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.