 0.
(c) f (z) = cos(z) 1 + 21 sin2 (z), z0 = 0.
24. Find the zeros of the following and determine their multiplicities:
(a) (1 + z2 )4 .
(b) sin2 z.
(c) 1 + ez .
(d) z3 cos z.
25. Find the three Laurent series of
f (z) =

3
,
(1 z)(z + 2)

centered at 0, but which are defined on the three domains |z| < 1, 1 < |z| < 2, and 2 < |z|,
respectively. (Hint: Use partial fraction decomposition.)
26. Suppose that f (z) has exactly one zero, at a, inside the circle , and that it has multiplicity 1.
Show that
Z
1
z f 0 (z)
a=
dz .
2i f (z)
27. Suppose f is holomorphic and not identically zero on an open disk D centered at a, and
suppose f ( a) = 0. Follow the following outline to show that Re f (z) > 0 for some z in D.
(a) Why can you write f (z) = (z a)m g(z) where m > 0, g is holomorphic, and g( a) 6= 0?
(b) Write g( a) in polar form as g( a) = c ei and define G (z) = ei g(z). Why is Re G ( a) >
0?
(c) Why is there a positive constant so that Re G (z) > 0 for all z in the open disk D ( a)?
(d) Write z = a + rei for 0 < r < . Show that f (z) = r m eim ei G (z).

CHAPTER 8. TAYLOR AND LAURENT SERIES

104

(e) Find a value of so that f (z) has positive real part.

28. Suppose |cn | 2n for all n. What can you say about the radius of convergence of k0 ck zk ?
29. Suppose the radius of convergence of k0 ck zk is R. What is the radius of convergence of
each of the following?
(a)

ck z2k .

k 0

(b)

3k c k z k .

k 0

(c)

c k z k +5 .

k 0

(d)

k2 ck zk .

k 0

(e)

c2k zk .

k 0

Chapter 9

Isolated Singularities and the Residue

Theorem
1/r2 has a nasty singularity at r = 0, but it did not bother Newtonthe moon is far enough.
Edward Witten

9.1

Classification of Singularities

What are the differences among the functions sin(z)/z, 1/z4 , and exp(1/z) at z = 0? None of
them are defined at 0, but the singularities are of a very different nature. For complex functions
there are three types of singularities, which are classified as follows.
Definition 9.1. If f is holomorphic in the punctured disk {z C : 0 < |z z0 | < R} for some
R > 0 but not at z = z0 then z0 is an isolated singularity of f . The singularity z0 is called
(a) removable if there is a function g holomorphic in {z C : |z z0 | < R} such that f = g in
{ z C : 0 < | z z0 | < R },
(b) a pole if lim | f (z)| = ,
z z0

(c) essential if z0 is neither removable nor a pole.

Example 9.2. The function sin(z)/z has a removable singularity at 0, as for z 6= 0
sin z
1
(1)k 2k+1
(1)k 2k
=
z
=
z ,
z
z k0 (2k + 1)!
(2k + 1)!
k 0
and the power series on the right-hand side represents an entire function (you may meditate on
the fact why it has to be entire).
Example 9.3. The function 1/z4 has a pole at 0, as

1
lim 4 = .
z 0 z
105

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

106

Example 9.4. The function exp(1/z) does not have a removable singularity (consider, for example, limx0+ exp(1/x ) = ). On the other hand, exp(1/z) approaches 0 as z approaches 0
from the negative real axis. Hence limz0 | exp(1/z)| 6= , that is, exp(1/z) has an essential
singularity at 0.
To get a feel for the different types of singularities, we start with the following results.
Proposition 9.5. Suppose z0 is an isolated singularity of f . Then
(a) z0 is removable if and only if limzz0 (z z0 ) f (z) = 0;
(b) z0 is a pole if and only if it is not removable and limzz0 (z z0 )n+1 f (z) = 0 for some positive
integer n.
Remark. The order of a pole z0 of f is equal to the multiplicity of z0 as a zero of 1/ f , or equivalently
the smallest possible n such that limzz0 (z z0 )n+1 f (z) = 0. We will see in the proof of this
proposition that near the pole z0 we can write f (z) as h(z)/(z z0 )n for some function h
which is holomorphic (and not zero) at z0 . Thus an equivalent formulation for the definition of
the order of a pole is that f has a pole of order n if we can write f (z) = (z z0 )n h(z) for z
in the punctured disk DR (z0 ) \ {z0 } for some R and where h is holomorphic and not zero at z0 .
This is very similar to the game we played with zeros in Chapter 8: f has a zero of multiplicity
m at z0 if we can write f (z) = (z z0 )m h(z) for z in the disk DR (z0 ) for some R and where h is
holomorphic and not zero at z0 .
We will make use of the notions of zeros and poles of certain orders quite extensively in this
chapter.
Proof. (a) Suppose that z0 is removable, that g is holomorphic on DR (z0 ), the open disk with
radius R centered at z0 , and that f = g for z 6= z0 . Then we can make use of the fact that g is
continuous at z0 :
lim (z z0 ) f (z) = lim (z z0 ) g(z) = g(z0 ) lim (z z0 ) = 0 .
z z0

z z0

Conversely, suppose that limzz0 (z z0 ) f (z) = 0 and f is holomorphic on the punctured

R (z0 ) = DR (z0 ) \ {z0 }. Then define
disk D
(
(z z0 )2 f (z) if z 6= z0 ,
g(z) =
0
if z = z0 .
Clearly g is holomorphic for z 6= z0 , and it is also differentiable at z0 since we can calculate
g0 (z0 ) = lim

z z0

g ( z ) g ( z0 )
( z z0 )2 f ( z )
= lim
= lim (z z0 ) f (z) = 0 .
z z0
z z0
z z0
z z0

