§ 2.10. Sums and Sequences
Contents
- §2.10(i)Euler-Maclaurin Formula
- §2.10(ii)Summation by Parts
- §2.10(iii)Asymptotic Expansions of Entire Functions
- §2.10(iv)Taylor and Laurent Coefficients: Darboux's Method
§ 2.10(i). Euler-Maclaurin Formula
- Notes:
- See Olver (1997b, pp. 279–292).
- Keywords:
- Abel-Plana formula, asymptotic approximations of sums and sequences, Euler-Maclaurin formula
- Referenced by:
- §5.17
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.SS1
As in §Ch.24, let
and
denote the
th Bernoulli number and polynomial, respectively, and
the
th Bernoulli periodic function
.
Assume that
, and
are integers such that
,
, and
is absolutely integrable over
. Then
This is the Euler-Maclaurin formula. Another version is the Abel-Plana formula:
being some number in the interval
. Sufficient conditions
for the validity of this second result are:
-
(a)
On the strip
,
is analytic in its
interior,
is continuous on its closure, and
as
, uniformly
with respect to
. -
(b)
is real when
. -
(c)
The first infinite integral in (2.10.2) converges.
¶ Example
for large
. From (2.10.1)
where
(
) is arbitrary,
is a constant, and
From §Ch.24, (Ch.24), and (Ch.24),
is
of constant sign
. Thus
and
are of opposite
signs, and since their difference is the term corresponding to
in
(2.10.4),
is bounded in absolute value by this term and has
the same sign.
Formula (2.10.2) is useful for evaluating the constant term in expansions obtained from (2.10.1). In the present example it leads to
- Symbols:
-
: Euler's constant and
: constant
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E6
- Encodings:
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where
is Euler's constant (§5.2(ii)) and
is the derivative of the Zeta function (§Ch.25).
is sometimes called Glaisher's constant.
For further information on
see §5.17.
Other examples that can be verified in a similar way are:
where
(
) is a real constant, and
- Symbols:
-
: Euler's constant,
: asymptotically equal and
: integer
- Referenced by:
- §2.10(ii)
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E8
- Encodings:
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In both expansions the remainder term is bounded in absolute value by the first
neglected term in the sum, and has the same sign, provided that in the case of
(2.10.7), truncation takes place at
, where
is any
positive integer satisfying
.
For extensions of the Euler-Maclaurin formula to functions
with
singularities at
or
(or both) see Sidi (2004).
See also Weniger (2007).
For an extension to integrals with Cauchy principal values see Elliott (1998/99).
§ 2.10(ii). Summation by Parts
- Notes:
- See Olver (1997b, pp. 295–299).
- Keywords:
- asymptotic approximations of sums and sequences, summation by parts
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.SS2
The formula for summation by parts is
where
This identity can be used to find asymptotic approximations for large
when
the factor
changes slowly with
, and
is oscillatory; compare the
approximation of Fourier integrals by integration by parts in
§2.3(i).
¶ Example
where
and
are real constants with
.
As a first estimate for large ![]()
- Defines:
-
: sum - Symbols:
: order symbol- Referenced by:
- §2.10(ii)
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E12
- Encodings:
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according as
,
, or
see
(2.10.7), (2.10.8). With
,
,
and
Since
for any real constant
and the set of all positive integers
, we
derive
- Defines:
-
: sum - Symbols:
: order symbol- Referenced by:
- §2.10(ii)
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E16
- Encodings:
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From this result and (2.10.12)
- Defines:
-
: sum - Symbols:
: order symbol- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E17
- Encodings:
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Then replacing
by
and resubstituting in (2.10.16), we have
- Defines:
-
: sum - Symbols:
: order symbol- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E18
- Encodings:
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which is a useful approximation when
.
For extensions to
, higher terms, and other examples, see
Olver (1997b, Chapter 8).
§ 2.10(iii). Asymptotic Expansions of Entire Functions
- Notes:
- See Olver (1997b, pp. 307–309).
- Keywords:
- asymptotic approximations of sums and sequences, entire functions
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.SS3
The asymptotic behavior of entire functions defined by Maclaurin series can be approached by converting the sum into a contour integral by use of the residue theorem and applying the methods of §§2.4 and 2.5.
¶ Example
We seek the behavior as
. From (Ch.1)
- Defines:
-
: contour - Symbols:
: Gamma function- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E20
- Encodings:
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where
comprises the two semicircles and two parts of the
imaginary axis depicted in Figure 2.10.1.
- Symbols:
: contour- Referenced by:
- §2.10(iii)
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.F1
- Encodings:
- eps, png
From the identities
and Cauchy's theorem, we have
- Symbols:
-
: Gamma function and
: contour
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E22
- Encodings:
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where
denote respectively the upper and lower
halves of
. (5.11.7) shows that
the integrals around the large quarter circles vanish as
. Hence
- Symbols:
-
: order symbol and
: Gamma function
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E23
- Encodings:
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the last step following from
when
is on the interval
, the imaginary axis, or the small semicircle. By application of
Laplace's method (§2.3(iii)) and use again of
(5.11.7), we obtain
- Symbols:
: asymptotically equal- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E24
- Encodings:
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§ 2.10(iv). Taylor and Laurent Coefficients: Darboux's Method
- Notes:
- See Olver (1997b, pp. 309–315).
- Keywords:
- asymptotic approximations of sums and sequences, Darboux's method, Laurent series, Taylor series
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.SS4
Let
be analytic on the annulus
, with Laurent expansion
What is the asymptotic behavior of
as
or
?
More specially, what is the behavior of the higher coefficients in a
Taylor-series expansion?
These problems can be brought within the scope of §2.4 by means of Cauchy's integral formula
- Defines:
-
: simple closed contour - Symbols:
-
: analytic function and
: coefficients
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E26
- Encodings:
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where
is a simple closed contour in the annulus that encloses
. For examples see Olver (1997b, Chapters 8, 9).
However, if
is finite and
has algebraic or logarithmic singularities
on
, then Darboux's method is usually easier to apply. We need
a “comparison function”
with the properties:
-
(a)
is analytic on
. -
(b)
is continuous on
. -
(c)
The coefficients in the Laurent expansion
2.10.27
,

