Wallis Product

November 19, 2011

Consider the following:
2
1

2
3

4
3

4
5

6
5

6
7

8
7

8
9
. . .
What does it equal? First try it numerically, and see what seems to happen.
one term 2
two terms 1.33...
three 1.78...
10 1.50...
20 1.53...

2
NO WAI.
WTF
The product can be written as

i=1
_
2i
2i 1

2i
2i + 1
_
=
2
1

2
3

4
3

4
5

6
5

6
7

8
7

8
9
. . .
Let
I(n) =

0
sin
n
xdx
Lets try to work this this out for a few values of n.
I(0) =

0
dx = (x)

0
=
I(1) =

0
sin xdx = (cos x)

0
= 2
I(2) =

0
sin
2
xdx =?
1
We could keep doing this, but why not derive a general formula for I(n)?
Let
u = sin
n1
x

du
dx
= (n 1) sin
n2
xcos x
du = (n 1) sin
n2
xcos xdx
Also let
v = cos x

dv
dx
= sin x
dv = sin xdx
Rather conveniently (perhaps maths is rigged),
udv = sin
n1
x sin xdx = sin
n
xdx
So
I(n) =

0
sin
n
xdx =

0
udv
As it happens,

0
udv = uv|
x=
x=0

0
vdu
= (cos x sin
n1
x)

0
cos
2
x (n 1) sin
n2
xdx
= 0 + (n 1)

0
cos
2
xsin
n2
xdx
= (n 1)

0
(1 sin
2
x) sin
n2
xdx
= (n 1)

0
(sin
n2
x sin
n
x)dx
= (n 1)
_

0
sin
n2
xdx

0
sin
n
xdx
_
= (n 1)[I(n 2) I(n)]
2
So,
I(n) = (n 1)[I(n 2) I(n)]
This can be rearranged to get
I(n) =
n 1
n
I(n 2)
If we know I(k 2), we can work out I(k). If k is even, then we have I(n)
for all even n, and if k is odd, then we have I(n) for all odd n. So, if we know
I(k) for one even k and one odd k, we can work out all I(n). In fact, we do
know some: I(1) and I(0), from above. If we wanted to, we could now work out
each of I(n), one by one:
I(0) I(1) I(2) I(3) I(4) . . .
2
2
3

3
2
8
15
. . .
But that is fugly and dirty and just unhelpful. So instead we generalise.
First we nd I(2k + 1), i.e. for the odd numbers:
I(2k+1) =
2k
2k + 1
I(2k1) =
2k
2k + 1

2k 2
2k 1
I(2k3) =
2k
2k + 1

2k 2
2k 1

2k 4
2k 3
I(2k5) = . . .
=
2k
2k + 1

2k 2
2k 1

2k 4
2k 3
. . .
6
7

4
5

2
3
I(1)
=
_
k

i=1
2i
2i + 1
_
I(1) = 2
k

i=1
2i
2i + 1
And now in much the same way we nd I(2k), i.e. for the even numbers:
I(2k) =
2k 1
2k
I(2k2) =
2k 1
2k

2k 3
2k 2
I(2k4) =
2k 1
2k

2k 3
2k 2

2k 5
2k 4
I(2k6) = . . .
=
2k 1
2k

2k 3
2k 2

2k 5
2k 4
. . .
5
6

3
4

1
2
I(0)
=
_
k

i=1
2i 1
2i
_
I(0) =
k

i=1
2i 1
2i
So,
I(2k + 1) = 2
k

i=1
2i
2i + 1
I(2k) =
k

i=1
2i 1
2i
3
Now consider
I(2k)
I(2k + 1)
We can see that if we limit k , the 1 in I(2k + 1) will become insigni-
cant
1
. So
lim
k
_
I(2k)
I(2k + 1)
_
= 1
But what if k is not really hugenormous?
I(2k)
I(2k + 1)
=
_

i=1
2i 1
2i
_

_
2
k

i=1
2i
2i + 1
_
=

2

k

i=1
_
2i 1
2i

2i
2i + 1
_
=

2

k

i=1
_
2i 1
2i

2i + 1
2i
_
Take the limit as k of both sides:
lim
k
_
I(2k)
I(2k + 1)
_
= lim
k
_

2

k

i=1
_
2i 1
2i

2i + 1
2i
_
_
1 =

2

i=1
_
2i 1
2i

2i + 1
2i
_
Divide both sides through:

i=1
_
2i
2i 1

2i
2i + 1
_
=

2
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is, for lack of a better word, erotic.
1
This is fudged a bit. A rigorous way to show this involves a simple use of the squeeze
theorem:
sin
2k+1
x sin
2k
x sin
2k1
x
I(2k + 1) I(2k) I(2k 1)
1
I(2k)
I(2k + 1)

I(2k 1)
I(2k + 1)
=
2k + 1
2k
As k ,
1
I(2k)
I(2k + 1)
1
1 =
I(2k)
I(2k + 1)
4