Wednesday, 22 January 2014

More on Wallis' product

Here's a thought. Suppose we knew Wallis' product
212343456567=π2.
Define I2n=12342n12nπ2 and I2n+1=23452n2n+1.
If we truncate the left hand side of Wallis' product after 2n terms we make it less, and this implies I2n+1/I2n<1. Now we can complete the proof of Stirling's formula without ever needing to consider In=π/20sinnθdθ.

Of course a standard way to prove Wallis' product is to work with In=π/20sinnθdθ=(n1)(In2In), but there are other ways to prove it that require just basic algebra, Pythagoras' theorem and the formula for the area of a circle. See here.

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