CHAPTER I PRELIMINARIES Introduction Leonhard Paul Euler is one of the greatest and most astounding icons in the history

of science. His work, dating back to the early eighteenth century, is still with us, very much alive and generating intense interest. It was often said of him that he did mathematics as other people breathed, effortlessly and continuously. It was also said (by Laplace) that all mathematicians were his students. Throughout his life he was a tireless calculator, delighting in numerical calculations in almost all areas he worked in: astronomy, mechanics, infinite series and so on. Euler must be regarded as the first master of the theory of infinite series. He created it and was by far its greatest master. The concept of an infinite sum is mysterious and intriguing (Kalman 2002). How can you add up an infinite number of terms? Yet, in some contexts, we are led to the contemplation of an infinite sum quite naturally. For example, consider the calculation of a decimal expansion for . The long division algorithm generates an endlessly repeating sequence of steps, each of which adds one more 6 to the decimal expansion. We imagine the answer therefore to be an endless string of 6's, which we write .666 In essence we are defining the decimal expansion of 2/3 as an infinite sum

= .6 + .06 + .006 + .0006 +

For another example, in a modification of Zeno's paradox, imagine partitioning a square of side 1 as follows: first draw a diagonal line that cuts the square into two triangular halves, then cut one of the halves in half, then cut one of those halves in half, and so on. (See Figure 1.) Then the area of the square is the sum of the areas of all the pieces, leading to another infinite sum 1= 1 1 1 1 + + + + . 2 4 8 16

In the paper presented by Sangwin, he presented the history of infinite series that Euler worked on until he arrived at the Basel problem. And the series was presented this way.

An infinite sum of the form

is known as an infinite series. Leonhard Euler continued this study and in the process solved many important problems.

We also have the most important series which is the geometric progression. Given constants and we want to sum

If | 1 < |we can make sense of the infinite sum something known by Newton which is

This was one of the first, and only, general results known during the seventeenth century. Another series then known was

Similar methods were used to find the sums

Now all these series converge. That is to say we can make sense of the infinite sum as a finite number. This is not true of a particularly famous series which is known as the harmonic series:

The harmonic series can be described as "the sum of the reciprocals of the natural numbers". Another series that presents itself as being similar is the "the sum of the squares of reciprocals of the natural numbers" is

The series converges, but the exact value of the sum proves hard to find. Jakob Bernoulli considered it and failed to find it. So did Mengoli and Leibniz. Finding the sum became known Eulers solution was shown that sin can be written as an " infinite polynomial" in the following as the Basel Problem and we concentrate on Euler's solution for the rest of this investigation. way:

This is called a power series for sin x because it is a series in terms of powers of x. You may be aware that you can approximate sin (x) x when is small. This just uses the first term in the

series above. You can get better approximations to sin x as

and

by taking successive terms. Most other functions, such as

etc. have power

series. Euler was working on the Basel Problem at the age of 24 in 1731 by calculating a numerical approximation. This is an arduous task by hand with a series which converges as slowly as this. In 1735 he arrived at the following exact result:

Showing the solution to the Basel problem, Euler starts with an the following properties:

th degree polynomial

with

1. 2.

has non-zero roots .

Then

may be written as a product in the following form:

Paraphrasing Eulers next claim as "what holds for a finite polynomial holds for an infinite polynomial". He applies this claim to the polynomial

which is an infinite polynomial with written as a series:

. Furthermore, as Euler knew,

can be

Multiplying

by he obtained

This has zeros at

for

since these are the zeros of as an infinite product and equate the two as

. We can now

use the claim above and write

The second line pairs the positive and negative roots the last line uses the difference of two squares to combine these. His use turns out to give the correct answer in this case!
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Eulers trick is to write

in two different ways. He exploits this by expanding the right hand

side. This infinite product will be very complicated but there will be a constant term and one can collect the term without too much effort as follows:

Now Euler equates the coefficients of

to conclude that

which gives

solution of Basel is not true to all trigonometric functions to find the sum of was also given to understand the problem better.

This study then focused on showing another proof similar to Eulers. Furthermore, the
.

A counter example

Statement of the Problem This study is focused on the Basel Problem. Specifically, it aimed to: 1. provide proofs to the Basel problem similar to Eulers proof 2. give counter examples that show the invalidity of Eulers proof 3. formulate algebraic, trigonometric and analytic proofs to the Basel problem

Significance of the Study This study was undertaken as a contribution to the deeper understanding of infinite series particularly for the students to differentiate and appreciate the task of calculating the sum of infinite series which requires a coordinated usage of more concepts related to the infinity: the number of terms in the infinite series, the infinite process and the sum of infinite series. Students should be able to internalize and provide adequate solution to explain the limit of sequence and the sum of series and to give them the formula to calculate the sum of infinite geometrical series, by the means of which to calculate the sum of series. Furthermore, infinite series are also widely used in other quantitative disciplines such as physics, computer science, trigonometry and calculus.

