Riemann Zeta Function (Part 5, beware)

Calculus Level 2

The Riemann zeta function states that for every s s ,

ζ ( s ) = n = 1 1 n s \zeta (s) = \displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac {1}{n^{s}} .

Sometimes these sums are divergent but using analytic continuation, you can get a finite answer.

Find ζ ( 2 ) \zeta (2)


The answer is 1.645.

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1 solution

Lucas Tell Marchi
Jan 19, 2015

First of all, write the Taylor Expansion for sin ( s ) \sin(s)

sin ( s ) = k = 1 ( 1 ) k + 1 s 2 k + 1 ( 2 k + 1 ) ! \sin(s) = \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{k+1} s^{2k+1}}{(2k+1)!}

Then we can verify that

sin ( π s ) π s = k = 1 ( 1 ) k + 1 ( π s ) 2 k ( 2 k + 1 ) ! = k = 1 ( 1 s 2 k 2 ) \frac{\sin(\pi s)}{\pi s} = \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{k+1} (\pi s)^{2k}}{(2k+1)!} = \prod_{k=1}^{\infty} \left ( 1 - \frac{s^2}{k^2} \right )

And expanding the product...

k = 1 ( 1 s 2 k 2 ) = 1 ζ ( 2 ) s 2 + ( 1 1 2 × 2 2 + 1 1 2 × 3 2 + ) s 4 + \prod_{k=1}^{\infty} \left ( 1 - \frac{s^2}{k^2} \right ) = 1 - \zeta(2) \; s^2 + \left ( \frac{1}{1^2 \times 2^2} + \frac{1}{1^2 \times 3^2} + \cdots \right )s^4 + \cdots

But the Taylor Expansion is unique, which means that all the coefficients are the same (in both expansions). Therefore

ζ ( 2 ) = π 2 3 ! = π 2 6 1.644 \zeta(2) = \frac{\pi^{2}}{3!} = \frac{\pi^{2}}{6} \approx 1.644

Where the left-hand side came from the infinite product and the right-hand side came from the infinite sum.

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