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Most of the more elementary definitions of the sum of a divergent series are stable and linear, and any method that is both stable and linear cannot sum 1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯ to a finite value (see § Heuristics below). More advanced methods are required, such as zeta function regularization or Ramanujan summation.
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.
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 ...
Arnold–Beltrami–Childress flow – an exact solution of the incompressible Euler equations. Two solutions of the three-dimensional Euler equations with cylindrical symmetry have been presented by Gibbon, Moore and Stuart in 2003. [29] These two solutions have infinite energy; they blow up everywhere in space in finite time.
Because it is a divergent series, it should be interpreted as a formal sum, an abstract mathematical expression combining the unit fractions, rather than as something that can be evaluated to a numeric value. There are many different proofs of the divergence of the harmonic series, surveyed in a 2006 paper by S. J. Kifowit and T. A. Stamps. [13]
Euler had already become famous for finding the values of these functions at positive even integers (including the Basel problem), and he was attempting to find the values at the positive odd integers (including Apéry's constant) as well, a problem that remains elusive today.
While the partial sums of the reciprocals of the primes eventually exceed any integer value, they never equal an integer. One proof [6] is by induction: The first partial sum is 1 / 2 , which has the form odd / even . If the n th partial sum (for n ≥ 1) has the form odd / even , then the (n + 1) st sum is
The sum of the series is approximately equal to 1.644934. [3] The Basel problem asks for the exact sum of this series (in closed form), as well as a proof that this sum is correct. Euler found the exact sum to be / and announced this discovery in 1735. His arguments were based on manipulations that were not justified at the time, although he ...