The sum of the series $$ \frac{\pi}{2}=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{k!}{(2k+1)!!}\tag{1} $$ can be derived by accelerating the Gregory Series $$ \frac{\pi}{4}=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{(-1)^k}{2k+1}\tag{2} $$ using Euler's Series Transformation. Mathematica is able to sum $(1)$, so I assume there must be some method to sum the series in $(1)$ directly; what might that method be?
How to sum this series for $\pi/2$ directly?
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3what does $(2k+1)!!$ mean? Does it mean for $k=1$ the value of this expression is $6!$ – 2011-10-31
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10@Chandrasekhar: No, it means the [double factorial](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factorial#Double_factorial). – 2011-10-31
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9The above series for $\frac{\pi}{4}$ should be called the Madhava formula, or the Leibniz formula, or the Gregory formula, or combinations of some or all the names (Madhava came first). No Machin. – 2011-10-31
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0@André: ack, you are correct. I was thinking of the Gregory formula, but became aphasic. Corrected. Thanks. – 2011-10-31
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3@ZevChonoles: Double factorial? What does it mean?! ;) – 2011-11-01
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4@Joren Why don't you click the link in Zev's comment and find out? ;) – 2011-11-01
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3@Srivatsan: Yes, of course. Just making a reference to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI – 2011-11-01
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15Would the downvoter care to comment? – 2012-12-13
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4A second downvote?! I wish someone would comment so that I would know what they find objectionable about this question. – 2014-05-08
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10A third downvote without comment. I derived the series using the Euler Series Transform and even posted an answer. I believe I have shown what I have done and my subsequent effort, if that is what is bothering people. Of course, perhaps something else is wrong with my question, but since no one is commenting on the downvotes, I can't really do anything about them. – 2014-08-04
5 Answers
First, $$(2k+1)!! = (2k+1)(2k-1) \cdots (1) = \frac{(2k+1)!}{(2k)(2(k-1)) \cdots 2(1)} = \frac{(2k+1)!}{2^k k!}.$$
So your sum can be rewritten as
$$\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{k! \, k! \, 2^k }{(2k+1)!} = \sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{2^k}{(2k+1)\binom{2k}{k}}.$$
Variations of the sum of reciprocals of the central binomial coefficients have been well-studied. For example, this paper by Sprugnoli (see Theorem 2.4) gives the ordinary generating function of $a_k = \frac{4^k}{(2k+1)}\binom{2k}{k}^{-1}$ to be $$A(t) = \frac{1}{t} \sqrt{\frac{t}{1-t}} \arctan \sqrt{\frac{t}{1-t}}.$$
Subbing in $t = 1/2$ says that $$\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{2^k}{(2k+1)\binom{2k}{k}} = 2 \arctan(1) = \frac{\pi}{2}.$$
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4That'll do it! Thanks for the reference. – 2011-10-31
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4See also [this related question](http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/10046/exercise-from-comtets-advanced-combinatorics-prove-27-sum-n-1-infty-1-b). – 2011-10-31
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5I was able to use the formula for the integral of an odd power of sine to come up with [a fourth method](http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/77607/how-to-sum-this-series-for-pi-2-directly/77869#77869) to sum my series. Unfortunately, it is too long for the margin. – 2011-11-01
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5@robjohn: Your comments on my answers keep being too long for the margin... ;) – 2011-11-01
We can prove this identity, as well as the corresponding power series identities by using a relation with the Beta function. Rearranging as done in Mike Spivey's answer we are looking at $$ \sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{k! k! 2^k}{(2k+1)!}$$ Using induction or a Beta Function identity, we can show that $$\int_0^1 x^{k}(1-x)^k=\frac{k!k!}{(2k+1)!}.$$ Hence your sum becomes
$$ \sum_{k=0}^\infty 2^k \int_0^1 x^{k}(1-x)^k=\int_0^1 \left(\sum_{k=0}^\infty 2^k x^k (1-x)^k\right)dx.$$
Notice that since $0\leq x\leq 1$, $x(1-x)\leq \frac{1}{4}$ and the series converges absolutely. Summing gives
$$=\int_0^1 \frac{1}{1-2x(1-x)}dx=\int_0^1 \frac{1}{x^2+(1-x)^2}dx$$ Substituting $u=\frac{1}{x}$, and then $v=u-1$, we see that this integral is equal to $$\int_1^\infty \frac{1}{1+(u-1)^2}du=\int_0^\infty \frac{1}{1+v^2}dv=\frac{\pi}{2},$$ as desired.
