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Euler's constant

Euler's constant is a mathematical constant, usually denoted by the lowercase Greek letter gamma, defined as the limiting difference between the harmonic series and the natural logarithm, denoted here by log:

History
The constant first appeared in a 1734 paper by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, titled De Progressionibus harmonicis observationes (Observations on harmonic progressions; Eneström Index 43), where he described it as "worthy of serious consideration". David Hilbert mentioned the irrationality of as an unsolved problem that seems "unapproachable" and, allegedly, the English mathematician Godfrey Hardy offered to give up his Savilian Chair at Oxford to anyone who could prove this. == Appearances ==
Appearances
Euler's constant appears frequently in mathematics, especially in number theory and analysis. Examples include, among others, the following places: (where '''*' means that this entry contains an explicit equation''): Analysis • The Weierstrass product formula for the gamma function and the Barnes G-function. • The asymptotic expansion of the gamma function, \Gamma(1/x)\sim x-\gamma. • Evaluations of the digamma function at rational values. • The Laurent series expansion for the Riemann zeta function*, where it is the first of the Stieltjes constants. • Values of the derivative of the Riemann zeta function and Dirichlet beta function. • In the regularization/renormalization of the harmonic series as a finite value. • Expressions involving the exponential and logarithmic integral.* • A definition of the cosine integral.* • Asymptotic expansions of modified Struve functions. • In relation to other special functions. Number theory • An inequality for Euler's totient function. • The growth rate of the divisor function. • A formulation of the Riemann hypothesis. • The third of Mertens' theorems.* • Lower bounds to specific prime gaps. • An approximation of the average number of divisors of all numbers from 1 to a given n. • An estimation of the efficiency of the euclidean algorithm. • Sums involving the Möbius and von Mangolt function. • Estimate of the divisor summatory function of the Dirichlet hyperbola method. In other fields • In some formulations of Zipf's law. • The answer to the coupon collector's problem.* • The mean of the Gumbel distribution. • An approximation of the Landau distribution. • The information entropy of the Weibull and Lévy distributions, and, implicitly, of the chi-squared distribution for one or two degrees of freedom. • An upper bound on Shannon entropy in quantum information theory. • In dimensional regularization of Feynman diagrams in quantum field theory. • In the BCS equation on the critical temperature in BCS theory of superconductivity.* • Fisher–Orr model for genetics of adaptation in evolutionary biology. == Properties ==
Properties
Irrationality and transcendence The number has not been proved algebraic or transcendental. In fact, it is not even known whether is irrational. The ubiquity of revealed by the large number of equations below and the fact that has been called the third most important mathematical constant after Pi| and E (mathematical constant)| makes the irrationality of a major open question in mathematics. However, some progress has been made. In 1959 Andrei Shidlovsky proved that at least one of Euler's constant and the Gompertz constant is irrational; Tanguy Rivoal proved in 2012 that at least one of them is transcendental. Kurt Mahler showed in 1968 that the number \frac \pi 2\frac{Y_0(2)}{J_0(2)}-\gamma