1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 +.......= -1/12 - Democratic Underground

UndertheOcean

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Mon Aug-18-08 07:51 AM
Original message

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 +.......= -1/12

Don't believe me ? google it .

Rather amazing. I swear most mathematicians are Aliens .

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Orsino

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Mon Aug-18-08 07:56 AM
Response to Original message

1. Google what, exactly?

The series you reference does not approach zero, much less anything negative.

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UndertheOcean

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Mon Aug-18-08 08:01 AM
Response to Reply #1

3. Thats why I was floored when I read that Euler was the first to suggest that relationship

Edited on Mon Aug-18-08 08:02 AM by UndertheOcean

I almost dismissed it as the product of some whackoo fraud.

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UndertheOcean

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Mon Aug-18-08 07:58 AM
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2. I guess its hard to google that , it relates

to the Riemann Zeta function , at s=-1 it is -1/12 , but the zeta function at s=-1 represents the divergent sequence 1+2+3+4+5+6+.... .

It looks like mumboo jumbo with divergent series to me , but , I am no mathematician , so what do I know, sigh.

fascinating.

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Dr. Strange

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Mon Aug-18-08 09:26 AM
Response to Reply #2

4. Yeah, the series definition only makes sense...

when the real part of s is bigger than 1.

You can get some mind-blowing results from converging series too. Like the series
1 - 1/2 + 1/3 - 1/4 +...
converges to ln(2), but you can rearrange it to converge to half that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_series_theorem
or even rearrange it to converge to your SSN. Usually at that point, the students' heads explode.

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