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1+1: I figured there was a way to adapt T..'s argument in the question I linked to. – 2011-10-31
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0@MikeSpivey: Thanks! I quickly looked over the paper you linked to after posting this. It is worth noting that the switching of the order is pretty much the key thing in every proof there. – 2011-10-31
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0The bounds on the second last integral should be from $u=1$ to $\infty$. – 2011-10-31
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0@SL2 Corrected! thanks – 2011-10-31
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2(You might want to add "dx" to your integrals, BTW.) – 2011-10-31
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0I saw the Beta integral on the page that Mike Spivey linked to, and I was working on just this method. Thanks for a third method! – 2011-10-31
Notice that for $c_k = \frac{k!}{(2k+1)!!}$ the ratio of successive terms $\frac{c_{k+1}}{c_k} = \frac{k+1}{2k +3} = \frac{1}{2} \frac{k+1}{k+3/2}$.
This means that the series is hypergeometric with the value ${}_2 F_1(1, 1, \frac{3}{2}, \frac{1}{2})$.
This particular Gaussian hypergeometric is elementary: $$ {}_2 F_1(1, 1, \frac{3}{2}, x) = \frac{\arcsin\left(\sqrt{x}\right)}{\sqrt{1-x} \sqrt{x}} $$ Upon substitution of $x=\frac{1}{2}$ we recover the result $ 2 \arcsin(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}) = \frac{\pi}{2}$.
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9Nice. I like seeing more that one way to skin a cat. This is the same function as given in Mike Spivey's post since $\tan(x)=\frac{\sin(x)}{\sqrt{1-\sin^2(x)}}$. – 2011-10-31
I had intended for this to be a comment to Mike Spivey's answer, but it is too long.
One of the answers to the related question mentions a result equivalent to $$ \int_0^\frac{\pi}{2}\sin^{2k+1}(x)\;\mathrm{d}x=\frac{2k}{2k+1}\frac{2k-2}{2k-1}\cdots\frac{2}{3}=\frac{1}{2k+1}\frac{4^k}{\binom{2k}{k}}\tag{1} $$ Using $(1)$, my sum becomes $$ \begin{align} \sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{k!}{(2k+1)!!} &=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{2^k}{(2k+1)\binom{2k}{k}}\\ &=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2}\sqrt{2}\left(\frac{\sin(x)}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^{2k+1}\mathrm{d}x\\ &=\sqrt{2}\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2}\frac{\left(\frac{\sin(x)}{\sqrt{2}}\right)}{1-\left(\frac{\sin(x)}{\sqrt{2}}\right)^2}\;\mathrm{d}x\\ &=\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2}\frac{2\,\sin(x)}{2-\sin^2(x)}\;\mathrm{d}x\\ &=\int_\frac{\pi}{2}^0\frac{2\;\mathrm{d}\cos(x)}{1+\cos^2(x)}\\ &=\frac{\pi}{2} \end{align} $$
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1Why was the result suddenly halved? – 2011-11-01
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2@JM: thanks for catching the typo. – 2011-11-01