is transcendental, where J_0 and Y_0 are the usual Bessel functions. It is known that the transcendence degree of the field \mathbb Q(e,\gamma,\delta) is at least two. In 2010, M. Ram Murty and N. Saradha showed that at most one of the Euler-Lehmer constants, i. e. the numbers of the form \gamma(a,q) = \lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\left(\sum_{k=0}^n{\frac{1}{a+kq}} - \frac{\log{(a+nq})}{q} \right) is algebraic, if and ; this family includes the special case . Using the same approach, in 2013, M. Ram Murty and A. Zaytseva showed that the generalized Euler constants have the same property, where the generalized Euler constant are defined as \gamma(\Omega) = \lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \left( \sum_{n=1}^x \frac{1_\Omega(n)}{n} - \log x \cdot \lim_{x\rightarrow\infty} \frac{ \sum_{n=1}^x 1_\Omega (n) }{x} \right), where is a fixed list of prime numbers, 1_\Omega(n) =0 if at least one of the primes in is a prime factor of , and 1_\Omega(n) =1 otherwise. In particular, . Using a continued fraction analysis, Papanikolaou showed in 1997 that if is rational, its denominator must be greater than 10244663. If is a rational number, then its denominator must be greater than 1015000. Euler's constant is conjectured not to be an algebraic period, but the values of its first 109 decimal digits seem to indicate that it could be a normal number. Continued fraction The simple continued fraction expansion of Euler's constant is given by: :\gamma=0+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{2+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{2+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{4+\dots}}}}}}} which has no apparent pattern. It is known to have at least 16,695,000,000 terms, and it has infinitely many terms if and only if is irrational. File:KhinchinBeispiele.svg|thumb|The Khinchin limits for \pi (red), \gamma (blue) and \sqrt[3]{2} (green).|350x350px Numerical evidence suggests that both Euler's constant as well as the constant are among the numbers for which the geometric mean of their simple continued fraction terms converges to Khinchin's constant. Similarly, when p_n/q_n are the convergents of their respective continued fractions, the limit \lim_{n\to\infty}q_n^{1/n} appears to converge to Lévy's constant in both cases. However neither of these limits has been proven. There also exists a generalized continued fraction for Euler's constant. A good simple approximation of is given by the reciprocal of the square root of 3 or about 0.57735: :\frac1\sqrt {3}=0+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{2+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{2+\cfrac{1}{1+\cfrac{1}{2+\dots}}}}}}} with the difference being about 1 in 7,429. == Formulas and identities ==
Formulas and identities
Relation to gamma function is related to the digamma function (not to be confused with wave function), and hence the derivative of the gamma function , when both functions are evaluated at 1. Thus: -\gamma = \Gamma'(1) = \psi(1). This is equal to the limits: \begin{align}-\gamma &= \lim_{z\to 0}\left(\Gamma(z) - \frac1{z}\right) \\&= \lim_{z\to 0}\left(\psi(z) + \frac1{z}\right).