Questions tagged [divergent-series]

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5 answers
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Summation methods for divergent series

There are many methods for assigning a value to a series that diverges, e.g. zeta function regularization, Abel summation, Cesaro summation, etc. From all of the examples I've found, two methods ...
Eric O. Korman's user avatar
56 votes
14 answers
6k views

Does any method of summing divergent series work on the harmonic series?

It's sort of folklore (as exemplified by this old post at The Everything Seminar) that none of the common techniques for summing divergent series work to give a meaningful value to the harmonic series,...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
27 votes
4 answers
2k views

Do Abel summation and zeta summation always coincide?

This is a more focused version of Summation methods for divergent series. Let $a_n$ be a sequence of real numbers such that $\lim_{x \to 1^{-}} > \sum a_n x^n$ and $\lim_{s \to 0^{+}} > \...
David E Speyer's user avatar
19 votes
6 answers
1k views

What is the relationship between $\sum_{n=0}^\infty f(n) x^n$ and $-\sum_{n=1}^\infty f(-n) x^{-n}$?

Background Taking a relatively arbitrary combination of exponential and polynomial terms, for instance $$\sum_{n=0}^\infty \left(n^{2}\sin\left(n\right)+n\cos\left(3n-2\right)\right)\cos\left(5n+1\...
Caleb Briggs's user avatar
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12 votes
5 answers
2k views

Use of everywhere divergent generating functions

Generating functions are well-known to be much useful in combinatorics. But, maybe just since I am illiteral, all the applications coming in mind deal with power series, which are not just formal, but ...
Fedor Petrov's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
981 views

Divergent series summation beyond natural boundaries

I'm hoping to investigate the effects of divergent summation methods on series which cannot be analytically continued due to a dense set of singularities. At least a priori, it doesn't seem that a ...
Caleb Briggs's user avatar
  • 1,692
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Value of divergent sum $\sum_{n=0}^\infty (-1)^n n^n$

I'm hoping to find a reasonable value to assign to the divergent series $\sum_{n=0}^\infty (-1)^n n^n$ and $\sum_{n=0}^\infty (-1)^n (xn)^n$. For the first one, I have obtained something around 0.71, ...
Caleb Briggs's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
226 views

Fractional integrals and $\sum f(n) n^x$

Preamble The following is a rather unrigorous way to obtain the Euler-Maclaurin formula. Consider some $\sum_{n=1}^\infty f(n)$. We may rewrite this as $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty f(n)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \sum_{...
Caleb Briggs's user avatar
  • 1,692
3 votes
0 answers
371 views

Extending reals with logarithm of zero: properties and reference request

If we take logarithmic function, we can see that its real part at zero approaches negative infinity with the same rate and sign from any direction on the complex plane, while the Cauchy main value of ...
Anixx's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
100 views

What intuitive meaning "determinant" of a divergency (divergent integral, series, germ, pole or a singularity) can have?

I am working on the algebra of "divergencies", that is, infinite integrals, series, and germs. So, I decided to construct something similar to the modulus or determinant of a matrix of these ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,312
15 votes
2 answers
446 views

Generalizations of summation methods of divergence series

If one looks at the "summation proofs" of divergent series such as Grandi's series, one might see a pattern that most of the computation rely on linearity and comparability with the shift ...
Serge the Toaster's user avatar
37 votes
2 answers
4k views

1+2+3+4+… and −⅛

Is there some deeper meaning to the following derivation (or rather one-parameter family of derivations) associating the divergent series $1+2+3+4+…$ with the value $-\frac 1 8$ (as opposed to the ...
James Propp's user avatar
  • 19.4k
32 votes
2 answers
3k views

Does the equation $1 + 2 + 3 + \dots = -\frac{1}{12}$ have a natural $p$-adic interpretation?

Consider the equation $$1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + \cdots = - \frac{1}{12},$$ "proved" by Ramanujan Euler. One correct way to interpret this is that $\zeta(-1) = - \frac{1}{12},$ where $\zeta(s) = \sum_{n = 1}^{\...
Frank Thorne's user avatar
  • 7,199
25 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is there any sequence $a_n$ of nonnegative numbers for which $\sum_{n \geq 1}a_n^2 <\infty$ and $\sum_{n \geq 1}\left(\sum_{k \geq 1}\frac{a_{kn}}{k}\right)^2=\infty$?

