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We consider the limit for large $y$ of the following expression :

$$\left(y+\frac23\right)\mathrm{ln}\left(\dfrac{\sqrt{1+y}+1}{\sqrt{1+y}-1} \right) - 2 \sqrt{1+y}.$$

Many references state that the large $y$ behaviour of this last expression is $y^{-3/2}$. I have been trying to show this in any way possible but I'm only hitting dead ends. Wolframalpha gives a Puiseux series of that expression which makes this behaviour explicit, but I do not understand how to get to this series either. Could you please help me on this?

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One can write $1+y=1/t^2$ so that $t\to 0^+$ and then the given expression, say $F(y) $, transforms into $$F(y) =\left(\frac{1}{t^2}-\frac{1}{3}\right)\log\frac{1+t}{1-t}-\frac{2}{t}\tag{1}$$ and we need to find the limit of $y^{3/2}F(y)$ or $$\frac{(1-t^2)^{3/2}}{t^3}F(y)\tag{2}$$ Since $t\to 0^+$ the desired limit is the same as that of $F(y) /t^3$.

Using Taylor series we can write $F(y) $ as $$2\left(\frac{1}{t^2}-\frac{1}{3}\right)\left(t+\frac{t^3}{3}+\frac{t^5}{5}+o(t^5)\right)-\frac{2}{t}$$ And this can be written as $$2\left(\frac{1}{t}+\frac{t}{3}+\frac{t^3}{5}-\frac{t}{3}-\frac{t^3}{9}+o(t^3)-\frac{1}{t}\right)=\frac{8t^3}{45}+o(t^3) $$ It follows that $F(y) /t^3$ tends to $8/45$.

One can observe that the substitution $1+y=1/t^2$ helps here a lot as it simplifies the log term to a well known Taylor series.

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To calculate the limit for $y\to\infty$ you can use L'Hospital, but not immediately as the term will be $\infty \cdot 0 - \infty$ which is not defined. You first have to convert this term to get an expression of $0/0$ so that L'Hospital can really be used.

To begin with, the functions are defined with $F,G,H$ so that the above formula is simplified to

$$ F\cdot G - H $$ with $F\to \infty, G \to 0, H \to \infty$.

Transforming this into a formula that is allowed for L'Hospital yields

$$D = \frac{1}{\frac{1}{F\cdot H}} \cdot \left(G\cdot \frac 1H - \frac 1F\right)$$ as for $y\to\infty$ it would approach $0/0$

Let's calculate each function and its derivative for its own in terms of maximum exponents - as that is the only interesting at the end when looking at the behavior for $y\to\infty$. The behavior for large $y$ is denoted with $\sim$ which is similar to $\Theta$ in the $\mathcal{O}$ notation:

\begin{align} F &\sim y^1 \\ G &\sim 0 \\ H &\sim y^{- \frac 12} \\ \frac{d}{dy} G &= \frac{\sqrt{1+y}-1}{\sqrt{1+y}+1}\cdot\frac{\frac{1}{2\sqrt{1+y}}(\sqrt{1+y}-1) - \frac{1}{2\sqrt{1+y}} (\sqrt{1+y}+1)}{(\sqrt{1+y}-1)^2} \\ &= \frac{-1}{(\sqrt{1+y}+1)(\sqrt{1+y}-1)(\sqrt{1+y})} \sim y^{-\frac{3}{2}}\\ \frac{d}{dy} \frac{1}{H} &=\frac{-1}{4(1+y)^{\frac{3}{2}}} \sim y^{-\frac 32} \\ \frac{d}{dy}\frac{1}{F} &= \frac{1}{-\left(y+\frac 23\right)^{2}} \sim y^{-2} \\ \frac{d}{dy}G\frac{1}{H} &\sim y^{-\frac 32} \cdot y^{-\frac 12} + 0 \cdot y^{-\frac 32} \sim y^{-2} \\ \frac{d}{dy}\frac{1}{F}\frac{1}{H} &\sim y^{-2} y^{-\frac 12} + y^1 y^{-\frac32} \sim y^{-\frac 52} + y^{-\frac 12} \sim y^{-\frac 12} \end{align}

If we put everything together now, we conclude:

\begin{align} D \sim \frac{1}{y^{-\frac 12}} \cdot (y^{-2} - y^{-2}) \sim y^{\frac 12} \cdot y^{-2} \sim y^{-\frac 32}\\ \end{align}

It could be possible that we get $y^{-2}-y^{-2}=0$ in the brackets, which would change the result. But if we take a look at the coefficient in front of $y^{-2}$ we get $(-1)\cdot \frac 12 = -\frac 12$ for $\frac{d}{dy}\left(G\cdot \frac 1H\right)$ (the factor of $\left(\frac{d}{dy}G\right)\frac{1}{H}$ from using the product rule as the other product has exponent $0$) and $-1$ for $\frac{d}{dy}\frac 1F$. As $-\frac 12 \neq -1$ the above difference will not be zero, therefore the exponents will remain as calculated.

