Harmonic number
In mathematics, the n-th harmonic number is the sum of the reciprocals of the first n natural numbers:
Harmonic numbers are related to the harmonic mean in that the n-th harmonic number is also n times the reciprocal of the harmonic mean of the first n positive integers.
Harmonic numbers were studied in antiquity and are important in various branches of number theory. They are sometimes loosely termed harmonic series, are closely related to the Riemann zeta function, and appear in the expressions of various special functions.
The harmonic numbers roughly approximate the natural logarithm function[1]:143 and thus the associated harmonic series grows without limit, albeit slowly. In 1737, Leonhard Euler used the divergence of the harmonic series to provide a new proof of the infinity of prime numbers. His work was extended into the complex plane by Bernhard Riemann in 1859, leading directly to the celebrated Riemann hypothesis about the distribution of prime numbers.
When the value of a large quantity of items has a Zipf's law distribution, the total value of the n most-valuable items is proportional to the n-th harmonic number. This leads to a variety of surprising conclusions in the Long Tail and the theory of network value.
Bertrand's postulate entails that, except for the case n = 1, the harmonic numbers are never integers.[2]
n | Harmonic number, Hn | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
expressed as a fraction | decimal | relative size | ||
1 | 1 | 1 | | |
2 | 3 | /2 | 1.5 | |
3 | 11 | /6 | ~1.83333 | |
4 | 25 | /12 | ~2.08333 | |
5 | 137 | /60 | ~2.28333 | |
6 | 49 | /20 | 2.45 | |
7 | 363 | /140 | ~2.59286 | |
8 | 761 | /280 | ~2.71786 | |
9 | 7 129 | /2 520 | ~2.82897 | |
10 | 7 381 | /2 520 | ~2.92897 | |
11 | 83 711 | /27 720 | ~3.01988 | |
12 | 86 021 | /27 720 | ~3.10321 | |
13 | 1 145 993 | /360 360 | ~3.18013 | |
14 | 1 171 733 | /360 360 | ~3.25156 | |
15 | 1 195 757 | /360 360 | ~3.31823 | |
16 | 2 436 559 | /720 720 | ~3.38073 | |
17 | 42 142 223 | /12 252 240 | ~3.43955 | |
18 | 14 274 301 | /4 084 080 | ~3.49511 | |
19 | 275 295 799 | /77 597 520 | ~3.54774 | |
20 | 55 835 135 | /15 519 504 | ~3.59774 | |
21 | 18 858 053 | /5 173 168 | ~3.64536 | |
22 | 19 093 197 | /5 173 168 | ~3.69081 | |
23 | 444 316 699 | /118 982 864 | ~3.73429 | |
24 | 1 347 822 955 | /356 948 592 | ~3.77596 | |
25 | 34 052 522 467 | /8 923 714 800 | ~3.81596 | |
26 | 34 395 742 267 | /8 923 714 800 | ~3.85442 | |
27 | 312 536 252 003 | /80 313 433 200 | ~3.89146 | |
28 | 315 404 588 903 | /80 313 433 200 | ~3.92717 | |
29 | 9 227 046 511 387 | /2 329 089 562 800 | ~3.96165 | |
30 | 9 304 682 830 147 | /2 329 089 562 800 | ~3.99499 | |
31 | 290 774 257 297 357 | /72 201 776 446 800 | ~4.02725 | |
32 | 586 061 125 622 639 | /144 403 552 893 600 | ~4.05850 | |
33 | 53 676 090 078 349 | /13 127 595 717 600 | ~4.08880 | |
34 | 54 062 195 834 749 | /13 127 595 717 600 | ~4.11821 | |
35 | 54 437 269 998 109 | /13 127 595 717 600 | ~4.14678 | |
36 | 54 801 925 434 709 | /13 127 595 717 600 | ~4.17456 | |
37 | 2 040 798 836 801 833 | /485 721 041 551 200 | ~4.20159 | |
38 | 2 053 580 969 474 233 | /485 721 041 551 200 | ~4.22790 | |
39 | 2 066 035 355 155 033 | /485 721 041 551 200 | ~4.25354 | |
40 | 2 078 178 381 193 813 | /485 721 041 551 200 | ~4.27854 | |
Identities involving harmonic numbers
By definition, the harmonic numbers satisfy the recurrence relation
The harmonic numbers are connected to the Stirling numbers of the first kind:
The functions
satisfy the property
In particular
is an integral of the logarithmic function.