Definitions and Notations The following terms were used in the discussion of this study. 1. A sequence of numbers is an infinite list of numbers written in a definite order so that there is a first, a second, and so on; we write it either The sequence = 1 +

, , , , , { }, 0

2. A series is the sum of the terms of a sequence. Finite sequences and series have defined first and last terms, where as infinite sequences and series continue indefinitely. 3. The harmonic series is the divergent infinite series:

2 has a limit.

1 1 1 1 1 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5+ .

4. A geometric series is the sum of terms of the form ark where a and r are constants and the sum is over k. The nth partial sum of the geometric series is the sum of ark from k=0 to k=n. We willl call the nth partial sum S(n). So, 5. The Riemann zeta function (s) is a function of a complex variable. The following infinite series converges for all complex numbers s with real part greater than 1, and defines (s) in this case: (s) =

S(n) = a + ar + ar2 + + arn-1 + arn

6. A series is said to converge or to be convergent when the sequence Sn of partial sums has a finite limit. If the limit of Sn is infinite or does not exist, the series is said to diverge. When the limit of partial sums exists, it is called the sum of the series ( ) = lim Sn = lim

1 1 1 1 = + + + n 1 2 3

(s) > 1.

CHAPTER II

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents various proofs to the solution of the Basel problem. First, a proof similar to a proof provided by Euler is shown using the series representation for the cosine function. A counterexample is also given to show the flaw in this form of proof used by Euler. Other proofs using the concepts of calculus is also presented. The Basel problem can be solved in many ways and Euler was the first one to give the exact value for the series in 1735. He gave four distinct solutions to the Basel problem one of which involves the function Theorem 1.

. The following proof is similar to Eulers. 1 1 1 1 =1+ + + += 4 9 16 6 + + 2! 4! 6!

Proof:

Consider the power series expansion of the cosine function. cos 1 =

If we replace x by we arrive at the expression Equating cos to zero we get the roots cos 1 =

+ +=1 + + 2! 4! 6! 2 24 360

coefficients. Let , be its roots. If ,

If P(x) = + + + + is a polynomial of degree n with constant A known property of the roots of polynomials is given by
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Then

( = ) ( ) ( ) + + + + 1 1 1 + ++ = .

Proof:

If we multiply the factors we find that

Suppose P(x) = (.) ( ) ( ) = (1) = (1)

= (1) () + + +

Then

=
= (

= .

/ , where is the coefficient of the term of degree 1 and is the constant term then 12 1 4 4 4 + + = = 9 25 1 2 1+ 1 1 + += 9 25 8
11

If we assume that similar to polynomials, the sum of the reciprocals of the roots is

Multiplying both sides of the equation by

we get

which is equivalent to the Basel problem. Let us establish this equivalence.

Theorem 2.

is equivalent to

Proof : Suppose

1 1 1 1 =1+ + + += (2 1) 9 25 49 8 1 1 1 1 1+ + + + += 4 9 16 25 6

1 1 1 1 =1+ + + += 4 9 16 6

If we group all terms of the series having even denominators together and do the same for the rest of the terms, then 1 1 1 1 1 1 = 1 + + + + + + + + 6 9 25 49 4 16 36 = 1 + = 1 + 1 1 1 1 1 1 + + + + 1 + + + 9 25 49 4 4 9 1 1 1 1 + + + + 9 25 49 4 6

Therefore

Eulers proof using the series representation of the sine function depends on the application of the claim we proved earlier. In the following discussion, we take another series expansion and show that it does not always work. Consider tan + = 2 17 + + 3 15 315
12

1 1 1 1+ + + += = . 9 25 49 6 24 8

If we perform the technique used for the sine function we will arrive at the equation tan = 1+ 2 17 + + + 3 15 315

The roots of the equation are , 2, 3, and applying Theorem 1 we have 1 1 1 1 1 + + = 3 = 4 9 1 3 1+ 1 1 1 + + += 4 9 16 3

which gives

This clearly shows that the proof provided by Euler has a false assumption regarding the power series. Today various proofs have been established on the Basel problem using concepts in different areas of mathematics. We now present a proof using Fubinis theorem for integrals and the so-called dilogarithm. The polylogarithm is a special function defined by = )(

The special case 2 = is called a dilogarithm. From this definition we can infer that = )1(