Is there any sequence $a_n$ of nonnegative numbers for which $\displaystyle\sum_{n \geq 1}a_n^2 <\infty$ and $$\sum_{n \geq 1}\left(\sum_{k \geq 1}\frac{a_{kn}}{k}\right)^2=\infty\quad?$$ See ...
a_MSE_user's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
764 views

Cesaro(?)/Euler(?) - summation of the $s(p)=\sum_{k=0}^\infty (-1)^{H(k)} (1+k)^p$ for $p=1,2,3,...$ (where $H(k)$ is the Hamming-weight)

In another thread (in MO) there was a question about a series where the signs at the terms alternate with the "Hamming-weight", that means according to the number of bits in the binary representation ...
Gottfried Helms's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
4k views

Defining the slowest divergent series

This question might seem too fuzzy, and if so, I will be happy to withdraw it. Until then, here it is: I know that a method of slowing a divergent series of positive reals is to replace the $n$-th ...
Mircea's user avatar
  • 2,031
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Abel summation of the alternating series of primes?

Consider the ordinary generating function of the sequence of primes ($2+3x+5x^2+7x^3 + ...$); by the ratio test and the prime number theorem, its radius of convergence is $1$. Thus, we might well ask ...
Sridhar Ramesh's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
2k views

Divergence of Dirichlet series

Suppose $s$ is a complex number with $\Re(s) \in (0,1]$ and $\{a_n\}$ is a complex sequence converging to $a \neq 0$. Must the Dirichlet series $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{a_n}{n^s}$$ diverge? I asked ...
Richard Hevener's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
3k views

Values of the Riemann zeta function and the Ramanujan summation - How strong is the connection?

(This Question was taken from MSE. As Eric Naslund pointed out there, this question is relevant. The summation method mentioned in this question is actually a good answer to it.) The Ramanujan ...
Max Muller's user avatar
  • 4,575
8 votes
1 answer
826 views

Is it possible to sum the divergent series with prime coefficients?

It is known that the series $$ P := \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} p_{n} \qquad \text{where } p_{n} \text{ is the n'th prime} $$ cannot be summed by means of (prime) zeta function regularization. (The result was ...
Max Muller's user avatar
  • 4,575
8 votes
0 answers
248 views

Switching the order of a summation and replacing a series by its analytical continuation

Background A useful trick when trying to analyze a series $\sum_{n=0}^\infty f(n)$ is to expand $f(n)$ as some kind of series, swap the order of summation, and then evaluate the inner infinite sum. ...
Caleb Briggs's user avatar
  • 1,692
7 votes
3 answers
633 views

Is regularization of infinite sums by analytic continuation unique?

There are ill-posed summations that we can assign values to, take for concreteness, $$ S = \sum_{k=0}^\infty k $$ to which we can assign $-1/12$ by several methods. Is there a fundamental and rigorous ...
MCH's user avatar
  • 1,304
5 votes
1 answer
723 views

mertens-function in the light of divergent summation - what summation method were best adapted

Just reading about the Mertens-function in the other thread Mertens function I remember an earlier attempt to apply divergent summation to the series which is constructed of the Moebius-function at ...
Gottfried Helms's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
163 views

Reference request: Rigorously solving ODEs using divergent asymptotic series

In my research I have come across a divergent asymptotic series $\sum_{n =0}^\infty a_n f_n(x)$ that formally solves a certain fairly simple nonlinear second-order ODE but does not seem to correspond ...
tmh's user avatar
  • 685
4 votes
1 answer
383 views

How to correctly renormalize this function at the pole $x=1$? Evaluating: $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} e^{e^n}$

So I was considering the divergent everywhere but 0 power series $$ f(x) = \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} e^{e^n} x^n $$ Now one can do the following "questionable" manipulation $$ f(x) = \sum_{n=0}^{\...
Sidharth Ghoshal's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
226 views

Did anyone ever propose the distinction between "divergent to infinity" as opposed to "divergent but with finite average"?

There are different regularization methods that allow us to ascribe finite values to divergent integrals, series or sequences. Still, in my view there is fundamental difference between divergent ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 9,312
1 vote
1 answer
105 views

On summation methods of divergent series

$\newcommand{\R}{\mathbb R}\newcommand{\N}{\mathbb N}\newcommand{\si}{\sigma}\newcommand{\CC}{\mathcal C}$This previous question introduced the following notion of a summability space. Let $\N:=\{1,2,\...
Iosif Pinelis's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
591 views

Generalized limits

Cross-posted from Math SE. The linked question explores the concept of a "generalized limit" that assigns values to sequences which diverge in the Cauchy sense. It asks the following question: ...
user76284's user avatar
  • 1,793
0 votes
1 answer
211 views

What is a sufficient condition for summability of formel power series? [closed]

There are several kind of summability , i accrossed differents conditions for applying for example Borel summation or laplace transform which let me mixed and confused , really i don't know if i have ...
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