Thus g is holomorphic in DR (z0 ) with g(z0 ) = 0 and g0 (z0 ) = 0, so it has a power series expansion
g(z) = k0 ck (z z0 )k with c0 = c1 = 0. Hence we can factor (z z0 )2 from the series, so
g ( z ) = ( z z0 )2

c k +2 ( z z 0 ) k = ( z z 0 )2 f ( z ).

k 0

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

107

Hence, for z 6= z0 , f (z) = k0 ck+2 (z z0 )k , and this series defines a holomorphic function in
D R ( z0 ).
(b) Suppose that z0 is a pole of f . Then there is some R > 0 so that | f (z)| > 1 in the punctured
R (z0 ), and
disk D
1
= 0.
lim
z z0 f ( z )
So, if we define g(z) by
(
g(z) =

1
f (z)

R ( z0 ),
if z D

if z = z0 ,

then g is holomorphic in DR (z0 ) (this follows from part (a)). By the classification of zeros,
g(z) = (z z0 )n (z) where is holomorphic in DR (z0 ) and (z0 ) 6= 0. In fact, (z) 6= 0 for all
R (z0 ). Hence h = 1/ is a holomorphic function in DR (z0 )
z in DR (z0 ) since g(z) 6= 0 for z D
and
1
h(z)
1
=
=
.
f (z) =
n
g(z)
( z z0 ) ( z )
( z z0 ) n
But then, since h is continuous at z0 ,
lim (z z0 )n+1 f (z) = lim (z z0 )h(z) = h(z0 ) lim (z z0 ) = 0 .

z z0

Conversely, if limzz0 (z z0 )n+1 f (z) = limzz0 (z z0 ) ((z z0 )n f (z)) = 0 for some positive
integer n then h(z) := (z z0 )n f (z) has a removable singularity at z0 by part (a). Hence h(z) is
holomorphic and has a Taylor series expansion near z0 (though not necessarily at z0 ). By dividing
by (z z0 )n we obtain a Laurent series expansion for f (z) about z0 which has coefficients ck = 0
for all k < n. It follows that limzz0 f (z) = 0, so z0 is indeed a pole of f (z).
The reader might have noticed that the previous proposition did not include any result on
essential singularities. Not only does the next theorem make up for this but it also nicely illustrates the strangeness of essential singularities. To appreciate the following result, we suggest
meditating about its statement for a couple of minutes over a good cup of coffee.
Theorem 9.6 (Casorati1 -Weierstra). If z0 is an essential singularity of f and D = {z C : 0 <
|z z0 | < R} for some R > 0, then any w C is arbitrarily close to a point in f ( D ), that is, for any
w C and any e > 0 there exists z D such that |w f (z)| < e.
Remarks. 1. In the language of topology, the Casorati-Weierstra theorem says that the image of
any punctured disc centered at an essential singularity is dense in C.
2. There is a much stronger theorem, which is beyond the scope of this book, and which implies
the Casorati-Weierstra theorem. It is due to Charles Emile Picard (18561941)2 and says that the
image of any punctured disc centered at an essential singularity misses at most one point of C.
1 For

more information about Felice Casorati (18351890), see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Casorati.html.
2 For more information about Picard, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Picard Emile.html.

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

108

(It is worth meditating about coming up with examples of functions which do not miss any point
in C and functions which miss exactly one point. Try it!)
Proof. Suppose (by way of contradiction) that there is a w C and an e > 0 such that for all z in
the punctured disc D (centered at z0 )

|w f (z)| e .
Then the function g(z) = 1/( f (z) w) stays bounded as z z0 , and so
lim (z z0 ) g(z) = lim

z z0

z z0
= 0.
f (z) w

(The previous proposition tells us that g has a removable singularity at z0 .) Hence

f (z) w
=
lim
z z0 z z 0
and so the function ( f (z) w)/(z z0 ) has a pole at z0 , say of order n. By Proposition 9.5(b),
lim (z z0 )n+1

z z0

f (z) w
= lim (z z0 )n ( f (z) w) = 0 .
z z0
z z0

Invoking Proposition 9.5 again, we conclude that the function f (z) w has a pole or removable
singularity at z0 , which implies the same statement holds for f (z), which is a contradiction.
Definition 9.1 is not always handy. The following classifies singularities according to their
Laurent series.
Proposition 9.7. Suppose z0 is an isolated singularity of f with Laurent series
f (z) =

c k ( z z0 ) k

k Z

(valid in {z C : 0 < |z z0 | < R} for some R > 0). Then

(a) z0 is removable if and only if there are no negative exponents (that is, the Laurent series is a power
series);
(b) z0 is a pole if and only if there are finitely many negative exponents, and the order of the pole is the
largest k such that ck 6= 0 ;
(c) z0 is essential if and only if there are infinitely many negative exponents.
Proof. (a) Suppose z0 is removable, g is holomorphic on {z C : |z z0 | < R}, and f = g in
{z C : 0 < |z z0 | < R}. Then the Laurent series of g in this region is a power series, and by
Corollary 8.20 (uniqueness theorem for Laurent series) it has to coincide with the Laurent series
of f . Conversely, if the Laurent series of f at z0 has only nonnegative powers, we can use it to
define a function which is holomorphic at z0 .

