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Summation
Summation
Summation
In mathematics, summation is the addition of a sequence of any kind of numbers, called addends or
summands; the result is their sum or total. Beside numbers, other types of values can be summed as well:
functions, vectors, matrices, polynomials and, in general, elements of any type of mathematical objects on
which an operation denoted "+" is defined.
Summations of infinite sequences are called series. They involve the concept of limit, and are not
considered in this article.
The summation of an explicit sequence is denoted as a succession of additions. For example, summation of
[1, 2, 4, 2] is denoted 1 + 2 + 4 + 2, and results in 9, that is, 1 + 2 + 4 + 2 = 9. Because addition is
associative and commutative, there is no need of parentheses, and the result is the same irrespective of the
order of the summands. Summation of a sequence of only one element results in this element itself.
Summation of an empty sequence (a sequence with no elements), by convention, results in 0.
Very often, the elements of a sequence are defined, through a regular pattern, as a function of their place in
the sequence. For simple patterns, summation of long sequences may be represented with most summands
replaced by ellipses. For example, summation of the first 100 natural numbers may be written as
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ⋯ + 99 + 100 . Otherwise, summation is denoted by using Σ notation, where is
an enlarged capital Greek letter sigma. For example, the sum of the first n natural numbers can be denoted
as
For long summations, and summations of variable length (defined with ellipses or Σ notation), it is a
common problem to find closed-form expressions for the result. For example,[a]
Although such formulas do not always exist, many summation formulas have been discovered—with some
of the most common and elementary ones being listed in the remainder of this article.
Notation
Capital-sigma notation
In general, while any variable can be used as the index of summation (provided that no ambiguity is
incurred), some of the most common ones include letters such as ,[c] , , and ; the latter is also often
used for the upper bound of a summation.
Alternatively, index and bounds of summation are sometimes omitted from the definition of summation if
the context is sufficiently clear. This applies particularly when the index runs from 1 to n.[1] For example,
one might write that:
Generalizations of this notation are often used, in which an arbitrary logical condition is supplied, and the
sum is intended to be taken over all values satisfying the condition. For example:
is an alternative notation for the sum of over all (integers) in the specified range.
Similarly,
There are also ways to generalize the use of many sigma signs. For example,
is the same as
A similar notation is used for the product of a sequence, where , an enlarged form of the Greek capital
letter pi, is used instead of
Special cases
These degenerate cases are usually only used when the summation notation gives a degenerate result in a
special case. For example, if in the definition above, then there is only one term in the sum; if
, then there is none.
Formal definition
Summation may be defined recursively as follows:
, for ;
, for .
where is the subset of the integers from to , and where is the counting measure.
This is known as a telescoping series and is the analogue of the fundamental theorem of calculus in calculus
of finite differences, which states that:
where
is the derivative of f.
The above formula is more commonly used for inverting of the difference operator , defined by:
where f is a function defined on the nonnegative integers. Thus, given such a function f, the problem is to
compute the antidifference of f, a function such that . That is,
This function is defined up to the addition of a constant, and may be chosen
as[2]
There is not always a closed-form expression for such a summation, but Faulhaber's formula provides a
closed form in the case where and, by linearity, for every polynomial function of n .
since the right-hand side is by definition the limit for of the left-hand side. However, for a given
summation n is fixed, and little can be said about the error in the above approximation without additional
assumptions about f: it is clear that for wildly oscillating functions the Riemann sum can be arbitrarily far
from the Riemann integral.
Identities
The formulae below involve finite sums; for infinite summations or finite summations of expressions
involving trigonometric functions or other transcendental functions, see list of mathematical series.
