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In mathematics, summation is the addition of a sequence of numbers, called addends or summands; the result is their sum or total.Beside numbers, other types of values can be summed as well: functions, vectors, matrices, polynomials and, in general, elements of any type of mathematical objects on which an operation denoted "+" is defined.
The sum a + b can be interpreted as a binary operation that combines a and b, in an algebraic sense, or it can be interpreted as the addition of b more units to a. Under the latter interpretation, the parts of a sum a + b play asymmetric roles, and the operation a + b is viewed as applying the unary operation +b to a. [20]
Computation of the sum 2 + 5 + 8 + 11 + 14. When the sequence is reversed and added to itself term by term, the resulting sequence has a single repeated value in it, equal to the sum of the first and last numbers (2 + 14 = 16). Thus 16 × 5 = 80 is twice the sum.
In mathematics, a series is the sum of the terms of an infinite sequence of numbers. More precisely, an infinite sequence (,,, …) defines a series S that is denoted = + + + = =. The n th partial sum S n is the sum of the first n terms of the sequence; that is,
For instance, rearranging the terms of the alternating harmonic series so that each positive term of the original series is followed by two negative terms of the original series rather than just one yields [34] + + + = + + + = + + + = (+ + +), which is times the original series, so it would have a sum of half of the natural logarithm of 2. By ...
A summation method that is linear and stable cannot sum the series 1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯ to any finite value. (Stable means that adding a term at the beginning of the series increases the sum by the value of the added term.) This can be seen as follows. If + + + =, then adding 0 to both sides gives
In mathematics, a polynomial is a mathematical expression consisting of indeterminates (also called variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and exponentiation to nonnegative integer powers, and has a finite number of terms.
Some machines, notably Pascal's calculator, the second known calculator to be built, and the oldest surviving, use a different method: incrementing the digit from 0 to 9, cocks a mechanical device to store energy, and the next increment, which moves the digit from 9 to 0, releases this energy to increment the next digit by 1. Pascal used ...