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

109

(b) Suppose z0 is a pole of order n. Then by Proposition 9.5, the function (z z0 )n f (z) has a
removable singularity at z0 . By part (a), we can hence expand

( z z0 ) n f ( z ) =

c k ( z z0 ) k ,

k 0

that is,
f (z) =

c k ( z z0 ) k n =

k 0

c k ( z z0 ) k .

k n

Conversely, suppose that

f (z) =

c k ( z z0 ) k = ( z z0 ) n

k n

c k ( z z0 ) k + n = ( z z0 ) n

where cn 6= 0. Define
g(z) =

c k n ( z z0 ) k ,

k 0

c k n ( z z0 ) k .

k 0

Then since g(z0 ) = cn 6= 0,

g(z)
= .
lim | f (z)| = lim
z z0
z z0 ( z z 0 ) n
(c) This follows by definition: an essential singularity is neither removable nor a pole.
Example 9.8. The order of the pole at 0 of f (z) = sin(z)/z3 is 2 because
z
sin(z)
f (z) =
=
3
z

z3
3!

+ z5!
1
z1
z3
=

z3
z2
3!
5!

and the smallest power of z with nonzero coefficient in this series is 2.

9.2

Residues

Suppose z0 is an isolated singularity of f , is a positively oriented, simple, closed, smooth path

around z0 , which lies in the domain of the Laurent series of f at z0 with domain a punctured
disk {z|0 < |z z0 | < R} for some radius R > 0. Thenessentially by Proposition 7.19we can
integrate term by term:
Z

f =

ck (z z0 )k dz =

k Z

(z z0 )k dz .

(z z0 )k is
0 (because (z z0 )k is entire), and the same holds for k 2 (because (z z0 )k has a primitive
on C \ {zR0 }, or alternatively because applying the change of variables w = 1/(z z0 ) yields the
integral wk2 dw, where k 2 0). Finally, for k = 1, we can use Exercise 15 of Chapter 4.
Because all the other terms give a zero integral, c1 is the only term of the series which survives:

The integrals inside the summation are easy: for nonnegative powers k the integral

f =

k Z

(z z0 )k dz = 2i c1 .

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

110

(One might also notice that Theorem 8.19 gives the same identity.) This is reason enough to give
the c1 -coefficient of a Laurent series a special name.
Definition 9.9. Suppose z0 is an isolated singularity of f with Laurent series kZ ck (z z0 )k
in a punctured disk about z0 . Then c1 is the residue of f at z0 , denoted by Resz=z0 ( f (z)) or
Res( f (z), z = z0 ).
The following theorem generalizes the discussion at the beginning of this section.

Figure 9.1: Proof of Theorem 9.10.

Theorem 9.10 (Residue Theorem). Suppose f is holomorphic in the region G, except for isolated singularities, and is a positively oriented, simple, closed, smooth, G-contractible curve which avoids the
singularities of f . Then
Z

f = 2i Res( f (z)) ,
k

z=zk

where the sum is taken over all singularities zk inside .

Proof. Draw two circles around each isolated singularity inside , one with positive and one with
negative orientation, as pictured in Figure 9.1. Each of these pairs cancel each other when we
integrate over them. Now connect the circles with negative orientation with . This gives a curve
which is contractible in the region of holomorphicity of f . But this means that we can replace
by the positively oriented circles; now all we need to do is described at the beginning of this
section.
Computing integrals is as easy (or hard!) as computing residues. The following two lemmas
start the range of tricks one can use when computing residues.

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

Lemma 9.11.

111

1. Suppose z0 is a removable singularity of f . Then

Res ( f (z)) = 0 .

z = z0

2. Suppose z0 is a pole of f of order n. Then

Res ( f (z)) =

z = z0

d n 1
1
lim n1 (z z0 )n f (z) .
(n 1)! zz0 dz

Proof. Part (a) follows from Cauchys Theorem and the definition of removable singularity. We
know by Proposition 9.7 that the Laurent series at z0 looks like
f (z) =

c k ( z z0 ) k .

k n

But then

( z z0 ) n f ( z ) =

c k ( z z0 ) k + n

k n

represents a power series, and we can use Taylors formula (Corollary 8.5) to compute c1 .
It is worth noting that we are really coming full circle here: compare this lemma to the
statement of Cauchys Integral Formula and its higher-order counterparts.
Lemma 9.12. Suppose f and g are holomorphic in a region containing z0 , which is a zero of g of multiplicity 1, and f (z0 ) 6= 0. Then f /g has a pole of order 1 at z0 and

f (z)
f ( z0 )
Res
= 0
.
z = z0
g(z)
g ( z0 )
Proof. The functions f and g have power series centered at z0 ; the one for g has by assumption
no constant term:
g ( z ) = c k ( z z 0 ) k = ( z z 0 ) c k ( z z 0 ) k 1 .
k 1

k 1

The series on the right represents a holomorphic function, call it h; note that h(z0 ) = c1 6= 0.
Hence
f (z)
f (z)
=
,
g(z)
( z z0 ) h ( z )
and the function f /h is holomorphic at z0 . Even more, the residue of f /g equals the constant
term of the power series of f /h (thats how we get the (1)st term of f /g). But this constant
term is computed, as always, by f (z0 )/h(z0 ). But h(z0 ), in turn, is the constant term of h or the
second term of g, which by Taylors formula (Corollary 8.5) equals g0 (z0 ).
Example 9.13. We compute the residue of
f (z) =

exp(z)
sin(z) cos(z)

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

112

at z0 = . We can write f (z) as

f (z) =

exp(z)/cos(z)
sin(z)

and apply Lemma 9.12 for g(z) = exp(z)/cos(z) and h(z) = sin(z), since g(z0 ) = exp( )/cos( ) =
1 6= 0 and z0 = is a zero of h(z) of multiplicity 1 (because h(z0 ) = sin( ) = 0 and
h0 (z0 ) = cos( ) = 1 6= 0). Thus,
Res f (z) =
z=

g( )
e
=
= e .
h0 ( )
1

Now, we could have gotten the same answer if we applied Lemma 9.12 to g(z) = ez and
h(z) = sin(z) cos(z), but the computations would be more involved since we would need to
differentiate sin(z) cos(z) in this case. For this reason, in general, it is a good idea to move as
many terms as possible to the numerator before applying Lemma 9.12.

