Outline

Biography
Proofs
Summary

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Miliyon T.

February 7, 2014

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

Biography
Euler
Biography
Quotes

Proofs
O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Summary

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

Euler
Biography
Quotes

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

Euler
Biography
Quotes

Leonhard Euler:(15 April 1707-18 September 1783) was a Swiss

mathematician and physicist. Euler was not only one of the
greatest mathematician and physicist of his time,but he was also
versed in theology, medicine,botany, astronomy, chemistry and the
oriental as well as modern language.He was a prolific writer, and
there was hardly a branch of mathematics to which he did not
contributed. By solving the problem of Seven Bridges of Knigsberg
(now Kaliningrad, Russia) He made important discoveries in fields
as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. He is now
considered as the father of graph theory. He also introduced much
of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly
for mathematical analysis, such as the notation of a mathematical
function. He is also renowned for his work in mechanics, fluid
dynamics, optics, and astronomy. Euler spent most of his adult life
in St. Petersburg ,Russia, and in Berlin, Prussia.
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

Euler
Biography
Quotes

Alike other mathematicians Euler had a healthy social life. On 7

January 1734 he married Katharina Gsell. They had thirteen
children even though only five of them survived childhood. In 1735
at the age of 28 he become nearly blind in his right eye. And he
was essentially blind in 1766. He spent the rest of his life blinded.
Despite of his vision, Euler had a wonderful ability of mental
calculation and photographic memory. With this abilities he
become more productive than ever. By considering this Prof.
William Dunham expressed him as A Beethoven of Mathematics.
Prof. Dunham illustrate this by saying Beethoven compose a music
which he couldnt hear and Euler wrote mathematics which he
couldnt see.

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

Euler
Biography
Quotes

Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all.

Laplace
The Beethoven of mathematics
Dunham

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Theorem
O(n) = D(n)
where D(n) is the number of ways of writing n as the sum of
distinct whole numbers and O(n) is the number of ways of writing
n as the sum of (not necessarily distinct)odd numbers.
Proof.
Introduce
P(x) = (1 + x)(1 + x 2 )(1 + x 3 )
= 1 + x + x 2 + (x 3 + x 2+1 ) + (x 4 + x 3+1 ) + (x 5 + x 4+1 + x 3+2 ) +
So
P(x) = 1 +

D(n)x n

n=1
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

(1)

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
Geometric series
1 + a + a2 + a3 + =

1
(1 a)

Proof from geometric sum

Gn = a1

(1 r n )
(1 r )

But in this case r = a and a1 = 1. Therefore

Gn = 1

(1 r n )
1
an
, Gn =

(1 r )
(1 a) (1 a)

For |a| < 1 the second term will be zero and the result follows.
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
Introduce
Q(x) =

1
1
1

3
(1 x) (1 x ) (1 x 5 )

= (1 + x + x 2 + x 3 + )(1 + x 3 + x 6 + x 9 + )
(1 + x 5 + x 10 + x 15 + )
= (1 + x 1 + x 1+1 + x 1+1+1 + )
(1 + x 3 + x 3+3 + x 3+3+3 + )
(1 + x 5 + x 5+5+5 + x 5+5+5 + )
So
Q(x) = 1 +

O(n)x n

n=1
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

(2)

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
What we have done so far is, we introduce two function P(x) and
Q(x). Additionally we have proved that they are actually equal to
the following infinite sums.
P(x) = (1 + x)(1 + x 2 )(1 + x 3 ) = 1 +

D(n)x n

(3)

O(n)x n

(4)

n=1

Q(x) =

1
1
1

= 1 +
(1 x) (1 x 3 ) (1 x 5 )

X
n=1

Our aim is to show D(n) = O(n). WLOG suppose our generating

functions P(x) and Q(x) are equal.
P(x) = Q(x)
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
1+

D(n)x = 1 +

n=1

O(n)x n

n=1

D(n) = O(n)
Now, we are only expected to show our assumption P(x) = Q(x)
is true. Lets pick P(x) and do some trick
P(x) = (1 + x)(1)(1 + x 2 )(1)(1 + x 3 )




1x
1 x2
2
(1 + x 3 )
= (1 + x)
(1 + x )
1x
1 x2
(1 + x)(1 x)(1 + x 2 )(1 x 2 )(1 + x 3 )(1 x 3 )
=

(1 x)
(1 x 2 )
(1 x 3 )
(1 x 4 )
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
If we keep multiplying by this pattern the entire numerator will
cancel out and becomes 1. All the expressions with even power will
cancel out and the odds left in the de-numerator. Like this
=

1
1
1

3
(1 x) (1 x ) (1 x 5 )

which is nothing but Q(x).

Hence we can conclude that
D(n) = O(n).