Furthermore it will be important to note that

2 1( = )1( )()
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where is the Zeta function. A work by Varadarajan (2007) establishes that (2) = .)1( Given the logarithmic form of the inverse hyperbolic tangent function. tanh = If we let (= ) , we can apply Fubinis Theorem since

1 1+ log 2 1

1 1 + 2 +

We have

|( < ) ,(|) ,

1 1 = 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 +

The left side of the equation gives 1 log(1 + 2 + ) =
1 + 2 + 2 =

tanh = 2

log

1+ 1

)( )( =
2 2

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But 2 1( = )1( )(2) = , )1( so

= 2)1( 2 )1(

1 1 3 = )1( 3 = 1 + 2 +
arctan

On the right side we have, Ivan (2008) gives

1 =
1 + 2 +

= = 2 2 1 1 = 6

+ 1 1

Equating the resulting expressions we have

Lastly we look into another proof involving yet another double integral. In the paper of Kalman (2002) he arrived at

His proof claims that if we let = sin /cos and = sin /cos then the result follows and this can be proven if we can show that 1 = 1
15

3 1 1 = = (2 1) 4 1 8

We then follow his suggestion to calculate the Jacobian of the transformation.

Given = sin /cos and = sin /cos ,we have ( | = |) ,

1 = 1

cos sin sin = cos cos = 1 sin sin sin sin cos cos cos cos cos

sin sin 1 cos cos sin sin 1 cos cos .

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CHAPTER III

SUMMARY AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The study of the properties of series has a lot of applications. Simple as it may seem, providing the proof to a claim that a series sums up to a particular finite number is not an easy task. It took decades to find a solution to the Basel problem and even then, the proof provided is not acceptable to todays standards. Through the use of varied techniques and applying concepts from the most basic mathematical areas to the more complex forms there are now valid proofs to the solution of the Basel problem. Summary This study focused on the following problems, namely; 1. to provide proofs to the Basel problem similar to Eulers proof 2. to give a counter example that shows the invalidity of one of Eulers proof 3. to formulate algebraic, trigonometric and analytic proofs to the Basel problem In this paper it was shown that a proof similar to that of Euler using the series expansion of the cosine function may be used to solve the Basel problem but it was also shown that this proof does not always apply to power series. Take the case of the tangent function. Analytic proofs using double integrals and results from previous studies on the Basel problem were presented.

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Research Directions The researcher recommends that other proofs be considered using concepts in complex analysis and differential equations. A similar study should also be made to determine the necessary conditions for Eulers proof to work.

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REFERENCES Books 1. Colton, David. Partial Differential Equations: An Introduction. University of Delaware, First Edition. Random House Inc. New York,1988. pp.18-35 2. Mattuck, Arthur. Introduction to Analysis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prentice Hall Intl, Inc. 1999 3. Sobel, Max & Lerner, Norbert. Algebra & trigonometry. 5th edition 2001. Pearson Education, Asia Pte Ltd. Prentice Hall Inc. Internet References/Websites 1. Graham, Ronald; Knuth, Donald E , Jan Gullberg: Mathematics: from the birth of numbers, W.W. Norton, 1997,p.294 2. O'Connor, J.J. and Robertson, E.F. (February 1996). "A history of calculus". University of St Andrews. http://www-groups.dcs.st and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/The_rise_of_calculus.html. Retrieved 2007-08 Archimedes and Pi-Revisited. 3. Bromwich, T.J. An Introduction to the Theory of Infinite Series MacMillan & Co. 1908, revised 1926, reprinted 1939, 1942, 1949, 1955, 1959, 1965. 4. Dvoretzky, Aryeh; Rogers, C. Ambrose (1950). "Absolute and unconditional convergence in normed linear spaces". Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 36: 192197. 5. Ivan, M. A simple solution to Basel problem. General Mathematics Vol.16, No.4, 111113. 2008 6. Patashnik, Oren (1989), Concrete Mathematics (2nd ed.), Addison-Wesley, pp. 258264, ISBN 978-0-201-55802-9. 7. Sharp, R.T. (1954), "Problem 52: Overhanging dominoes", Pi Mu Epsilon Journal: 411 412. 8. V.S. Varadarajan, Euler and His Work On Infinite Series. Bulletin (New Series) of The American Mathematical Society. Vol.44,No.4,October 2007 pp.515-539 9. Sandifer,Ed. Eulers Solution of the Basel Problem The Longer Story. Western Connecticut State University 10. Sangwin,Chris. An Infinite Series of Surprises. A Paper published at the Millenium Mathematics Project, University of Cambridge

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