9.3

Argument Principle and Rouchs Theorem

In the previous section we saw how to compute integrals via the residues, but in many applications we actually do not have an explicit expression for a function that we need to integrate
(or this expression is very complicated). However, it may still be possible to compute the value
of a function at any given point. In this situation we cannot immediately apply the Residue
Theorem because we dont know where the singularities are. Of course, we could use numerical
integration to compute integrals over any curve, but computationally this task could be very resource intensive. But if we do know the singularities, we can compute the residues numerically
by computing a finite number of the integrals over small circles around these singularities. And
after that we can apply the residue theorem to compute the integral over any closed curve very
effectively: we just sum up the residues inside this curve. The argument principle that we study
below, in particular, addresses this question. We start by introducing the logarithmic derivative.
Suppose we have a differentiable function f . Differentiating Log f (where Log is a branch of
the logarithm) gives f 0 / f , which is one good reason why this quotient is called the logarithmic
derivative of f . It has some remarkable properties, one of which we would like to discuss here.
To begin, let us define a meromorphic function to be one which is holomorphic in some given
region except possibly for poles. For example, rational functions are always meromorphic on the
whole complex plane.
Now lets say we have two functions f and g holomorphic in some region. Then the logarithmic derivative of their product behaves very nicely:

( f g)0
f 0 g + f g0
f0
g0
=
= + .
fg
fg
f
g
We can apply this fact to the following situation: Suppose that f is holomorphic on a region G
and f has (finitely many) zeros z1 , . . . , z j of orders n1 , . . . , n j , respectively. Then we can express f
as
f ( z ) = ( z z 1 ) n1 ( z z j ) n j g ( z ) ,

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

113

where g is also holomorphic in G and never zero. Lets compute the logarithmic derivative of f
and play the same remarkable cancellation game as above:
n 1 ( z z 1 ) n1 1 ( z z 2 ) n2 ( z z j ) n j g ( z ) + + ( z z 1 ) n1 ( z z j ) n j g 0 ( z )
f 0 (z)
=
f (z)
( z z 1 ) n1 ( z z j ) n j g ( z )
nj
n1
n2
g0 (z)
=
+
++
+
.
z z1
z z2
z zj
g(z)
Something similar happens to the poles of f . We invite the reader to prove that if p1 , . . . , pk are
all the poles of f in G with order m1 , . . . , mk , respectively, then the logarithmic derivative of f can
be expressed as
f 0 (z)
m1
m2
mk
g0 (z)
=

+
,
(9.1)
f (z)
z p1
z p2
z pk
g(z)
where g is a function without poles in G. Naturally, we can combine the expressions for zeros
and poles, which is the starting point of the following theorem.
Theorem 9.14 (Argument Principle). Suppose f is meromorphic in a region G and is a positively
oriented, simple, closed, smooth, G-contractible curve, which does not pass through any zero or pole of f .
Denote by Z ( f , ) the number of zeros of f inside counted according to multiplicity and by P( f , ) the
number of poles of f inside counted according to order. Then
1
2i

f0
= Z ( f , ) P( f , ) .
f

Proof. Suppose the zeros of f inside are z1 , . . . , z j of multiplicities n1 , . . . , n j , respectively, and

the poles inside are p1 , . . . , pk with order m1 , . . . , mk , respectively. (You may meditate about the
fact why there can only be finitely many zeros and poles inside .) In fact, we may shrink G, if
necessary, so that these are the only zeros and poles in G. Our discussion before the statement
of the theorem yielded that the logarithmic derivative of f can be expressed as
nj
f 0 (z)
n1
m1
mk
g0 (z)
=
++

+
,
f (z)
z z1
z zj
z p1
z pk
g(z)
where g is a function which is holomorphic in G (in particular, without poles) and never zero.
Thanks to Exercise 15 of Chapter 4, the integral is easy:
Z

f0
= n1
f

dz
dz
m1
mk

z zj
z p1
Z g0
= 2i n1 + + n j m1 mk +
.
g
Z

dz
+ + nj
z z1

dz
+
z pk

g0
g

Finally, g0 /g is holomorphic in G (recall that g is never zero in G), so that Corollary 4.10 (to
Cauchys Theorem 4.9) gives that
Z
g0
= 0.
g

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

114

As mentioned above, this beautiful theorem helps to locate poles and zeroes of a function
f . The idea is simple: one can first numerically integrate f 0 / f over a big circle that includes
all Rpossible curves over which we potentially will be integrating f . Then the numerical value
of f 0 (z)/ f (z) dz will be close to an integer that, according to the Argument principle will
be equal to Z ( f , ) P( f , ). Then one can integrate f 0 / f over a smaller closed curve 1 that
encompasses half of the interior of and find Z ( f , 1 ) P( f , 1 ). Continuing this process for
smaller and smaller regions will (after certain verification) produce small regions where f has
exactly one zero or exactly one pole. Integrating f over the boundaries of those small regions
that contain poles and dividing by 2i gives all residues of f .
Another nice related application of the Argument principle is a famous theorem due to Eugene Rouch (18321910)3 .
Theorem 9.15 (Rouchs Theorem). Suppose f and g are holomorphic in a region G and is a positively
oriented, simple, closed, smooth, G-contractible curve such that | f (z)| > | g(z)| for all z . Then
Z ( f + g, ) = Z ( f , ) .
This theorem is of surprising practicality. It allows us to locate the zeros of a function fairly
precisely. As an illustration, we prove:
Example 9.16. All the roots of the polynomial p(z) = z5 + z4 + z3 + z2 + z + 1 have absolute value
less than two.4 To see this, let f (z) = z5 and g(z) = z4 + z3 + z2 + z + 1, and let denote the
circle centered at the origin with radius 2. Then for z

| g(z)| |z|4 + |z|3 + |z|2 + |z| + 1 = 16 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 31 < 32 = |z|5 = | f (z)| .