The harmonic numbers satisfy the series identity
Identities involving π
There are several infinite summations involving harmonic numbers and powers of π:[3]
Calculation
An integral representation given by Euler[4] is
The equality above is obvious by the simple algebraic identity
Using the simple integral transform x = 1−u, an elegant combinatorial expression for Hn is
The same representation can be produced by using the third Retkes identity by setting and using the fact that
The Taylor series for the harmonic numbers is
which comes from the Taylor series for the Digamma function.
The nth harmonic number is about as large as the natural logarithm of n. The reason is that the sum is approximated by the integral
whose value is ln(n).
The values of the sequence Hn - ln(n) decrease monotonically towards the limit
where γ ≈ 0.5772156649 is the Euler–Mascheroni constant. The corresponding asymptotic expansion as n → +∞ is
where are the Bernoulli numbers.
Special values for fractional arguments
There are the following special analytic values for fractional arguments between 0 and 1, given by the integral
More values may be generated from the recurrence relation
or from the reflection relation
For example:
For positive integers p and q with p < q, we have:
Asymptotic formulation
For every positive integer n, we have that
Adding Hn to both sides gives
Despite being derived for positive integers n, this last expression for Hn is well defined for any complex number n except the negative integers. The function Hn is the unique function of n for which (1) H0 = 0, (2) Hn = Hn−1 + 1/n for all complex values n except the non-positive integers, and (3) limm→+∞ (Hm+n − Hm) = 0 for all complex values n.
Based on this last formula, it can be shown that:
where γ is the Euler–Mascheroni constant or, more generally, for every n we have:
Generating functions
A generating function for the harmonic numbers is
where ln(z) is the natural logarithm. An exponential generating function is
where Ein(z) is the entire exponential integral. Note that
where Γ(0, z) is the incomplete gamma function.
Applications
The harmonic numbers appear in several calculation formulas, such as the digamma function
This relation is also frequently used to define the extension of the harmonic numbers to non-integer n. The harmonic numbers are also frequently used to define γ using the limit introduced earlier:
although
converges more quickly.
In 2002, Jeffrey Lagarias proved[5] that the Riemann hypothesis is equivalent to the statement that
is true for every integer n ≥ 1 with strict inequality if n > 1; here σ(n) denotes the sum of the divisors of n.
The eigenvalues of the nonlocal problem
are given by , where by convention,
Generalization
Generalized harmonic numbers
The generalized harmonic number of order n of m is given by
The limit as n tends to infinity exists if m > 1.
Other notations occasionally used include
The special case of m = 0 gives
The special case of m = 1 is simply called a harmonic number and is frequently written without the superscript, as
Smallest natural number k such that kn does not divide the denominator of generalized harmonic number H(k, n) nor the denominator of alternating generalized harmonic number H'(k, n) are
- 77, 20, 94556602, 42, 444, 20, 104, 42, 76, 20, 77, 110, 3504, 20, 903, 42, 1107, 20, 104, 42, 77, 20, 2948, 110, 136, 20, 76, 42, 903, 20, 77, 42, 268, 20, 7004, 110, 1752, 20, 19203, 42, 77, 20, 104, 42, 76, 20, 370, 110, 1107, 20, ... (sequence A128670 in the OEIS)
In the limit of n → +∞, the generalized harmonic number converges to the Riemann zeta function
The related sum occurs in the study of Bernoulli numbers; the harmonic numbers also appear in the study of Stirling numbers.
