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In mathematics, an empty sum, or nullary sum, [1] is a summation where the number of terms is zero. The natural way to extend non-empty sums [ 2 ] is to let the empty sum be the additive identity . Let a 1 {\displaystyle a_{1}} , a 2 {\displaystyle a_{2}} , a 3 {\displaystyle a_{3}} , ... be a sequence of numbers, and let
Summation of a sequence of only one summand results in the summand itself. Summation of an empty sequence (a sequence with no elements), by convention, results in 0. Very often, the elements of a sequence are defined, through a regular pattern, as a function of their place in the sequence. For simple patterns, summation of long sequences may be ...
For instance, the sequence 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, . . . is an arithmetic progression with a common difference of 2. If the initial term of an arithmetic progression is a 1 {\displaystyle a_{1}} and the common difference of successive members is d {\displaystyle d} , then the n {\displaystyle n} -th term of the sequence ( a n {\displaystyle a_{n ...
Two sequences that differ in the order of their terms define different compositions of their sum, while they are considered to define the same integer partition of that number. Every integer has finitely many distinct compositions. Negative numbers do not have any compositions, but 0 has one composition, the empty sequence.
The Fibonacci numbers comprise the integer sequence in which each element is the sum of the previous two elements. The first two elements are either 0 and 1 or 1 and ...
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]
It may be used to prove Nicomachus's theorem that the sum of the first cubes equals the square of the sum of the first positive integers. [2] Summation by parts is frequently used to prove Abel's theorem and Dirichlet's test.
Using sigma summation notation the sum of the first m terms of the series can be expressed as = (). The infinite series diverges , meaning that its sequence of partial sums , (1, −1, 2, −2, 3, ...) , does not tend towards any finite limit .