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The Riemann zeta function ζ(z) plotted with domain coloring. [1] The pole at = and two zeros on the critical line.. The Riemann zeta function or Euler–Riemann zeta function, denoted by the Greek letter ζ (), is a mathematical function of a complex variable defined as () = = = + + + for >, and its analytic continuation elsewhere.
The Riemann zeta function is defined for complex s with real part greater than 1 by the absolutely convergent infinite series = = = + + +Leonhard Euler considered this series in the 1730s for real values of s, in conjunction with his solution to the Basel problem.
Leonhard Euler proved the Euler product formula for the Riemann zeta function in his thesis Variae observationes circa series infinitas (Various Observations about Infinite Series), published by St Petersburg Academy in 1737.
The Hypothesis and the zeta function come from German mathematician Bernhard Riemann, who described them in 1859. Riemann developed them while studying prime numbers and their distribution.
For example, the full zeta function exists at = (and is therefore finite there), but the corresponding series would be + + + …, whose partial sums would grow indefinitely large. The zeta function values listed below include function values at the negative even numbers ( s = −2 , −4 , etc. ), for which ζ ( s ) = 0 and which make up the so ...
Since for even values of s the Riemann zeta function ζ(s) has an analytic expression in terms of a rational multiple of π s, then for even exponents, this infinite product evaluates to a rational number. For example, since ζ(2) = π 2 / 6 , ζ(4) = π 4 / 90 , and ζ(8) = π 8 / 9450 , then
In doing so, he discovered a connection between Riemann zeta function and prime numbers, known as the Euler product formula for the Riemann zeta function. Euler proved Newton's identities, Fermat's little theorem, Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares, and made distinct contributions to the Lagrange's four-square theorem.
The Riemann zeta function is also meromorphic in the whole complex plane, with a single pole of order 1 at z = 1. Its zeros in the left halfplane are all the negative even integers, and the Riemann hypothesis is the conjecture that all other zeros are along Re( z ) = 1/2 .