So g and f satisfy the condition of the Theorem 9.15. But f has just one root, of order 5 at the
origin, whence
Z ( p, ) = Z ( f + g, ) = Z ( f , ) = 5 .
Proof of Theorem 9.15. By our analysis in the beginning of this section and by the argument principle (Theorem 9.14)
!
Z
Z
Z
1
( f + g)0
1
1
f0
(1 + g/ f )0
( f (1 + g/ f ))0
Z ( f + g, ) =
=
=
+
2i f + g
2i f (1 + g/ f )
2i f
1 + g/ f
1
= Z ( f , ) +
2i

(1 + g/ f )0
.
1 + g/ f

We are assuming that | g/ f | < 1 on , which means that the function 1 + g/ f evaluated on
stays away from the nonpositive real axis. But then Log(1 + g/ f ) is a well defined holomorphic
3 For

more information about Rouch, see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Rouche.html.
4 The fundamental theorem of algebra (Theorem 5.7) asserts that p has five roots in C. Whats special about the
statement of Example 9.16 is that they all have absolute value < 2. Note also that there is no general formula for
computing roots of a polynomial of degree 5. (Although for this p its not hard to find one rootand therefore all of
them.)

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

function on . Its derivative is

115

(1 + g/ f )0
,
1 + g/ f

which implies by Corollary 5.15 that

1
2i

(1 + g/ f )0
= 0.
1 + g/ f

Exercises
1. Prove (9.1).
2. Suppose that f (z) has a zero of multiplicity m at a. Explain why 1/ f (z) has a pole of order
m at a.
3. Find the poles of the following, and determine their orders:
(a) (z2 + 1)3 (z 1)4 .
(b) z cot(z).
(c) z5 sin(z).
(d)
(e)

1
1 e z .
z
1 e z .

4. Show that if f has an essential singularity at z0 then 1/ f also has an essential singularity
at z0 .
5. Suppose f is a non-constant entire function. Prove that any complex number is arbitrarily
close to a number in f (C). (Hint: If f is not a polynomial, use Theorem 9.6 for f ((1/z).)
6. Suppose f is meromorphic in the region G, g is holomorphic in G, and is a positively
oriented, simple, closed, G-contractible curve which does not pass through any zero or
pole of f . Denote the zeros and poles of f inside by z1 , . . . , z j and p1 , . . . , pk , respectively,
counted according to multiplicity. Prove that
1
2i

k
f0
= g(zm ) g( pn ) .
f
m =1
n =1

7. Find the number of zeros of

(a) 3 exp z z in {z C : |z| 1} ;
(b)
(c)

1
3 exp z z in { z C :
z4 5z + 1 in {z C :

| z | 1} ;
1 | z | 2} .

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

116

8. Give another proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra (Theorem 5.7), using Rouchs
Theorem 9.15. (Hint: If p(z) = an zn + an1 zn1 + + a1 z + 1, let f (z) = an zn and g(z) =
an1 zn1 + an2 zn2 + + a1 z + 1, and choose as a circle which is large enough to make
the condition of Rouchs theorem work. You might want to first apply Lemma 5.6 to g(z).)
9.

(a) Find a Laurent series for

( z2

1
4)(z 2)

centered at z = 2 and specify the region in which it converges.

(b) Compute
Z

( z2

dz
,
4)(z 2)

where is the positively oriented circle centered at 2 of radius 1.

10. Evaluate the following integrals for (t) = 3 eit , 0 t 2.
(a)

cot z dz

(b)

z3 cos(3/z) dz

(c)

(d)

dz
(z + 4)(z2 + 1)
z2 exp(1/z) dz

(e)
(f)
11.

exp z
dz
sinh z

i z +4
dz
(z2 + 16)2

(a) Find the power series of exp z centered at z = 1.

R exp z
(b) Find (z+1)34 dz, where is the circle |z + 2| = 2, positively oriented.

12. Suppose f has a simple pole (i.e., a pole of order 1) at z0 and g is holomorphic at z0 . Prove
that

Res f (z) g(z) = g(z0 ) Res f (z) .
z = z0

13. Find the residue of each function at 0:

(a) z3 cos(z).
(b) csc(z).
(c)

z2 + 4z + 5
.
z2 + z
1

(d) e1 z .

z = z0

CHAPTER 9. ISOLATED SINGULARITIES AND THE RESIDUE THEOREM

(e)

117

e4z 1
.
sin2 z

14. Use residues to evaluate the following:

dz
, where is the circle |z + 1 i | = 1.
4+4
z

Z
dz
, where is the circle |z i | = 2.
(b)
2
z ( z + z 2)
Z
ez dz
(c)
, where is the circle |z| = 2.
3
z +z
Z
dz
, where is the circle |z| = 1.
(d)
2 sin z
z

(a)

15. Suppose f has an isolated singularity at z0 .

(a) Show that f 0 also has an isolated singularity at z0 .
(b) Find Resz=z0 ( f 0 ).
16. Given R > 0, let R be the half circle defined by R (t) = Reit , 0 t , and R be the
closed curve composed of R and the line segment [ R, R].
R
(a) Compute R (1+dzz2 )2 .
R
(b) Prove that limR R (1+dzz2 )2 = 0 .
R
(c) Combine (a) and (b) to evaluate the real integral (1+dxx2 )2 .
17. Suppose f is entire, and a, b C with | a|, |b| < R. Let be the circle centered at 0 with
radius R. Evaluate
Z
f (z)
dz ,
( z a )( z b )
and use this to give an alternate proof of Liouvilles Theorem 5.9. (Hint: Show that if f is
bounded then the above integral goes to zero as R increases.)

