Classical values of Zeta, as simple as possible but not simpler
Abstract: This short note for non-experts means to demystify the tasks of evaluating the Riemann Zeta Function at non-positive integers and at even natural numbers, both initially performed by Leonhard Euler. Treading in the footsteps of G. H. Hardy and others, I re-examine Euler's work on the functional equation for the Zeta function, and explain how both the functional equation and all `classical' integer values can be obtained in one sweep using only Euler's favorite method of generating functions. As a counter-point, I also present an even simpler argument essentially due to Bernhard Riemann, which however requires Cauchy's residue theorem, a result not yet available to Euler. As a final point, I endeavor to clarify how these two methods are organically linked and can be taught as an intuitive gateway into the world of Zeta functionology.
- Proofs from The Book. Springer, Berlin, sixth edition, 2018. See corrected reprint of the 1998 original [MR1723092]. Including illustrations by Karl H. Hofmann.
- Raymond Ayoub. Euler and the zeta function. Amer. Math. Monthly, 81:1067–1086, 1974.
- Keith Ball. A very short proof of the functional equation for ζ𝜁\zetaitalic_ζ. Mathematika, 69(1):17–19, 2023.
- On Riemann’s Nachlass for Analytic Number Theory: A translation of Siegel’s Uber. arXiv 1810.05198, 2018.
- The Riemann Hypothesis: A Resource for the Afficionado and Virtuoso Alike. Springer-Verlag, 2008.
- Leonhard Euler. Inventio summae cuiusque seriei ex dato termino generali. Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae, 8:9–22, 1736. Presented to the St. Petersburg Academy on October 13, 1735. URL: http://eulerarchive.maa.org/backup/E047.html.
- Leonhard Euler. De summatione innumerabilium progressionum. Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae, 5:91–105, 1738. Presented to the St. Petersburg Academy on March 5, 1731. URL: http://eulerarchive.maa.org/backup/E020.html.
- Leonhard Euler. Methodus generalis summandi progressiones. Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae, 6:68–97, 1738. Presented to the St. Petersburg Academy on June 20, 1732. URL: http://eulerarchive.maa.org/backup/E025.html.
- Leonhard Euler. De summis serierum reciprocarum. Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae, 7:123–134, 1740. Read in the St. Petersburg Academy on December 5, 1735. URL: http://eulerarchive.maa.org/backup/E041.html.
- Leonhard Euler. Variae observationes circa series infinitas. Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae, 9:160–188, 1744. presented to the St. Petersburg Academy on April 25, 1737. URL: http://eulerarchive.maa.org/backup/E072.html.
- Leonhard Euler. De seriebus quibusdam considerationes. Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae, 12:53–96, 1750. Presented to the St. Petersburg Academy on October 22, 1739. URL: http://eulerarchive.maa.org/backup/E130.html.
- Leonhard Euler. Remarques sur un beau rapport entre les series des puissances tant directes que réciproques. Memoires de l’academie des sciences de Berlin, 17:83–106, 1768. Presented to the Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1749. URL: http://eulerarchive.maa.org/backup/E352.html.
- Leonhard Euler. Introductio in analysin infinitorum. Tomus primus. Sociedad Andaluza de Educación Matemática “Thales”, Seville; Real Sociedad Matemática Española, Madrid, 2000. Reprint of the 1748 original.
- G. H. Hardy. Divergent series. Éditions Jacques Gabay, Sceaux, 1992. With a preface by J. E. Littlewood and a note by L. S. Bosanquet, Reprint of the revised (1963) edition.
- Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann. In MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. URL: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Riemann/.
- Bernhard Riemann. Über die Anzahl der Primzahlen unter einer gegebenen Grösse. In Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, pages 671–680, Berlin, 1859. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Number_of_Primes_Less_Than_a_Given_Magnitude
- C. L. Siegel. Über Riemanns Nachlaß zur analytischen Zahlentheorie. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik, Astronomie und Physik: Studien. Springer, 1931. URL: https://books.google.de/books?id=jIneHAAACAAJ.
- André Weil. On Eisenstein’s copy of the disquisitiones. In Algebraic number theory, volume 17 of Adv. Stud. Pure Math., pages 463–469. Academic Press, Boston, MA, 1989.
- André Weil. Prehistory of the zeta-function. In Number theory, trace formulas and discrete groups (Oslo, 1987), pages 1–9. Academic Press, Boston, MA, 1989.
Paper Prompts
Sign up for free to create and run prompts on this paper.