Residue (mathematics)
In complex analysis, the residue of a function f holomorphic in an open set with possible exception of a point where the function may admit a singularity, is a particular number characterising behaviour of f around .
More precisely, if a function f is holomorphic in a neighbourhood of (but not necessarily at itself) then it can be represented as the Laurent series around this point, that is
with some and coefficients
The coefficient is the residue of f at , denoted as or
Although the choice of the coefficient may look arbitrary, it turns out that it is well motivated by the particularly important role played by this number in the theory of complex functions. For example, the residue allows to evaluate path integrals of the function f via the residue theorem. This technique finds many applications in real analysis as well.