Chapter 10

Discrete Applications of the Residue

Theorem
All means (even continuous) sanctify the discrete end.
Doron Zeilberger

On the surface, this chapter is just a collection of exercises. They are more involved than any
of the ones weve given so far at the end of each chapter, which is one reason why we lead
the reader through each of the following ones step by step. On the other hand, these sections
should really be thought of as a continuation of the lecture notes, just in a different format. All of
the following problems are of a discrete mathematical nature, and we invite the reader to solve
them using continuous methodsnamely, complex integration. It might be that there is no other
result which so intimately combines discrete and continuous mathematics as does the Residue
Theorem 9.10.

10.1

Infinite Sums

In this exercise, we evaluateas an examplethe sums k1 1/k2 and k1 (1)k /k2 . We hope
the idea how to compute such sums in general will become clear.
1. Consider the function f (z) = cot(z)/z2 . Compute the residues at all the singularities of
f.
2. Let N be a positive integer and N be the rectangular curve from N + 1/2 iN to N +
1/2 + iN to N 1/2 + iN to N 1/2 iN back to N + 1/2 iN.
(a) Show that for all z N , | cot(z)| < 2. (Use Exercise 29 in Chapter 3.)
R
(b) Show that lim N N f = 0.
3. Use the Residue Theorem 9.10 to arrive at an identity for kZ\{0} 1/k2 .
4. Evaluate k1 1/k2 .

118

CHAPTER 10. DISCRETE APPLICATIONS OF THE RESIDUE THEOREM

5. Repeat the exercise with the function f (z) =

z2 sin(z)

119

to arrive at an evaluation of

(1)k
k2 .
k 1
(Hint: To bound this function, you may use the fact that 1/ sin2 (z) = 1 + cot2 (z).)
6. Evaluate k1

10.2

1
k4

and k1

(1)k
.
k4

Binomial Coefficients

The binomial coefficient (nk) is a natural candidate for being explored analytically, as the binomial
theorem1 tells us that (nk) is the coefficient of zk in (1 + z)n . As an example, we outline a proof of
the identity (for 1/4 < x < 1/4)

2k
1
k xk = 1 4x .
k 0
1. Convince yourself that

Z
2k
1
(1 + w)2k
=
dw ,
k
2i wk+1
where is any simple closed curve such that 0 is inside .
2. Suppose | x | < 1/4. Find a simple closed curve surrounding the origin such that

k 0

(1 + w )2
x
w

converges uniformly on (as a function in w). Evaluate this sum.

3. Convince yourself that

2k
1
k xk = 2i
k 0

k 0

(1 + w)2k k dw
,
x
w
wk

use part 2 to interchange summation and integral, and use the Residue Theorem, Theorem 9.10, to evaluate the integral.
1 The

binomial theorem says that for x, y C and n N, ( x + y)n = nk=0 (nk) x k ynk .

CHAPTER 10. DISCRETE APPLICATIONS OF THE RESIDUE THEOREM

10.3

120

Fibonacci Numbers

The Fibonacci2 numbers are a sequence of integers defined recursively as:

f 0 = 1,
f 1 = 1,
for n 2.

f n = f n 1 + f n 2
Let F (z) = k0 f n zn .

1. Show that F has a positive radius of convergence.

2. Show that the recurrence relation among the f n implies that F (z) = 1z1z2 . (Hint: Write
down the power series of zF (z) and z2 F (z) and rearrange both so that you can easily add.)
3. Verify that

Res
z =0

1
n
+
1
z (1 z z2 )

= fn .

4. Use the Residue Theorem 9.10 to derive an identity for f n . (Hint: Integrate
1
z n +1 (1 z

z2 )

around a circle with center 0 and radius R, and show that this integral vanishes as R .)
5. Generalize to other recurrence relations.

10.4

The Coin-Exchange Problem

In this exercise, we will solve and extend a classical problem of Ferdinand Georg Frobenius
(18491917)3 . Suppose a and b are relatively prime4 positive integers, and suppose t is a positive
integer. Consider the function
f (z) =

(1 z a ) (1 z b ) z t +1

1. Compute the residues at all non-zero poles of f .

2. Verify that Resz=0 ( f ) = N (t), where
N (t) = # {(m, n) Z : m, n 0, ma + nb = t} .
2 For more information about Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci (11701250), see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Fibonacci.html.
3 For more information about Frobenius, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Frobenius.html.
4 this means that the integers dont have any common factor

CHAPTER 10. DISCRETE APPLICATIONS OF THE RESIDUE THEOREM

121

3. Use the Residue Theorem, Theorem 9.10, to derive an identity for N (t). (Hint: Integrate f
around a circle with center 0 and radius R, and show that this integral vanishes as R .)
4. Use the following three steps to simplify this identity to
1 1
b t
t
a t

N (t) =

+1.
ab
a
b
Here, { x } denotes the fractional part5 of x, a1 a 1 (mod b)6 , and b1 b 1 (mod a).
(a) Verify that for b = 1,
N (t) = # {(m, n) Z : m, n 0, ma + n = t} = # {m Z : m 0, ma t}

t
t
t
Z =
+1.
= # 0,
a
a
a
(b) Use this together with the identity found in part 3 to obtain

1 a 1
1
1
1
t
=
+
.