General identities
(distributivity)[3]
(index shift)
(the sum from the first term up to the last is equal to the sum
(another application of
even indexes)
(distributivity)
the factors)
summands)
(Nicomachus's theorem)
[2]: 52
geometric progression)
There exist very many summation identities involving binomial coefficients (a whole chapter of Concrete
Mathematics is devoted to just the basic techniques). Some of the most basic ones are the following.
binomial theorem
the value at a = b = 1 of the antiderivative with respect to a of the
binomial theorem
Others
Harmonic numbers
Growth rates
The following are useful approximations (using theta notation):
for real c greater than −1
History
In 1675, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg, suggests the symbol ∫ to
mark the sum of differentials (Latin: calculus summatorius), hence the S-shape.[4][5][6] The
renaming of this symbol to integral arose later in exchanges with Johann Bernoulli.[6]
In 1755, the summation symbol Σ is attested in Leonhard Euler's Institutiones calculi
differentialis.[7][8] Euler uses the symbol in expressions like:
See also
Capital-pi notation
Einstein notation
Iverson bracket
Iterated binary operation
Kahan summation algorithm
Product (mathematics)
Summation by parts
∑ the summation single glyph (U+2211 N-ARY SUMMATION)
⎲ the paired glyph's beginning (U+23B2 SUMMATION TOP)
⎳ the paired glyph's end (U+23B3 SUMMATION BOTTOM)
Notes
a. For details, see Triangular number.
b. For a detailed exposition on summation notation, and arithmetic with sums, see Graham,
Ronald L.; Knuth, Donald E.; Patashnik, Oren (1994). "Chapter 2: Sums". Concrete
Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science (http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~vsevani/Concre
te%20Mathematics%20-%20R.%20Graham,%20D.%20Knuth,%20O.%20Patashnik.pdf)
(PDF) (2nd ed.). Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN 978-0201558029.
c. in contexts where there is no possibility of confusion with the imaginary unit
d. Although the name of the dummy variable does not matter (by definition), one usually uses
letters from the middle of the alphabet ( through ) to denote integers, if there is a risk of
confusion. For example, even if there should be no doubt about the interpretation, it could
look slightly confusing to many mathematicians to see instead of in the above formulae
involving .
References
1. "Summation Notation" (http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/math/summation.html).
www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
2. Handbook of Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics, Kenneth H. Rosen, John G.
Michaels, CRC Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8493-0149-1.
3. "Calculus I - Summation Notation" (https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/classes/calci/summationn
otation.aspx). tutorial.math.lamar.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
4. Burton, David M. (2011). The History of Mathematics: An Introduction (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
p. 414. ISBN 978-0-07-338315-6.
5. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1899). Gerhardt, Karl Immanuel (ed.). Der Briefwechsel von
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz mit Mathematikern. Erster Band (http://name.umdl.umich.edu/AAX
2762.0001.001). Berlin: Mayer & Müller. p. 154 (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/u/umhistmath/aax
2762.0001.001/185?page=root;size=100;view=image).
6. Cajori (1929), pp. 181-182 (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.88254/page/n203).
7. Cajori (1929), p. 61 (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.88254/page/n83).
8. Euler, Leonhard (1755). Institutiones Calculi differentialis (https://www.digitale-sammlungen.
de/en/view/bsb10053431?page=54,55) (in Latin). Petropolis. p. 27 (https://www.digitale-sam
mlungen.de/en/view/bsb10053431?page=54,55).
9. Lagrange, Joseph-Louis (1867–1892). Oeuvres de Lagrange. Tome 3 (https://gallica.bnf.fr/ar
k:/12148/bpt6k229222d/f452.item) (in French). Paris. p. 451 (https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/
bpt6k229222d/f452.item).
10. Mémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences de l'Institut de France pour l'année 1825, tome
VIII (https://books.google.com/books?id=Mpu9XDBOmagC&pg=583) (in French). Paris:
Didot. 1829. pp. 581-622 (https://books.google.com/books?id=Mpu9XDBOmagC&pg=583).
11. Fourier, Jean-Baptiste Joseph (1888–1890). Oeuvres de Fourier. Tome 2 (https://gallica.bnf.f
r/ark:/12148/bpt6k33707/f154.item) (in French). Paris: Gauthier-Villars. p. 149 (https://gallica.
bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k33707/f154.item).
Bibliography
Cajori, Florian (1929). A History Of Mathematical Notations Volume II (https://archive.org/det
ails/in.ernet.dli.2015.88254). Open Court Publishing. ISBN 978-0-486-67766-8.
External links
Media related to Summation at Wikimedia Commons