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 PROCEEDINGS
OF

THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY.

1846-7. No. 57.

November 30th, 1846. (Stated Meeting.)

REV. HUMPHREY LLOYD, D. D., President, in the

Chair.

Thomas Moore, Esq., having been specially recommended

by theCouncil, was elected an Honorarv Member.

The Rev. William Roberts, F. T. D., read a paper on

the definite integral

\ log(l +
nsin21)fdo
V(1 - k2sin'2q)

It is clear that the only admissible values of n (real) are those

of the parameter of an elliptic function of the third kind, to
themodulus k, namely, cot2O,- I+ k 2 sin120,and- k2sin20,
where k' is the complement of k. The value of the definite
integralmay, in each of these cases, be expressed by elliptic
functions of the first and second kinds, and by the remarkable
transcendantY (5 V (1-k ) di2)) by the aid of which fiunc
tions of the third speties, with a logarithinic parameter, can be
VOL. III. 2 c
 306

calculated by tables of double entry. In fact, we have the

following formulae,
571og (l+cot20 sin2fl) =do
0o , (1 - , 2s 1
in0)f)d
7rF(k', 0) - 2F(k) Y (k', 0) - {E(k) - F(k) { F(k', 0) }2

27rF(Q') F(k) log (k sin20)

7Iog(l- ( - k4sin 20) sin2q)d

(2)
0 /(I k2 siD20) ()
7r(k',0 ) 2F%Y(k',0) - { E(k) - F(k)} { F(k', 0)}2

-FrF(k') + log (K) F(k).

5 log (1 -A2 sin2c sin20)d=

o (I _-k2 Sin2 ,)
E(k) I F(k, 0) } - 2F(Q) Y(k, 0). (3)

In equation (3) ifwe put 0 = j7r,we will have, recollect

ing that
Y(1rr) = jF(k) E(k) -1 log k',

log log(kl) F(k). (4)

o ( (1 -__ k2 sinh2p)
sin2#) do
ds=lge)(

Again, 0, being the amplitude of the semi-complete function,

we have

sin 20,= I+k'

and,
Y (0,) = jr(k) E(A) - Ilog 2k-A/k'

so that

log(cos + k' sin'e)

'IO _ /
2P'Vk
2(-t k
^2sin2d) log (1+k)r(k). (5)

The values of the definite integrals (4) and (5) have been
 307

already deduced by Mr. Roberts from entirely different consi

derations, aindpublished in Liouville's Journal deMathema
tiques,May, 1846.
Some other interesting results may be obtained from our
general formulae. TFhus, if in (2) we put 0 = 0, we will have

log d
(cos1p) ip=jlog
0 V(l-k kF(k') - j7rF(k'), (6)
A2sin2ip)

fromwhich we may deduce, by an easy transformation,

S log (sinip)d = I
o -
log F(k)- 17rF(k')
( k2 sin2ip) 2g\j -F(k) (7

and, consequently,
j log (tani) dip
2 log I (8)
ir/1- 2suinp2) (k).
If we suppose k to vanish in formulae (6) and (7), we ob
tain thewell-known results, originally given by Euler,

0
5 log(cosip)
=log
dipj o di= j7rlog.'
(sinip)
Denoting V/ (I- 2sin2i) by A, we can also derive from
the above the value of the definite integral

log(l ? n sin0) dip (9)

For, the sum of the integrals

Chlog
0 (+ A sinG) di and log (1I A sinH)
~~~and - dip

may be found from (), -and their difference from the formula

log {I - A sin} A 7(k' 0)

which Mr. Roberts has demonstrate'd in the Journal de Ma

thematiques,May, 1846.
2 c 2
 308

In conclusion it may be observed, that the particular re.

sults, (4) (6), (7), (8), are nothing more than immediate con
sequences ofMr. Jacobi's factorial developments of the trigo
nometrical functions of the amplitude of an elliptic function,
in termsof the function itself.- Traite des Fonctions Ellip
tiques, tom. iii. page 97. It may be seen that they follow at
once from these expansions, ifwe remember that

1 0
log (I 2acosx + a2) dx-

when a is less than unity; a theorem proved by Poisson in

the seventeenth cahier of the Journal de l'Ecole Polytech
ni9ue.

Sir William R. Hamilton stated the following theorems of

central forces,which he had proved by his calculus of quater
nions, but which, as he remarked,might be also deduced from
principles more elementary.
If a body be attracted to a fixed point, with a force which
varies directly as the distance from that point, and inversely
as the cube of the distance from a fixed plane, the body will
describe a conic section, of which the plane intersects the fixeAl
plane in a straight line, which is the polar of the fixed point
with respect to the conic section.
And in like manner, if a material point be obliged to re
main upon the surface of a given sphere, and be acted on by
a force, of which the tangential component is constantly di
rected (along the surface) towards a fixed point or pole upon
that surface, and varies directly as the sine of the arcual dis
tance from that pole, and inversely as the cube of the sine of
the arcual distance from a fixed great circle; then the material
point will describe a spherical conic, with respect towhich the
fixed great circle will be the polar of the fixed point.
Thus, a spherical conic would be described by a heavy
point upon a sphere, if the vertical accelerating forcewere to