Moments of the cot function, central factorial numbers and their links with the Dirichlet eta function at odd integers

Abstract

We investigate the properties of the moments of the cot function using the central factorial numbers. Using a new integral representation of the central factorial numbers, we find a new way to express these moments in terms of recursive sums and integrals. This allows us to compute 'recursive' generalized harmonic series and multiple integrals as a linear combination of the Dirichlet eta functions at odd integers.