# Finding a series representation for pi

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## IntroductionEdit

We should note that arctan(1) = π/4. It is the main idea of the proof. We will find a Taylor series representation for the inverse tangent and the proof will be complete.

## Finding the series representationEdit

Observe these:

$\displaystyle \arctan^{(0)}(0)=0$

$\displaystyle \arctan^{(1)}(0) = 1$

$\displaystyle \arctan^{(2)}(0) = 0$

$\displaystyle \arctan^{(3)}(0) = -2$

From simple observation or mathematical induction, we obtain that the nth derivative is zero if n is even, and it is this when n is odd:

$\arctan^{(n)}(0) = (-1)^{\frac{n-1}{2}}(n-1)!$

So we can strike out the even derivative terms from the Taylor series. Doing that, we obtain the following series for arctan:

$\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}(-1)^{k}\frac{(2k)!}{(2k+1)!}x^{2k+1}=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}(-1)^{k}\frac{x^{2k+1}}{2k+1}$

Evaluation at x=1 yields

$\frac{\pi}{4} = \sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^{k}}{2k+1}$

Hence, it immediately follows that

$\pi = 4\sum_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^{k}}{2k+1} = 4\left(\frac{1}{1}-\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{5}-\frac{1}{7}+\frac{1}{9}...\right)$

Proof complete.

## Product representation for piEdit

From the Basel problem, it follows that the infinite product representation Euler found for sin(x)/x is, in fact, true; despite it relying on the factoring of an infinite polynomial. This formula is

$\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}1-\frac{x^2}{n^2\pi^2}$

Since sin(π/2) is equal to 1, it immediately follows that

$\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}1-\frac{1}{(2n)^2}=\frac{\sin(\pi/2)}{\pi/2}=\frac{2}{\pi}$

From here, with a bit of rearranging, we obtain

$\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{(2n)^2-1}{(2n)^2}=\frac{2}{\pi}$

$\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{(2n)^2}{(2n)^2-1}=\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{(2n)(2n)}{(2n-1)(2n+1)}=\frac{\pi}{2}$

which gives, when expanded,

$\displaystyle \frac{\pi}{2}=\frac{2 \cdot 2}{1 \cdot 3}\cdot\frac{4 \cdot 4}{3 \cdot 5}\cdot\frac{6 \cdot 6}{5 \cdot 7}\cdot\frac{8 \cdot 8}{7 \cdot 9}...$

## Other representationsEdit

Pi is also equal to the values of some definite integrals:

$\pi=\int_{0}^{1}\frac{4}{1+x^{2}}dx$

$\pi=\int_{1}^{-1}\frac{1}{x^{2}-1}dx$

$\sqrt{\pi}=\Gamma(1/2)=\int_{0}^{\infty}t^{-1/2}e^{-t}dt$

Also this holds:

$\pi=\sqrt{6\zeta(2)}$

The first two can be verified via integration, the third one follows from the Weierstrass product for the Gamma function and the fourth one is the result of the Basel problem.