SRS - Srinivasa Ramanujan Series

Calculus Level 2

What is the zeta function regularization value of

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + . . . \large{1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+...}

Does not exist 1 1 1 12 -\frac{1}{12} \infty

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1 solution

Bloons Qoth
Jun 24, 2016

This work is all based on Ramanujan's.

Most people will say it is infinity. But really the answer is 1 12 -\frac{1}{12} , and not \infty ; it has not only been proven by numberphile but has also shown up in physics as well.


First, we will prove that 1 1 + 1 1 + 1 1 + 1 1 + 1 1 + 1 . . . = 1 2 \color{#D61F06}{1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1+1-...=\frac{1}{2}}

1 1 = 0 1-1=0 and 1 1 + 1 = 1 1-1+1=1

We don't know where we will stop in the series, so we take the average of our answer 1 0 1\cup0 and the solution should be 1 2 \frac{1}{2}

\quad

Next, 1 2 + 3 4 + 5 6 + 7 8 + 9 . . . = ? 1-2+3-4+5-6+7-8+9-...=?

Let S = 1 2 + 3 4 + 5 6 + 7 8 + 9 + S = + 1 2 + 3 4 + 5 6 + 7 8 + add S to each side 2 S = 1 1 + 1 1 + 1 1 + 1 1 + 1 2 S = 1 2 S = 1 4 \begin{aligned} \text{Let} \, S & = 1-2+3-4+5-6+7-8+9-\cdots \\ \underline{+S} & = \quad \underline{+1-2+3-4+5-6+7-8+\cdots} \qquad \qquad \text{add S to each side} \\ 2S & = \color{#D61F06}{1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1+1-\cdots} \\ 2S & =\frac{1}{2} \\ \color{#3D99F6}{S} & \color{#3D99F6}{= \frac{1}{4}} \end{aligned}

\quad

Finally, we will look at the serie in this problem: n = 1 n \large\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} n

Let S 1 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + S = ( 1 2 + 3 4 + 5 6 + 7 8 + 9 ) subtract S from each side. S 1 S = 4 + 8 + 12 + 16 + = 4 ( 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + ) S 1 1 4 = 4 ( S 1 ) 1 4 = 3 S 1 1 12 = S 1 \begin{aligned} \text{Let} S_1 & =\quad \, 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+\cdots \\ \underline{-S} & =\underline{-(1-2+3-4+5-6+7-8+9-\cdots)} \qquad \qquad \text{subtract S from each side.} \\ S_1-\color{#3D99F6}{S} & = \quad \qquad 4 \quad\;\; +8 \quad\;\; +12 \quad +16+\cdots\\ & = \, \, 4(1+2+3+4+5+\cdots) \\ S_1-\frac{1}{4} & =4(S_1) \\ -\frac{1}{4} & =3S_1 \\ -\frac{1}{12} & =S_1 \quad \blacksquare \end{aligned}

Nicely explained. Lol! Look at the options :P

Ashish Menon - 4 years, 11 months ago

My only comment would be that I think the link to zeta function regularization should be redirected to the appropriate section of this article: https://brilliant.org/wiki/sums-of-divergent-series/.

Frank Aiello - 3 years, 6 months ago

This is a cool problem, but numberphile's result was incorrect. I love numberphile, but they're talking about a different kind of convergence . 1, -1, 1, -1 does not converge to 1/2. This result is pretty interesting, and actually occurs in nature but its a solution a different sort of problem.

massimo 22 - 3 years, 6 months ago

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