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For example, π(10) = 4 because there are four prime numbers (2, 3, 5 and 7) less than or equal to 10. The prime number theorem then states that x / log x is a good approximation to π(x) (where log here means the natural logarithm), in the sense that the limit of the quotient of the two functions π(x) and x / log x as x increases without ...
Riemann's original use of the explicit formula was to give an exact formula for the number of primes less than a given number. To do this, take F(log(y)) to be y 1/2 /log(y) for 0 ≤ y ≤ x and 0 elsewhere. Then the main term of the sum on the right is the number of primes less than x.
It is almost certain that Euler meant that the sum of the reciprocals of the primes less than n is asymptotic to log log n as n approaches infinity. It turns out this is indeed the case, and a more precise version of this fact was rigorously proved by Franz Mertens in 1874. [3]
In the limit, the sum of the reciprocals of the primes < n and the function ln(ln n) are separated by a constant, the Meissel–Mertens constant (labelled M above). The Meissel-Mertens constant (named after Ernst Meissel and Franz Mertens), also referred to as the Mertens constant, Kronecker's constant, Hadamard-de la Vallée-Poussin constant, or the prime reciprocal constant, is a ...
In mathematics, the prime-counting function is the function counting the number of prime numbers less than or equal to some real number x. [1] [2] It is denoted by π(x) (unrelated to the number π). A symmetric variant seen sometimes is π 0 (x), which is equal to π(x) − 1 ⁄ 2 if x is exactly a prime number, and equal to π(x) otherwise.
The Chebyshev functions, especially the second one ψ (x), are often used in proofs related to prime numbers, because it is typically simpler to work with them than with the prime-counting function, π (x) (see the exact formula below.) Both Chebyshev functions are asymptotic to x, a statement equivalent to the prime number theorem.
Riemann's original motivation for studying the zeta function and its zeros was their occurrence in his explicit formula for the number of primes π (x) less than or equal to a given number x, which he published in his 1859 paper "On the Number of Primes Less Than a Given Magnitude". His formula was given in terms of the related function
Much of analytic number theory was inspired by the prime number theorem. Let π(x) be the prime-counting function that gives the number of primes less than or equal to x, for any real number x. For example, π(10) = 4 because there are four prime numbers (2, 3, 5 and 7) less than or equal to 10.