2ik/a
2ikt/a
a k =1 (1 e
a
2 2a
)e
(c) Verify that
a 1

(1 e2ikb/a )e2ikt/a

k =1

a 1

(1 e2ik/a )e2ikb t/a .

k =1

5. Prove that N ( ab a b) = 0, and N (t) > 0 for all t > ab a b.

6. More generally, prove that, if k is a nonnegative integer, N ((k + 1) ab a b) = k, and
N (t) > k for all t > (k + 1) ab a b.
Historical remark. Given relatively prime positive integers a1 , . . . , an , lets call an integer t representable if there exist nonnegative integers m1 , . . . , mn such that
n

mj aj .

j =1

In the late 19th century, Frobenius raised the problem of finding the largest integer which is not
representable. We call this largest integer the Frobenius number g( a1 , . . . , an ). It is well known
(probably at least since the 1880s, when James Joseph Sylvester (18141897)7 studied the Frobenius problem) that g( a1 , a2 ) = a1 a2 a1 a2 . We verified this result in part 5. For n > 2, there is
no known closed formula for g( a1 , . . . , an ). The formula in par 4 is due to Popoviciu. The notion
of an integer being representable k times and the respective formula obtained in part 6 can only
be found in the most recent literature.
5 The

fractional part of a real number x is, loosely speaking, the part after the decimal point." More thoroughly,
the greatest integer function of x, denoted by b x c, is the greatest integer not exceeding x. The fractional part is then
{ x } = x b x c.
6 This means that a1 is an integer such that a1 a = 1 + kb for some k Z.
7 For more information about Sylvester, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Sylvester.html.

CHAPTER 10. DISCRETE APPLICATIONS OF THE RESIDUE THEOREM

10.5

122

Dedekind sums

This exercise outlines yet another nontraditional application of the Residue Theorem, Theorem 9.10. Given two positive, relatively prime integers a and b, let
f (z) = cot(az) cot(bz) cot(z) .
1. Choose an e > 0 such that the rectangular path R from 1 e iR to 1 e + iR to e + iR
to e iR back to 1 e iR does not pass through any of the poles of f .
(a) Compute the residues for the poles of f inside R .
Hint: use the periodicity of the cotangent and the fact that
cot z =
(b) Prove that limR

R
R

1 1
z + higher-order terms .
z 3

f = 2i and deduce that for any R > 0

f = 2i .
R

2. Define

1 b 1
cot
s( a, b) =
4b k
=1

ka
b

1
1
s( a, b) + s(b, a) = +
4 12

cot

k
b

(10.1)

Use the Residue Theorem to show that

a
1
b
+
+
b ab a

(10.2)

3. Can you generalize (10.1) and (10.2)?

Historical remark. The sum in (10.1) is called a Dedekind8 sum. It first appeared in the study of the
Dedekind -function

(z) = exp iz
12 (1 exp(2ikz ))
k 1

in the 1870s and has since intrigued mathematicians from such different areas as topology,
number theory, and discrete geometry. The reciprocity law (10.2) is the most important and famous
identity of the Dedekind sum. The proof that is outlined here is due to Hans Rademacher (1892
1969)9 .

8 For

more information about Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind (18311916), see

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Dedekind.html.
9 For more information about Rademacher, see
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Rademacher.html.

Solutions to Selected Exercises

Chapter 1
8
2. (b) 19
25 25 i
(c) 1
(d) 1 if n = 4k, k Z; i if n = 1 + 4k, k Z; 1 if n = 2 + 4k, k Z; i if n = 3 + 4k, k Z.

3. (a) 5, 2 i
(b) q
5 5, 5 10i

3
i
(c) 10
,
(
2

1
)
+
(
2 + 9)
11 11
11
(d) 8, 8i
i 2
4. (a)
2ei
(b) 2e 4
5
(c) 2 3ei 6
5. (a) 1 + i
(b) 34i
(c) 1

10. (a) z = ei 3 k , k = 0, 1, . . . , 5

(b) z = 2ei 4 + 2 k , k = 0, 1, 2, 3

5
13. z = ei 4 1 and z = ei 4 1
Chapter 2
2. (a) 0
(b) 1 + i
12. (a) differentiable and holomorphic in C with derivative e x eiy
(b) nowhere differentiable or holomorphic
(c) differentiable only on { x + iy C : x = y} with derivative 2x, nowhere holomorphic
(d) nowhere differentiable or holomorphic
(e) differentiable and holomorphic in C with derivative sin x cosh y i cos x sinh y
(f) nowhere differentiable or holomorphic
(g) differentiable only at 0 with derivative 0, nowhere holomorphic
(h) differentiable only at 0 with derivative 0, nowhere holomorphic
(i) differentiable only at i with derivative i, nowhere holomorphic
(j) differentiable and holomorphic in C with derivative 2y 2xi = 2iz
(k) differentiable only at 0 with derivative 0, nowhere holomorphic
123

SOLUTIONS TO SELECTED EXERCISES

(l) differentiable only at 0 with derivative 0, nowhere holomorphic

Chapter 3
36. (a) differentiable at 0, nowhere holomorphic
(b) differentiable and holomorphic on C \ {1, ei/3 , ei/3 }
(c) differentiable and holomorphic on C \ { x + iy C : x 1, y = 2}
(d) nowhere differentiable or holomorphic
(e) differentiable and holomorphic on C \ { x + iy C : x 3, y = 0}
(f) differentiable and holomorphic in C (i.e. entire)
37. (a) z = i
(b) There is no solution.
(c) z = ln + i (/2 + 2k) , k Z
(d) z = /2 + 2k 4i, k Z
(e) z = /2 + k, k Z
(f) z = ki, k Z
(g) z = k, k Z
(h) z = 2i
40. f 0 (z) = c zc1
Chapter 4
3. 2i
4. (a) 8i
(b) 0
(c) 0
(d) 0
21. 0

