Continued fraction expansions of the generating functions of Bernoulli and related numbers (Q783660): Difference between revisions

The author studies a special form of contin ued fraction expansion of generating functions of famous numbers. Given a function with its Taylor expansion \[f(x)=\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\,f_ix^i, f_i\in\mathbb{C} (0\leq i<\infty),\] the attention is focused on the following form \[f(x)=1-\frac{\ \ \ h_1x\ \ \ |}{| g_1+h_1x}-\frac{\ \ g_1h_2x\ \ |}{|g_2+h_2x}-\frac{\ \ g_2h_3x\ \ |}{|g_3+h_3x}-\ldots,\] where each concrete case needs some modifications. For this special form, the numerators and denominators of the continued fracion can be given explicitly by \[P_n(x)=g_1\cdots g_n\hbox{ and }Q_n=g_1\cdots g_n\sum_{j=0}^n\,\frac{h_1\cdots h_j}{g_1\cdots g_j}\,x^j,\] where empty products have to be taken equal to \(1\). The layout of the paper is as follows. \textbf{\S1. Introduction} \textbf{\S2. Bernoulli numbers} They are defined here by \[\frac{x}{e^{x}-1}=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\,B_nx^n,\] and the \textit{hypergeometric degenerate Bernoulli numbers} \(\beta_{N,n}(\lambda)\) by \[\left({}_2F_1(1,N-1/\lambda;N+1; -\lambda x)\right)^{-1}= \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\,\beta_{N,n}(\lambda)x^n.\] The first result is then given in Theorem 1: explicit formulae for the \(g_j,h_j\) for the degenerate Bernoulli function and in Corollary 1 the limit for \(\lambda\rightarrow 0\) is stated (hypergeometric Bernouli numbers). Finally the limit \(\lambda\rightarrow 0\) and taking \(N=1\) lead to Corollary 2: the explicit formulae for the ordinary Bernoulli numbers. \textbf{\S3.Cauchy numbers} The \textit{hypergeomegtric dgenerate Cauchy numbers} \(\gamma_{N,n}(\lambda)\) are defined by the generating function \[\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\gamma_{N,n}(\lambda)\,\frac{x^n}{n!}=\frac{1}{{}_2F_1(1,N-\lambda; N+1;-x)}=\frac{(\lambda-1)_{N-1} x^N/N!}{\frac{(1+x)^{\lambda}-1}{\lambda}-\sum_{n=1}^{N-1}\,(\lambda-1)_{n-1}x^n/n!}.\] The limit \(\lambda\rightarrow 0\) recovers the ordinary Cauchy numbers. In Theorem 2 the explicit coefficients \(g_n,h_n\) of the continued fraction are given. \textbf{\S4. Euler numbers} The \textit{hypergeometric Euler numbers} \(E_{N,n}\) are defined by \[\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\,E_{N,n}\,\frac{x^n}{n!}=\frac{1}{{}_1F_2(1;n+1,(2N+1)/2;x^2/4)}.\] For \(N=0\) the ordinary Euler numbers re recovered. In Theorem 3 the coefficients of the cntinued fraction are given; the \(h_nx\) are replaced by \(x^2\). For \(N=0\), the Euler numbers of the second kind, the coefficients follow in Theorem 4. \textbf{\S5. Harmonic numbers} The \textit{generalized harmonc numbers of order} \(m\) are defined by \[h_n^{(m)(a,b}=\sum_{k=1}^n\,\frac{1}{\left((k-1)a+b\right)^m},\ (n\geq 1)\hbox{ with }h_0^{m}(a,b)=0,\] where \(a,b\) are positive real numbers; for \(m=a=b=1\) we have the original harmonic numbers. The continued fraction for the generating function follows in Theorem 5. \textbf{\S6. Functions associated with the Riemann zeta function} The continued fraction for the Dirichlet series generating the Möb ius function \[\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\,\frac{\mu(n)}{n^s} \left(=\frac{1}{\zeta(s)}\right)\] is given in Theorem 6, following directly from a continuued fraction of the zeta function. \textbf{\S7. Transforms of continued fractions} This looks into continued fractions using products of linear fractional transformations. \textbf{ References} (\(20\) items)