A scaling and renormalization approach to the Riemann zeta function, $\zeta$, evaluated at $-1$ is presented in two ways. In the first, one takes the difference between $U_{n}: = \sum_{q = 1}^{n}q$ and $4U_{\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2}\right\rfloor }$ where $\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2}\right\rfloor $ is the greatest integer function. Using the Cesaro mean twice, i.e., $\left(C, 2\right) $, yields convergence to the appropriate value. For values of $z$ for which the zeta function is represented by a convergent infinite sum, the double Cesaro mean also yields $\zeta\left(z\right), $ suggesting that this could be used as an alternative method for extension from the convergent region of $z.$ In the second approach, the difference $U_{n}-k^{2}\bar{U}_{n/k}$ between $U_{n}$ and a particular average, $\bar{U}_{n/k}$, involving terms up to $k < n$ and scaled by $k^{2}$ is shown to equal exactly $-\frac{1}{12}\left(1-k^{2}\right) $ for all $k < n$. This leads to another perspective for interpreting $\zeta\left(-1\right) $.
Citation: Gunduz Caginalp. A renormalization approach to the Riemann zeta function at — 1, 1 + 2 + 3 + …~ — 1/12.[J]. AIMS Mathematics, 2018, 3(2): 316-321. doi: 10.3934/Math.2018.2.316
A scaling and renormalization approach to the Riemann zeta function, $\zeta$, evaluated at $-1$ is presented in two ways. In the first, one takes the difference between $U_{n}: = \sum_{q = 1}^{n}q$ and $4U_{\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2}\right\rfloor }$ where $\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2}\right\rfloor $ is the greatest integer function. Using the Cesaro mean twice, i.e., $\left(C, 2\right) $, yields convergence to the appropriate value. For values of $z$ for which the zeta function is represented by a convergent infinite sum, the double Cesaro mean also yields $\zeta\left(z\right), $ suggesting that this could be used as an alternative method for extension from the convergent region of $z.$ In the second approach, the difference $U_{n}-k^{2}\bar{U}_{n/k}$ between $U_{n}$ and a particular average, $\bar{U}_{n/k}$, involving terms up to $k < n$ and scaled by $k^{2}$ is shown to equal exactly $-\frac{1}{12}\left(1-k^{2}\right) $ for all $k < n$. This leads to another perspective for interpreting $\zeta\left(-1\right) $.
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