So in total we have $D\sim y^{-\frac 32}$ or more mathematically: $$ D \in \Theta\left(y^{-\frac 32}\right) $$

Puh. That took a long time to write and think about. I hope everything is correct and clearly written. If anything is unclear or any questions arise, please ask. I would appreciate any feedback in form of comments or votes - especially as this is my first "big" answer with a more difficult topic :)

LegNaiB
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  • I upvoted you, but it was better not to use L’Hospital’s Rule. By expanding the logarithm in the first five terms it is simpler to get the asymptotic behaviour. – Angelo May 16 '21 at 00:33
  • Thanks. I see, the other solutions using this trick seem a bit simpler than mine. However, if one is interested in the exact value of the limit you could expand my solution and enter all derivatives - that is not possible when using those approximations – LegNaiB May 16 '21 at 06:38
  • Actually other solutions are a lot simpler than yours, moreover they give the exact value of the limit too. – Angelo May 16 '21 at 06:43
  • That wasn't correctly formulated. I didn't mean the limit behavior but the exact function that is approached. Because all other solutions use Taylor expansion which is not exact. – LegNaiB May 16 '21 at 07:51
  • Your solution is not exact too because you also use aymptotic approximations in many steps. – Angelo May 16 '21 at 10:22
  • I know, but one could insert the formulas of $F,G$ and $H$ and then you would get a concrete formula - however, that is a lot to calculate, that's why I didn't calculate that and just took the asymptotic approximation. – LegNaiB May 16 '21 at 11:03
  • That is why it is better how other people solved the exercise of the original poster, nevertheless I upvoted you and I was the only one who made it. – Angelo May 16 '21 at 13:56
  • I'm totally with you. Thanks for the upvote :) – LegNaiB May 16 '21 at 14:17
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Set $x=\sqrt{1+y}-1$. Then $y=(x+1)^2-1=x^2+2x$, and your expression simplifies to $$ \bigl(x^2+2x+\tfrac23 \bigr)\log\bigl(1+\tfrac2x \bigr) - 2x - 2 $$ Expanding the logarithm in powers of $2/x$ gives us $$ \bigl(x^2+2x+\tfrac23 \bigr)\Bigl(\frac2x-\frac2{x^2}+\frac{8}{3x^3}-\frac{4}{x^4}+\frac{32}{5x^5}+o(x^{-5}) \Bigr) - 2x - 2 $$ We can then multiply out and collect terms to get $$ \begin{align} (2-2)&x^1 + {} \\ (-2 + 4 - 2)&x^0 +{} \\ (\tfrac83 -4 + \tfrac43)&x^{-1} +{} \\ (-4+\tfrac{16}3 - \tfrac43)&x^{-2} +{} \\ (\tfrac{32}5 -8 + \tfrac{16}{9})&x^{-3} + o(x^{-3}) = \tfrac{8}{45}x^{-3} + o(x^{-3}) \end{align} $$ Since asymptotically $x\sim y^{1/2}$ this is also $$\frac{8}{45}y^{-3/2} + o(y^{-3/2}).$$

Angelo
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Considering $$A=\left(y+\frac23\right)\log\left(\dfrac{\sqrt{1+y}+1}{\sqrt{1+y}-1} \right) - 2 \sqrt{1+y}$$ first simplify $$A=\left(y+\frac{2}{3}\right) \log \left(\frac{y+2 \sqrt{y+1}+2}{y}\right)-2 \sqrt{y+1}$$ For large values of $y$, you could start using $y=\frac 1x$ to make $$A=\frac{(2 x+3) \log \left(2 x+2 \sqrt{x (x+1)}+1\right)-6 \sqrt{x (x+1)}}{3 x}$$ Now, Taylor series $$\sqrt{x (x+1)}=x^{1/2}+\frac{x^{3/2}}{2}-\frac{x^{5/2}}{8}+\frac{x^{7/2}}{16}+O\left(x^{9/2}\right)$$ $$ \log \left(2 x+2 \sqrt{x (x+1)}+1\right)=2 x^{1/2}-\frac{x^{3/2}}{3}+\frac{3 x^{5/2}}{20}-\frac{5 x^{7/2}}{56}+O\left(x^{9/2}\right)$$ $$A=\frac{8 x^{3/2}}{45}-\frac{4 x^{5/2}}{35}+O\left(x^{7/2}\right)$$ Back to $y=\frac 1x$ gives the result.

As I used to say : we are always closer to $0$ than to $\infty$

  • @Angelo. I forgot to divide by $3$ !! The series ore OK – Claude Leibovici May 16 '21 at 06:15
  • @Angelo. Have a look at https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Series%5B-2Sqrt%5B1+%2B+y%5D+%2B+%282%2F3+%2B+y%29Log%5B%281+%2B+Sqrt%5B1+%2B+y%5D%29%2F%28-1+%2B+Sqrt%5B1+%2B+y%5D%29%5D%2C%7By%2CInfinity%2C4%7D%5D – Claude Leibovici May 16 '21 at 06:26
  • You are right, the second term is $-\dfrac{4x^{5/2}}{35}.$ I had made a mistake in my calculations. I am sorry. I have upvoted you. – Angelo May 16 '21 at 07:16