\end{align} Further limit results are: \begin{align} \lim_{z\to 0}\frac1{z}\left(\frac1{\Gamma(1+z)} - \frac1{\Gamma(1-z)}\right) &= 2\gamma \\ \lim_{z\to 0}\frac1{z}\left(\frac1{\psi(1-z)} - \frac1{\psi(1+z)}\right) &= \frac{\pi^2}{3\gamma^2}. \end{align} A limit related to the beta function (expressed in terms of gamma functions) is \begin{align} \gamma &= \lim_{n\to\infty}\left(\frac{ \Gamma\left(\frac1{n}\right) \Gamma(n+1)\, n^{1+\frac1{n}}}{\Gamma\left(2+n+\frac1{n}\right)} - \frac{n^2}{n+1}\right) \\ &= \lim\limits_{m\to\infty}\sum_{k=1}^m{m \choose k}\frac{(-1)^k}{k}\log\big(\Gamma(k+1)\big). \end{align} Relation to the zeta function can also be expressed as an infinite sum whose terms involve the Riemann zeta function evaluated at positive integers: \begin{align}\gamma &= \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} (-1)^m\frac{\zeta(m)}{m} \\ &= \log\frac4{\pi} + \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} (-1)^m\frac{\zeta(m)}{2^{m-1}m}.\end{align} The constant \gamma can also be expressed in terms of the sum of the reciprocals of non-trivial zeros \rho of the zeta function: One of the earliest of these is a formula for the harmonic number attributed to Srinivasa Ramanujan where \gamma is related to \textstyle \log 2T_{k} in a series that considers the powers of \textstyle \frac{1}{T_{k}} (an earlier, less-generalizable proof by Ernesto Cesàro gives the first two terms of the series, with an error term): :\begin{align} \gamma &= H_u - \frac{1}{2} \log 2T_u - \sum_{k=1}^{v}\frac{R(k)}{T_{u}^{k}}-\Theta_{v}\,\frac{R(v+1)}{T_{u}^{v+1}} \end{align} From Stirling's approximation follows a similar series: :\gamma = \log 2\pi - \sum_{k=2}^{\infty} \frac{\zeta(k)}{T_{k}} The series of inverse triangular numbers also features in the study of the Basel problem posed by Pietro Mengoli. Mengoli proved that \textstyle \sum_{k = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{2T_k} = 1, a result Jacob Bernoulli later used to estimate the value of \zeta(2), placing it between 1 and \textstyle \sum_{k = 1}^\infty \frac{2}{2T_k} = \sum_{k = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{T_{k}} = 2. This identity appears in a formula used by Bernhard Riemann to compute roots of the zeta function, where \gamma is expressed in terms of the sum of roots \rho plus the difference between Boya's expansion and the series of exact unit fractions \textstyle \sum_{k = 1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{T_{k}}: :\gamma - \log 2 = \log 2\pi + \sum_{\rho} \frac{2}{\rho} - \sum_{k = 1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{T_k} Integrals equals the value of a number of definite integrals: \begin{align} \gamma &= - \int_0^\infty e^{-x} \log x \,dx \\ &= -\int_0^1\log\left(\log\frac 1 x \right) dx \\ &= \int_0^\infty \left(\frac1{e^x-1}-\frac1{x\cdot e^x} \right)dx \\ &= \int_0^1\frac{1-e^{-x}}{x} \, dx -\int_1^\infty \frac{e^{-x}}{x}\, dx\\ &= \int_0^1\left(\frac1{\log x} + \frac1{1-x}\right)dx\\ &= \int_0^\infty \left(\frac1{1+x^k}-e^{-x}\right)\frac{dx}{x},\quad k>0\\ &= 2\int_0^\infty \frac{e^{-x^2}-e^{-x}}{x} \, dx ,\\ &= \log\frac{\pi}{4}-\int_0^\infty \frac{\log x}{\cosh^2x} \, dx ,\\ &= \int_0^1 H_x \, dx, \\ &= \frac{1}{2}+\int_{0}^{\infty}\log\left(1+\frac{\log\left(1+\frac{1}{t}\right)^{2}}{4\pi^{2}}\right)dt \\ &= 1-\int_0^1 \{1/x\} dx \\ &= \frac{1}{2}+\int_{0}^{\infty}\frac{2x\,dx}{(x^2+1)(e^{2\pi x}-1)} \\ &= \frac{1}{\pi}\int_{0}^{\pi}\frac{\sin x}{x}e^{x\cot x}\log\left(\frac{\sin x}{x}e^{x\cot x}\right)dx \end{align} where is the fractional harmonic number, and \{1/x\} is the fractional part of 1/x. The third formula in the integral list can be proved in the following way: \begin{align} &\int_0^{\infty} \left(\frac{1}{e^x - 1} - \frac{1}{x e^x} \right) dx = \int_0^{\infty} \frac{e^{-x} + x - 1}{x[e^x -1]} dx = \int_0^{\infty} \frac{1}{x[e^x - 1]} \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}x^{m+1}}{(m+1)!