#Did Euler really say, "x^i over all integers i = 0 in all bases."

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

limber oar
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Was reading this paper (http://dfns.dyalog.com/n_ratrep.htm) cause it was linked in a stack exchange article, and it said Euler claimed:
Where:

S(x) = ... + x^(3) + x^(2) + x^(1) + x^(0) + x^(-1) + x^(-2) + x^(-3) + ...

Then:

S(x) = 0

I can't find anything about this online, does anyone have a link to any resource about this? Or is this not real?

snow cedarBOT
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proud lion
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is this like, formal language theory

limber oar
wraith hound
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notation was confusing, but it is also explained int he link you gave

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the series in question is

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$\sum _{k=-\infty}^\infty x^k$

trim umbraBOT
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al8628

wraith hound
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but this alone is ambiguous

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the only reasonable way I can make sense of it is thinking of it as a Laurent series

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meaning that the series converges if and only if

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$\sum _{k=0}^\infty x^k\qquad \mbox{and}\qquad \sum _{k=1}^\infty x^{-k}$

trim umbraBOT
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al8628

wraith hound
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converge absolutely

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but that won't happen

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we would also think of it symmetrically

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$\lim _{N\to\infty} \sum _{k=-N}^N x^k$

trim umbraBOT
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al8628

wraith hound
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which is like an improper riemann integral

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but if x>0 the sum, if finite, must be positive

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so the intepretation for such series must be entirely different in euler's consideration

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the trick employed here

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does not work, because we can do addition with finite quantities