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Theorem (Euler Product)

X
1
(s) =
=
ns
n=1

Proof.
Start with

1
(1 p1s )
pPrime

X
1
(s) =
ns

(5)

n=1

Multiply (5) by

1
2s

X
1
1 X 1
1
(s) = s
=
s
s
2
2
n
(2n)s
n=1

Miliyon T.

n=1

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

(6)

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

Proof (Cont.)
Now subtract (6) from (5)

n=1

n=1

X 1
X 1
1
(s) s (s) =

2
ns
(2n)s

(7)

X
1
1
(1 s )(s) =
,k N
2
ns

(8)

X
1
1
1 X 1
1
(1 s )(s) = s
=
s
s
3
2
3
n
(3n)s

(9)

n=1
n6=2k

Multiply (8) by

1
3s

n=1
n6=2k

Miliyon T.

n=0
n6=2k

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
Subtract (9) from (8) to get
(1

X
X
1
1
1
1
)(1

)(s)
=

2s
3s
ns
(3n)s
n=1
n6=2k

(10)

n=0
n6=2k

X
1
1
1
(1 s )(1 s )(s) =
2
3
ns

(11)

n=1
n6=2k
n6=3k

If we repeat this pattern over again and again we will arrived at

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)



X
1
1
1
(1 s )(1 s ) (s) =
2
3
ns

(12)

n=1
n6=2k

..
.
Since we take out all the multiple of primes on the right side FTAa
tells us that we had left with 1.
1
1
)(1 s ) )(s) = 1
s
2
3
Y
1
1
(s) =
=
.
1
1
((1 2s )(1 3s ) ) pPrime (1 p1s )
((1

Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

(13)

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Theorem (Basel problem)

(2) = 1 +

2
1 1
+ + =
4 9
6

Proof.
Consider the function

sin x
x
which has non zero roots at , 2, 3, 4, . . .
So we can write this function as infinite product of polynomials like
this







sin x
x
x
x
x
x
x
= 1
1+
1
1+
1
1+

2
2
3
3
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)

=

x2
1 2




x2
x2
1 2
1 2
4
9

Expand this infinite product to get and we are only interested

the coefficient of x 2
 2

x2
x2
x
sin x
= 1 + 2 2 2 +
x

4
9


2
1 1
x
= 1 2 1 + + + +

4 9
(2) 2
= 1 2 x +

But from Taylor expansion we know that

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

on

(14)
(15)
(16)

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
x3 x5 x7
+
! +
3!
5!
7
Divide both side by x then it becomes
sin x = x

sin x
x2 x4 x6
=1
+

+
x
3!
5!
7!
Now equate the coefficients of x 2 in (16) and (17).

1
(2)
=
2

3!
2
(2) =
.
3!

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

(17)

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Theorem (Euler Formula)

e ix = cos x + i sin x
Proof.
Using Taylor series for trig functions
x2 x4 x6
+

+
2!
4!
6!
x3 x5 x7
+

+
sin x = x
3!
5!
7!
x2 x3 x4
ex = 1 + x +
+
+
+
2!
3!
4!
cos x = 1

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
Similarly,
e ix = 1 + ix
x2
2!
x2
= (1
2!
= (1

x 2 (ix 3 ) x 4 (ix 5 ) x 6 (ix 7 )

+
+

+
2!
3!
4!
5!
6!
7!
x4 x6
(ix 3 ) (ix 5 ) (ix 7 )
+

+ ) + (ix
+

+ )
4!
6!
3!
5!
7!
x4 x6
x3 x5 x7
+

+ ) + i(x
+

+ )
4!
6!
3!
5!
7!

Therefore,
e ix = cos x + i sin x.

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Theorem (Euler awkward theorem)

1
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + = 12

Proof.
Starting with
1
= 1 + x + x2 + x3 +
(1 x)
He evaluated (18) at x = 1
1
= 1 +1 1 +
2
He again took (18) and differentiate both sides.
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

(18)

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
Differentiating (18) both side gives
1
= 1 + 2x + 3x 2 + 4x 3 +
(1 x)2

(19)

Evaluate (19) at x = 1
1
= 1 2 + 3 4 +
4

(20)

Then, he introduce
(s) = 1 +
Multiply (21) by

1
1
1
+ s + s +
s
2
3
4

2
2s
Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

(21)

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
Multiplying (21) by

2
2s

gives

2
2
2
2
(s) = s + s + s
2s
2
4
6

(22)

Now subtract (22) from (21)

2
(s) = (1 +
2s
2
(1 s )(s) = (1 +
2

(s)

1
1
1
2
2
2
+ s + s ) ( s + s + s )
s
2
3
4
2
4
6
1
1
1
2
2
2
+ s + s ) ( s + s + s )
s
2
3
4
2
4
6
1
1
1
= (1 s + s s + )
2
3
4

Again he evaluated this equation at s = 1

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

O(n)=D(n)
Euler product
Basel Problem
Euler Formula
Blowing your mind

Proof (Cont.)
2
1
1
1
)(1) = (1 1 + 1 1 + )
1
2
2
3
4
(1 4)(1) = (1 2 + 3 4 + )

(1

(3)(1) = (1 2 + 3 4 + )
But from (20) we know that 1 2 + 3 4 + = 41 . And from
(21) we could easily derive (1) = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + So,
(3)(1) =

1
4

(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ) =

Miliyon T.

1
12

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

Thank you for your Time!

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs

Outline
Biography
Proofs
Summary

References

William Dunham (1996)

Euler: The master of us all
Morris Kline (1983)
Euler and Infinite Series
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 56, No. 5. (Nov., 1983).
John Conway (1996)
The Book of Numbers

Miliyon T.

Euler and His Elegant Proofs