- Defines:
-
: comparison function and
: coefficients - Symbols:
: radious of annulus- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E27
- Encodings:
- TeX, pMathML, png
have known asymptotic behavior as
.
By allowing the contour in Cauchy's formula to expand, we find that
- Symbols:
-
: analytic function,
: coefficients,
: radious of annulus,
: comparison function and
: coefficients
- Referenced by:
- §2.10(iv), §2.10(iv)
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E28
- Encodings:
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Hence by the Riemann-Lebesgue lemma (§Ch.1)
- Symbols:
-
: order symbol,
: coefficients,
: radious of annulus and
: coefficients
- Referenced by:
- §2.10(iv)
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E29
- Encodings:
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This result is refinable in two important ways. First, the conditions can be
weakened. It is unnecessary for
to be continuous on
: it
suffices that the integrals in (2.10.28) converge uniformly. For
example, Condition (b) can be replaced by:
-
(b´)
On the circle
, the function
has a
finite number of singularities, and at each singularity
, say,2.10.30
,

- Defines:
-
: positive constant - Symbols:
-
: order symbol,
: analytic function and
: comparison function
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E30
- Encodings:
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where
is a positive constant.
Secondly, when
is
times continuously differentiable on
the result (2.10.29) can be strengthened. In these
circumstances the integrals in (2.10.28) are integrable by parts
times, yielding
- Symbols:
-
: order symbol,
: coefficients,
: radious of annulus and
: coefficients
- Referenced by:
- §2.10(iv), §2.10(iv)
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E31
- Encodings:
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Furthermore, (2.10.31) remains valid with the weaker condition
- Symbols:
-
: order symbol,
: analytic function,
: comparison function and
: positive constant
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E32
- Encodings:
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in the neighborhood of each singularity
, again with
.
¶ Example
Let
be a constant in
and
denote the
Legendre polynomial of degree
. From §Ch.14
The singularities of
on the unit circle are branch points at
. To match the limiting behavior of
at these
points we set
- Symbols:
: comparison function- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E34
- Encodings:
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Here the branch of
is continuous in
the
-plane cut along the outward-drawn ray through
and
equals
at
. Similarly for
. In Condition (c) we have
- Symbols:
-
: Gamma function and
: coefficients
- Permalink:
- http://dlmf.nist.gov/2.10.E35
- Encodings:
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and in the supplementary conditions we may set
. Then from
(2.10.31) and (5.11.7)
For higher terms see §Ch.18.
For uniform expansions when two singularities coalesce on the circle of convergence see Wong and Zhao (2005).


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