Error analysis for a sinh transformation used in evaluating nearly singular boundary element integrals (Q875158)

The article is devoted to the problem of computing integrals of the form \[ \int_{-1}^1 g(x)j(x)f((x-a)^2+b^2)dx \] where \(j^2\) is quadratic, \(g\) is polynomial and \(f\) is a rational, logarithmic or algebraic function with a singularity at zero, \(-1\leq a \leq 1, 0 < b <<1\), the singularities of \(f\) are close to the interval of integration. The use of Gauss-Legendre quadrature is not suitable generally because it can give a large truncation error. The authors suggest the transformation \(x=a+b\sinh (\mu u-\eta)\), where \(\mu\) and \(\eta\) are suitable chosen in order to reduce the truncation error. The asymptotic error analysis for the Gauss-Legendre quadrature is then used to explain this phenomenon.