} dx \\[2pt] &= \int_0^{\infty} \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}x^m}{(m+1)![e^x -1]} dx = \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \int_0^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}x^m}{(m+1)![e^x -1]} dx = \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}}{(m+1)!} \int_0^{\infty} \frac{x^m}{e^x - 1} dx \\[2pt] &= \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}}{(m+1)!} m!\zeta(m+1) = \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}}{m+1}\zeta(m+1) = \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}}{m+1} \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{n^{m+1}} = \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}}{m+1}\frac{1}{n^{m+1}} \\[2pt] &= \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty} \sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{m+1}}{m+1}\frac{1}{n^{m+1}} = \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty} \left[\frac{1}{n} - \log\left(1+\frac{1}{n}\right)\right] = \gamma \end{align} The integral on the second line of the equation is the definition of the Riemann zeta function, which is . Definite integrals in which appears include: \begin{align} \int_0^\infty e^{-x^2} \log x \,dx &= -\frac{(\gamma+2\log 2)\sqrt{\pi}}{4} \\ \int_0^\infty e^{-x} \log^2 x \,dx &= \gamma^2 + \frac{\pi^2}{6} \\ \int_0^\infty \frac{e^{-x}\log x}{e^x +1} \,dx &= \frac12 \log^2 2 - \gamma \end{align} We also have Catalan's 1875 integral \gamma = \int_0^1 \left(\frac1{1+x}\sum_{n=1}^\infty x^{2^n-1}\right)\,dx. One can express using a special case of Hadjicostas's formula as a double integral with equivalent series: \begin{align} \gamma &= \int_0^1 \int_0^1 \frac{x-1}{(1-xy)\log xy}\,dx\,dy \\ &= \sum_{n=1}^\infty \left(\frac 1 n -\log\frac{n+1} n \right). \end{align} An interesting comparison by Sondow is the double integral and alternating series \begin{align} \log\frac 4 \pi &= \int_0^1 \int_0^1 \frac{x-1}{(1+xy)\log xy} \,dx\,dy \\ &= \sum_{n=1}^\infty \left((-1)^{n-1}\left(\frac 1 n -\log\frac{n+1} n \right)\right). \end{align} It shows that may be thought of as an "alternating Euler constant". The two constants are also related by the pair of series \begin{align} \gamma &= \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{N_1(n) + N_0(n)}{2n(2n+1)} \\ \log\frac4{\pi} &= \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{N_1(n) - N_0(n)}{2n(2n+1)} , \end{align} where and are the number of 1s and 0s, respectively, in the base 2 expansion of . Series expansions In general, \gamma = \lim_{n \to \infty}\left(\frac{1}{1}+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3} + \ldots + \frac{1}{n} - \log(n+\alpha) \right) \equiv \lim_{n \to \infty} \gamma_n(\alpha) for any . However, the rate of convergence of this expansion depends significantly on . In particular, exhibits much more rapid convergence than the conventional expansion . This is because \frac{1}{2(n+1)} while \frac{1}{24(n+1)^2} Even so, there exist other series expansions which converge more rapidly than this; some of these are discussed below. Euler showed that the following infinite series approaches : \gamma = \sum_{k=1}^\infty \left(\frac 1 k - \log\left(1+\frac 1 k \right)\right). The series for is equivalent to a series Nielsen found in 1897: \gamma = 1 - \sum_{k=2}^\infty (-1)^k\frac{\left\lfloor\log_2 k\right\rfloor}{k+1}. In 1910, Vacca found the closely related series \begin{align} \gamma & = \sum_{k=1}^\infty (-1)^k\frac{\left\lfloor\log_2 k\right\rfloor} k \\[5pt] & = \tfrac12-\tfrac13 + 2\left(\tfrac14 - \tfrac15 + \tfrac16 - \tfrac17\right) + 3\left(\tfrac18 - \tfrac19 + \tfrac1{10} - \tfrac1{11} + \cdots - \tfrac1{15}\right) + \cdots, \end{align} where