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Does the following hold?: $$ \sum_{a, b \in \mathbb{N}^+, \ \gcd(a,b) = 1} \frac{1}{ab(a+b)} \ = \ 2 $$ Numerical computations suggest this may hold, but on the other hand it would be quite surprising if that sum is indeed an integer.

If it indeed holds: is this a known identity?

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    $\begingroup$ If you like my answer, please accept it officially (so that it turns green). Thanks in advance! $\endgroup$
    – GH from MO
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 20:59
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    $\begingroup$ @GHfromMO Well -- I think all three answers are excellent. In particular, you gave the complete references (thanks a lot!), and Aleksei Kulikov (who answered first) gave a very slick and complete proof. $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl
    Commented Nov 16, 2023 at 15:50
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    $\begingroup$ OK, but still I suggest that you accept one of the three answers, so that people know this question is closed. $\endgroup$
    – GH from MO
    Commented Nov 16, 2023 at 16:32
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    $\begingroup$ @GHfromMO Fair enough -- though I'd still like to say that I wish I wouldn't have to make a choice here. $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl
    Commented Nov 16, 2023 at 16:48

3 Answers 3

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This is a known identity: it is stated explicitly under Corollary 1 in Tornheim: Harmonic double series, Amer. J. Math. 72 (1950), 303-314. See also (10) in Mordell: On the evaluation of some multiple series, J. London Math. Soc. 33 (1958), 368-371, and see this MSE post for some neat derivations. In fact many other references are available, just search for "Tornheim sum" in Google and MathSciNet.

Added. The other responses, which were made before this addition, make it clear that the statement in the original post can be reduced to $\zeta(2,1)=\zeta(3)$. This famous identity on multiple zeta values was discovered by Euler (1775); see this MO post. A generalization $$\sum_{\substack{k_1+\dotsb+k_r=k\\k_1\geq 2;\ k_2,\dotsc,k_r\geq 1}}\zeta(k_1,k_2,\dots,k_r)=\zeta(k),\qquad k\geq r+1,$$ was conjectured by Moen (1990) and proved by Granville (1996). For a transparent proof of this general sum formula, see Seki-Yamamoto (2019) or its arXiv version.

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    $\begingroup$ Thank you for accepting my edit that gives more credit to the other responses. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 12, 2023 at 8:46
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I have no idea if it is known, but here is the proof:

First of all, we can remove the coprimality condition by factoring out the gcd and just prove that $S=\sum_{a, b = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{ab(a+b)} = 2\zeta(3)$. We will first fix $a$ and take the sum for $b$ from $1$ to infinity. $$\sum_{b = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{ab(a+b)} = \frac{1}{a^2}\sum_{b = 1}^\infty \left(\frac{1}{b} - \frac{1}{b+a}\right) = \frac{1}{a^2}\left(1 + \frac{1}{2} + \ldots + \frac{1}{a}\right).$$

So, we get $$S = \sum_{a = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{a^2}\sum_{k = 1}^a \frac{1}{k}.$$

We will change the variables to $a = k + s$ so now $k$ goes from $1$ to infinity and $s$ goes from $0$ to infinity. Term with $s = 0$ will give us $\zeta(3)$. The rest is $$S_1 = \sum_{k = 1}^\infty \sum_{s = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{k(k+s)^2}$$ and $S = S_1 + \zeta(3)$. Obviously, $$S_1 = \sum_{k = 1}^\infty \sum_{s = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{s(k+s)^2}$$ (we just switched the roles of $k$ and $s$). Adding these two expressions for $S_1$ we get $$2S_1 = \sum_{k = 1}^\infty \sum_{s = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{(k+s)^2}\left(\frac{1}{k}+\frac{1}{s}\right) = \sum_{k = 1}^\infty \sum_{s = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{ks(k+s)} = S.$$

So, $2S_1 = S$ and $S = S_1 + \zeta(3)$, hence $S = 2\zeta(3)$.

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    $\begingroup$ The identity has been known since at least 1950. See my response for some references. Your proof is nice, by the way, and it shares common elements with Tornheim's more general treatment. $\endgroup$
    – GH from MO
    Commented Nov 11, 2023 at 20:36
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I'll use Iverson notation. Since $\mathrm{gcd}(a,b)=\mathrm{gcd}(a,a+b)$, the sum is $$S=\sum_{(a,b)\in S}\left(\frac1a+\frac1b\right)\frac1{(a+b)^2}=2\sum_{(a,b)\in S}\frac1a\cdot\frac1{(a+b)^2}=2\sum_{0<a<c}\frac{\varepsilon_{a,c}}{ac^2},$$ where $\varepsilon_{a,c}=[\mathrm{gcd}(a,c)=1]$. Therefore, $\varepsilon_{a,c}=\sum_{d\mid\mathrm{gcd}(a,c)}\mu(d)=\sum_{d\in\mathbb N^+}[d\mid a][d\mid c]\mu(d)$ and thus, $$\frac S2=\sum_{d\in\mathbb N^+}\sum_{0<a<c}\frac{[d\mid a]}a\frac{[d\mid c]}{c^2}\mu(d)=\sum_{d\in\mathbb N^+}\sum_{0<a_0<c_0}\frac{\mu(d)}{(da_0)(dc_0)^2}=\sum_{d\in\mathbb N^+}\frac{\mu(d)}{d^3}\sum_{0<a_0<c_0}\frac1{a_0c_0^2}=\frac{\zeta(1,2)}{\zeta(3)}=1.$$

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    $\begingroup$ Using the same symbol, $S$, for the sum and the condition on $a,b$ is unfortunate. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 11, 2023 at 22:34

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