Some integrals of generalized harmonic are
and
- where A is the Apéry's constant, i.e. ζ(3).
and
- for
Every generalized harmonic number of order m can be written as a function of harmonic of order m-1 using:
- for example:
A generating function for the generalized harmonic numbers is
where is the polylogarithm, and |z| < 1. The generating function given above for m = 1 is a special case of this formula.
Fractional argument for generalized harmonic numbers can be introduced as follows:
For every integer, and integer or not, we have from polygamma functions:
where is the Riemann zeta function. The relevant recurrence relation is:
Some special values are:
- where G is the Catalan's constant
Multiplication formulas
The multiplication theorem applies to harmonic numbers. Using polygamma functions, we obtain
or, more generally,
For generalized harmonic numbers, we have
where is the Riemann zeta function.
Generalization to the complex plane
When | x−1 | < 1, we can write the integrand (1−xs)/(1−x) as an infinite series. We start by writing
which is the binomial expansion for the suitably extended binomial coefficients. Then
The integral from some value a ∈ (0, 1) is then
By choosing a = 0,
we get both an integral and a series representation for a function that interpolates the harmonic numbers and, via analytic continuation, extends the definition to the complex plane other than the negative integers s. The interpolating function is in fact the digamma function
where ψ(x) is the digamma, and γ is the Euler-Mascheroni constant. The integration process may be repeated to obtain
Relation to the Riemann zeta function
Some derivatives of fractional harmonic numbers are given by:
And using Maclaurin series, we have for x < 1:
For fractional arguments between 0 and 1, and for a > 1:
Hyperharmonic numbers
The next generalization was discussed by J. H. Conway and R. K. Guy in their 1995 book The Book of Numbers.[1]:258 Let
Then the nth hyperharmonic number of order r (r>0) is defined recursively as
In special, .
See also
Notes
- 1 2 John H., Conway; Richard K., Guy (1995). The book of numbers. Copernicus.
- ↑ Ronald L., Graham; Donald E., Knuth; Oren, Patashnik (1994). Concrete Mathematics. Addison-Wesley.
- ↑ Sondow, Jonathan and Weisstein, Eric W. "Harmonic Number." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/HarmonicNumber.html
- ↑ Sandifer, C. Edward (2007), How Euler Did It, MAA Spectrum, Mathematical Association of America, p. 206, ISBN 9780883855638.
- ↑ Jeffrey Lagarias (2002). "An Elementary Problem Equivalent to the Riemann Hypothesis". Amer. Math. Monthly. 109: 534–543. arXiv:math.NT/0008177. doi:10.2307/2695443.
References
- Arthur T. Benjamin; Gregory O. Preston; Jennifer J. Quinn (2002). "A Stirling Encounter with Harmonic Numbers" (PDF). Mathematics Magazine. 75 (2): 95–103. doi:10.2307/3219141.
- Donald Knuth (1997). "Section 1.2.7: Harmonic Numbers". The Art of Computer Programming. Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms (Third ed.). Addison-Wesley. pp. 75–79. ISBN 0-201-89683-4.
- Ed Sandifer, How Euler Did It — Estimating the Basel problem (2003)
- Paule, Peter; Schneider, Carsten (2003). "Computer Proofs of a New Family of Harmonic Number Identities" (PDF). Adv. Appl. Math. 31 (2): 359–378. doi:10.1016/s0196-8858(03)00016-2.
- Wenchang Chu (2004). "A Binomial Coefficient Identity Associated with Beukers' Conjecture on Apery Numbers" (PDF). The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics. 11: N15.
- Ayhan Dil; István Mező (2008). "A Symmetric Algorithm for Hyperharmonic and Fibonacci Numbers". Applied Mathematics and Computation. 206 (2): 942–951. doi:10.1016/j.amc.2008.10.013.
- Zoltán Retkes (2008). "An extension of the Hermite–Hadamard Inequality". Acta Sci. Math. (Szeged). 74: 95–106.
External links
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