Summing the curious series of Kempner and Irwin

arXiv0806.4410MaRDI QIDQ6507428FDOQ6507428

Abstract: In 1914, Kempner proved that the series 1/1 + 1/2 + ... + 1/8 + 1/10 + 1/11 + ... + 1/18 + 1/20 + 1/21 + ... where the denominators are the positive integers that do not contain the digit 9, converges to a sum less than 90. The actual sum is about 22.92068. In 1916, Irwin proved, among other things, that the sum of 1/n where n has at most a finite number of 9's is also a convergent series. We show how to compute sums of Irwins' series to high precision. For example, the sum of the series 1/9 + 1/19 + 1/29 + 1/39 + 1/49 + ... where the denominators have exactly one 9, is about 23.04428 70807 47848 31968. Another example: the sum of 1/n where n has exactly 100 zeros is about 10 ln(10) + 1.00745 x 10^-197 ~ 23.02585; note that the first, and largest, term in this series is the tiny 1/googol. Finally, we discuss a class of related series whose summation algorithm has not yet been developed.

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Numerical summation of series (65B10) Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to sequences, series, summability (40-01)

This page was built for publication: Summing the curious series of Kempner and Irwin

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q6507428)