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3@robjohn: It is worth noting that this is really just using the Beta Function in disguise. First, $$\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2} \sin^{2k-1}(x)dx=\frac{1}{2}\int_0^{\pi} \sin^{2k-1}(x)dx=\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2} \sin^{2k-1}(2x)dx=2\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2} \sin^{2k-1}(x)\cos^{2k-1}(x)dx.$$ Letting $u=\sin^2(x)$, we have $du=2\sin(x)\cos(x)$, so that this is $$\int_0^1 x^k (1-x)^k dx.$$ In other words, this solution is identical to the one above, but a change of variables has taken place first. In general we can write the beta function as $$\text{B}(x,y)=2\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2}\sin^{2x-1}(x)\cos^{2y-1}(x)dx.$$ – 2011-11-01
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2@Eric: I was actually about to give a proof (in a comment to Mike's answer) very similar to yours, using the Beta function, but you posted first, so I switched to using the other identity. When I saw that it came to $\int_0^1\frac{2\;\mathrm{d}t}{1+t^2}$, I figured it was still similar to your answer. – 2011-11-01
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3@Eric: you probably meant $$\textrm{B}(x,y)=2\int_0^\frac{\pi}{2}\sin^{2x-1}(t)\;\cos^{2y-1}(t)\;\textrm{d}t$$ – 2011-11-01
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1@robjohn: Oops!! I chose the wrong variable of integration there! Ya, I just wanted to point out here that every solution so far, in principle, is the same, which is kinda interesting. (I can't really tell with Sasha's, since a proof of the main identity is not cited) – 2011-11-01
$\newcommand{\bbx}[1]{\,\bbox[15px,border:1px groove navy]{\displaystyle{#1}}\,} \newcommand{\braces}[1]{\left\lbrace\,{#1}\,\right\rbrace} \newcommand{\bracks}[1]{\left\lbrack\,{#1}\,\right\rbrack} \newcommand{\dd}{\mathrm{d}} \newcommand{\ds}[1]{\displaystyle{#1}} \newcommand{\expo}[1]{\,\mathrm{e}^{#1}\,} \newcommand{\ic}{\mathrm{i}} \newcommand{\mc}[1]{\mathcal{#1}} \newcommand{\mrm}[1]{\mathrm{#1}} \newcommand{\pars}[1]{\left(\,{#1}\,\right)} \newcommand{\partiald}[3][]{\frac{\partial^{#1} #2}{\partial #3^{#1}}} \newcommand{\root}[2][]{\,\sqrt[#1]{\,{#2}\,}\,} \newcommand{\totald}[3][]{\frac{\mathrm{d}^{#1} #2}{\mathrm{d} #3^{#1}}} \newcommand{\verts}[1]{\left\vert\,{#1}\,\right\vert}$ \begin{align} &\bbox[10px,#ffd]{\sum_{k = 0}^{\infty}{k! \over \pars{2k + 1}!!}} = \sum_{k = 0}^{\infty}{k! \over \prod_{j = 0}^{k}\pars{2j + 1}} \\[5mm] = &\ \sum_{k = 0}^{\infty}{k! \over 2^{k + 1} \prod_{j = 0}^{k}\pars{j + 1/2}} = {1 \over 2}\sum_{k = 0}^{\infty}{k! \over \pars{1/2}^{\overline{k + 1}}}\,\pars{1 \over 2}^{k} \\[5mm] = &\ {1 \over 2}\sum_{k = 0}^{\infty}{k! \over \Gamma\pars{k + 3/2}/\Gamma\pars{1/2}}\,\pars{1 \over 2}^{k} \\[5mm] = &\ {1 \over 2}\sum_{k = 0}^{\infty}{\Gamma\pars{1/2}\Gamma\pars{k + 1} \over \Gamma\pars{k + 3/2}}\,\pars{1 \over 2}^{k} \\[5mm] = &\ {1 \over 2}\sum_{k = 0}^{\infty}\pars{1 \over 2}^{k} \int_{0}^{1}t^{-1/2}\pars{1 - t}^{k}\,\dd t \\[5mm] = &\ {1 \over 2}\int_{0}^{1}t^{-1/2}\sum_{k = 0}^{\infty} \pars{1 - t \over 2}^{k}\,\dd t \\[5mm] = &\ {1 \over 2}\int_{0}^{1}t^{-1/2}\, {1 \over 1 - \pars{1 - t}/2}\,\dd t = \int_{0}^{1}{t^{-1/2} \over 1 + t}\,\dd t \\[5mm] \stackrel{t\ \mapsto\ t^{2}}{=}\,\,\,& 2\int_{0}^{1}{\dd t \over 1 + t^{2}}\,\dd t = 2\,{\pi \over 4} = \bbx{\pi \over 2} \end{align}