is the logarithm to base 2 and is the floor function. This can be generalized to: \gamma= \sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{\left\lfloor\log_B k\right\rfloor}{k} \varepsilon(k)where:\varepsilon(k)= \begin{cases} B-1, &\text{if } B\mid n \\ -1, &\text{if }B\nmid n \end{cases} In 1926 Vacca found a second series: \begin{align} \gamma + \zeta(2) & = \sum_{k=2}^\infty \left( \frac1{\left\lfloor\sqrt{k}\right\rfloor^2} - \frac1{k}\right) \\[5pt] & = \sum_{k=2}^\infty \frac{k - \left\lfloor\sqrt{k}\right\rfloor^2}{k \left\lfloor \sqrt{k} \right\rfloor^2} \\[5pt] &= \frac12 + \frac23 + \frac1{2^2}\sum_{k=1}^{2\cdot 2} \frac{k}{k+2^2} + \frac1{3^2}\sum_{k=1}^{3\cdot 2} \frac{k}{k+3^2} + \cdots \end{align} From the MalmstenKummer expansion for the logarithm of the gamma function \frac{\pi^2}{6e^\gamma}=\lim_{n\to\infty} \log p_n \prod_{i=1}^n \frac{p_i}{p_i+1}. Other infinite products relating to include: \begin{align} \frac{e^{1+\frac{\gamma}{2}}}{\sqrt{2\pi}} &= \prod_{n=1}^\infty e^{-1+\frac1{2n}}\left(1+\frac1{n}\right)^n \\ \frac{e^{3+2\gamma}}{2\pi} &= \prod_{n=1}^\infty e^{-2+\frac2{n}}\left(1+\frac2{n}\right)^n. \end{align} These products result from the Barnes -function. In addition, e^{\gamma} = \sqrt{\frac2{1}} \cdot \sqrt[3]{\frac{2^2}{1\cdot 3}} \cdot \sqrt[4]{\frac{2^3\cdot 4}{1\cdot 3^3}} \cdot \sqrt[5]{\frac{2^4\cdot 4^4}{1\cdot 3^6\cdot 5}} \cdots where the th factor is the th root of \prod_{k=0}^n (k+1)^{(-1)^{k+1}{n \choose k}}. This infinite product, first discovered by Ser in 1926, was rediscovered by Sondow using hypergeometric functions. It also holds that \frac{e^\frac{\pi}{2}+e^{-\frac{\pi}{2}}}{\pi e^\gamma}=\prod_{n=1}^\infty\left(e^{-\frac{1}{n}}\left(1+\frac{1}{n}+\frac{1}{2n^2}\right)\right). ==Published digits==
Generalizations
Stieltjes constants ''Euler's generalized constants'' are given by \gamma_\alpha = \lim_{n\to\infty}\left(\sum_{k=1}^n \frac1{k^\alpha} - \int_1^n \frac1{x^\alpha}\,dx\right) for , with as the special case . Extending for gives: \gamma_{\alpha} = \zeta(\alpha) - \frac1{\alpha-1} with again the limit: \gamma = \lim_{a\to 1}\left(\zeta(a) - \frac1{a-1}\right) This can be further generalized to c_f = \lim_{n\to\infty}\left(\sum_{k=1}^n f(k) - \int_1^n f(x)\,dx\right) for some arbitrary decreasing function . Setting f_n(x) = \frac{(\log x)^n}{x} gives rise to the Stieltjes constants \gamma_n, that occur in the Laurent series expansion of the Riemann zeta function: : \zeta(1+s)=\frac{1}{s}+\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n}{n!} \gamma_n s^n. with \gamma_0 = \gamma = 0.577\dots Euler–Lehmer constants Euler–Lehmer constants are given by summation of inverses of numbers in a common modulo class: \gamma(a,q) = \lim_{x\to \infty}\left (\sum_{0 The basic properties are \begin{align} &\gamma(0,q) = \frac{\gamma -\log q}{q}, \\ &\sum_{a=0}^{q-1} \gamma(a,q)=\gamma, \\ &q\gamma(a,q) = \gamma-\sum_{j=1}^{q-1}e^{-\frac{2\pi aij}{q}}\log\left(1-e^{\frac{2\pi ij}{q}}\right), \end{align} and if the greatest common divisor then q\gamma(a,q) = \frac{q}{d}\gamma\left(\frac{a}{d},\frac{q}{d}\right)-\log d. Masser–Gramain constant A two-dimensional generalization of Euler's constant is the Masser–Gramain constant. It is defined as the following limiting difference: :\delta = \lim_{n\to\infty} \left( -\log n + \sum_{k=2}^n \frac{1}{\pi r_k^2} \right) where r_k is the smallest radius of a disk in the complex plane containing at least k Gaussian integers. The following bounds have been established: 1.819776 . == See also ==
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