Pole (complex analysis): Difference between revisions

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In complex analysis, a pole is a type of singularity of a function of a complex variable. In the neighbourhood of a pole, the function behave like a negative power.

A function f has a pole of order k, where k is a positive integer, with (non-zero) residue r at a point a if the limit

.

The pole is an isolated singularity if there is a neighbourhood of a in which f is holomorphic except at a. In this case the function has a Laurent series in a neighbourhood of a, so that f is expressible as a power series

where the leading coefficient .

An isolated singularity may be either removable, a pole, or an essential singularity.