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In the mathematics of convergent and divergent series, Euler summation is a summation method. That is, it is a method for assigning a value to a series, different from the conventional method of taking limits of partial sums. Given a series Σa n, if its Euler transform converges to a sum, then that sum is called the Euler sum of the original ...
This series was first considered by Euler, who applied summability methods to assign a finite value to the series. [1] The series is a sum of factorials that are alternately added or subtracted. One way to assign a value to this divergent series is by using Borel summation, where one formally writes
For example, many asymptotic expansions are derived from the formula, and Faulhaber's formula for the sum of powers is an immediate consequence. The formula was discovered independently by Leonhard Euler and Colin Maclaurin around 1735. Euler needed it to compute slowly converging infinite series while Maclaurin used it to calculate integrals.
Euler's Proof That 1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯ = −1/12 – by John Baez; John Baez (September 19, 2008). "My Favorite Numbers: 24" (PDF). The Euler-Maclaurin formula, Bernoulli numbers, the zeta function, and real-variable analytic continuation by Terence Tao; A recursive evaluation of zeta of negative integers by Luboš Motl
The sum of the reciprocal of the primes increasing without bound. The x axis is in log scale, showing that the divergence is very slow. The red function is a lower bound that also diverges.
A major problem was Euler's idea that any divergent series should have a natural sum, without first defining what is meant by the sum of a divergent series. Augustin-Louis Cauchy eventually gave a rigorous definition of the sum of a (convergent) series, and for some time after this, divergent series were mostly excluded from mathematics.
It is useful to figure out which summation methods produce the geometric series formula for which common ratios. One application for this information is the so-called Borel-Okada principle: If a regular summation method assigns = to / for all in a subset of the complex plane, given certain restrictions on , then the method also gives the analytic continuation of any other function () = = on ...
In mathematics and computational science, the Euler method (also called the forward Euler method) is a first-order numerical procedure for solving ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with a given initial value.