23. 2/ 3
28 0 for r < | a|; 2i for r > | a|
29 0 for r = 1; i/3 for r = 3; 0 for r = 5
Chapter 5
3. (a) 0
(b) 2i
(c) 0
(d) i
(e) 0
(f) 0
8. Any simply connected set which does not contain the origin, for example, C \ (, 0].
Chapter 7

124

SOLUTIONS TO SELECTED EXERCISES

125

2. (a) divergent
(b) convergent (limit 0)
(c) divergent
(d) convergent (limit 2 2i )
(e) convergent (limit 0)
24. (a) k0 (4)k zk
(b) k0 zk /(3(6)k )
27. (a) k0 (1)k (z 1)k
(b) k1 (1)k1 (z 1)k /k
30. (a) if | a| < 1, 1 if | a| = 1, and 0 if | a| > 1.
(b) 1
(c) 1 (careful reasoning!)
(d) 1 (careful reasoning!)
Chapter 8
1. (a) {z C : |z| < 1}, {z C : |z| r } for any r < 1
(b) C, {z C : |z| r } for any r
(c) {z C : |z 3| > 1}, {z C : r |z 3| R} for any 1 < r R
3. k0 k!e (z 1)k
10. The maximum is 3 (attained at z = i), and the minimum is 1 (attained at z = 1).
12. One Laurent series is k0 (2)k (z 1)k2 , converging for |z 1| > 2.
13. One Laurent series is k0 (2)k (z 2)k3 , converging for |z 2| > 2.
14. One Laurent series is 3(z + 1)1 + 1, converging for z 6= 1.
7 3
15. sin1 z = z1 + 16 z + 360
z +.
20. (a) k0
Chapter 9
7. (a) 0
(b) 1
(c) 4

(1)k
(2k)!

z2k2

9. (a) One Laurent series is k2

(b) i/8
10. (a) 2i
(b) 27i/4
(c) 2i/17
(d) i/3
(e) 2i
(f) 0
11. (a) k0 e1k! (z + 1)k
(b) e2i
33!
16. (c) /2

(1)k
( z 2) k ,
4k +3

converging for 0 < |z 2| < 4.

Index
absolute convergence, 79
absolute value, 4
addition, 2
antiderivative, 64
Arg, 40
arg, 39
argument, 4
axis
imaginary, 3
real, 3
bijection, 21
binomial coefficient, 119
boundary, 74
branch of the logarithm, 40
Casorati-Weierstra theorem, 107
Cauchys estimate, 95
Cauchys integral formula, 53, 69
extensions of, 59, 95
Cauchys theorem, 50
CauchyRiemann equations, 23
chain rule, 20
closed
algebraically, 62
curve, 10
closed set, 9
coffee, 107
conjugate, 7
connected, 9
continuous, 19
contractible, 51
convergent
sequence, 76
series, 78
cosine, 37

cotangent, 37
curve, 10
closed, 50
Dedekind sum, 122
dense, 107
derivative, 19
difference quotient, 20
differentiable, 19
differentiation rule, 21
dilation, 29
Dirichlet problem, 74
distance
of numbers, 4, 8
divergent, 76
domain, 17
double series, 98
e, 41
embedding of R in C, 3
entire, 19, 63, 68
essential singularity, 105
exponential function, 37
exponential rules, 37
Fibonacci numbers, 120
field, 2
Frobenius problem, 120
function, 17
fundamental theorem
of algebra, 3, 62, 102, 114, 116
of calculus, 11, 64
geometric series, 84
group, 2
abelian, 2

126

INDEX

127

harmonic, 24, 70
harmonic conjugate, 71
holomorphic, 19
homotopic, 50
homotopy, 51
hyperbolic trig functions, 39

weak relative, 98
minimum-modulus theorem, 102
Mbius transformation, 28
modulus, 4
Moreras theorem, 66
multiplication, 2

i, 3
identity map, 17
image, 17
imaginary part, 3
integral, 47
integration by parts, 57
inverse function, 21
inversion, 29
isolated singularity, 105

obvious, 17, 28
one-to-one, 21
onto, 21
open set, 9
order
of a pole, 106

Laplace equation, 70
Laurent series, 98
Leibnizs rule, 12
length, 48
limit
of a function, 17, 19
of a sequence, 76
of a series, 78
linear fractional transformation, 28
Log, 40
log, 39
logarithm, 39
logarithmic derivative, 112

parametrization, 47
path, 10
path independent, 65
periodic, 37
Picards theorem, 107
piecewise smooth, 47
pointwise convergence, 80
polar form, 6
pole, 105
polynomial, 3, 14, 26, 62, 68
power series, 84
differentiation of, 91
integration of, 84
principal argument, 40
principal logarithm, 40
principal value of az , 41

max/min property for harmonic functions, 72, real part, 3

rectangular form, 3, 6
98
region, 9
maximum
region of convergence, 84
strong relative, 72
removable singularity, 105
weak relative, 73, 97
residue, 110
maximum-modulus theorem, 97
residue theorem, 110
mean-value theorem
reverse triangle inequality, 15
for harmonic functions, 72
Rouchs theorem, 114
for holomorphic functions, 54
for real functions, 11
separated, 9
meromorphic, 112
sequence, 76
minimum
series, 78
strong relative, 72

INDEX
simple closed curve, 10
sine, 37
singularity, 105
smooth, 10
tangent, 37
Taylor series expansion, 93
topology, 8
translation, 29
triangle inequality, 7
trigonometric functions, 37
trivial, 18
uniform convergence, 81
uniqueness theorem, 97
Weierstra M-test, 82
Weierstra convergence theorem, 101

128

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