# Borwein integral

In mathematics, a Borwein integral is an integral involving products of sinc(ax), where the sinc function is given by sinc(x) = sin(x)/x for x not equal to 0, and sinc(0) = 1.[1][2]

These integrals are remarkable for exhibiting apparent patterns which, however, eventually break down. An example is as follows,

{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}&\int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\sin(x)}{x}}\,dx=\pi /2\\[10pt]&\int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\sin(x)}{x}}{\frac {\sin(x/3)}{x/3}}\,dx=\pi /2\\[10pt]&\int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\sin(x)}{x}}{\frac {\sin(x/3)}{x/3}}{\frac {\sin(x/5)}{x/5}}\,dx=\pi /2\end{aligned}}}

This pattern continues up to

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\sin(x)}{x}}{\frac {\sin(x/3)}{x/3}}\cdots {\frac {\sin(x/13)}{x/13}}\,dx=\pi /2~.}$

Nevertheless, at the next step the obvious pattern fails,

{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\sin(x)}{x}}{\frac {\sin(x/3)}{x/3}}\cdots {\frac {\sin(x/15)}{x/15}}\,dx&={\frac {467807924713440738696537864469}{935615849440640907310521750000}}~\pi \\&={\frac {\pi }{2}}-{\frac {6879714958723010531}{935615849440640907310521750000}}~\pi \\&\simeq {\frac {\pi }{2}}-2.31\times 10^{-11}~.\end{aligned}}}

In general, similar integrals have value π/2 whenever the numbers 3, 5, 7… are replaced by positive real numbers such that the sum of their reciprocals is less than 1.

In the example above, 1/3 + 1/5 + … + 1/13 < 1, but 1/3 + 1/5 + … + 1/15 > 1.

An example for a longer series,

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }2\cos(x){\frac {\sin(x)}{x}}{\frac {\sin(x/3)}{x/3}}\cdots {\frac {\sin(x/111)}{x/111}}\,dx=\pi /2,}$

but

${\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }2\cos(x){\frac {\sin(x)}{x}}{\frac {\sin(x/3)}{x/3}}\cdots {\frac {\sin(x/111)}{x/111}}{\frac {\sin(x/113)}{x/113}}\,dx<\pi /2,}$

is shown in [3] together with an intuitive mathematical explanation of the reason why the original and the extended series break down. In this case, 1/3 + 1/5 + … + 1/111 < 2, but 1/3 + 1/5 + … + 1/113 > 2.

## References

1. ^ Borwein, David; Borwein, Jonathan M. (2001), "Some remarkable properties of sinc and related integrals", The Ramanujan Journal, 5 (1): 73–89, doi:10.1023/A:1011497229317, ISSN 1382-4090, MR 1829810
2. ^ Baillie, Robert (2011). "Fun With Very Large Numbers". arXiv:1105.3943 [math.NT].
3. ^ Schmid, Hanspeter (2014), "Two curious integrals and a graphic proof" (PDF), Elemente der Mathematik, 69 (1): 11–17, doi:10.4171/EM/239, ISSN 0013-6018