Euler's constantEuler's constant (sometimes called the Euler–Mascheroni constant) is a mathematical constant, usually denoted by the lowercase Greek letter gamma (γ), defined as the limiting difference between the harmonic series and the natural logarithm, denoted here by log: Here, ⌊ ⌋ represents the floor function. The numerical value of Euler's constant, to 50 decimal places, is: The constant first appeared in a 1734 paper by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, titled De Progressionibus harmonicis observationes (Eneström Index 43).
Riemann hypothesisIn mathematics, the Riemann hypothesis is the conjecture that the Riemann zeta function has its zeros only at the negative even integers and complex numbers with real part 1/2. Many consider it to be the most important unsolved problem in pure mathematics. It is of great interest in number theory because it implies results about the distribution of prime numbers. It was proposed by , after whom it is named.
Perfect numberIn number theory, a perfect number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its positive divisors, excluding the number itself. For instance, 6 has divisors 1, 2 and 3 (excluding itself), and 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, so 6 is a perfect number. The sum of divisors of a number, excluding the number itself, is called its aliquot sum, so a perfect number is one that is equal to its aliquot sum. Equivalently, a perfect number is a number that is half the sum of all of its positive divisors including itself; in symbols, where is the sum-of-divisors function.
Abundant numberIn number theory, an abundant number or excessive number is a positive integer for which the sum of its proper divisors is greater than the number. The integer 12 is the first abundant number. Its proper divisors are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 for a total of 16. The amount by which the sum exceeds the number is the abundance. The number 12 has an abundance of 4, for example. A number n for which the sum of divisors σ(n) > 2n, or, equivalently, the sum of proper divisors (or aliquot sum) s(n) > n.
Deficient numberIn number theory, a deficient number or defective number is a positive integer n for which the sum of divisors of n is less than 2n. Equivalently, it is a number for which the sum of proper divisors (or aliquot sum) is less than n. For example, the proper divisors of 8 are 1, 2, and 4, and their sum is less than 8, so 8 is deficient. Denoting by σ(n) the sum of divisors, the value 2n − σ(n) is called the number's deficiency. In terms of the aliquot sum s(n), the deficiency is n − s(n).
Dirichlet seriesIn mathematics, a Dirichlet series is any series of the form where s is complex, and is a complex sequence. It is a special case of general Dirichlet series. Dirichlet series play a variety of important roles in analytic number theory. The most usually seen definition of the Riemann zeta function is a Dirichlet series, as are the Dirichlet L-functions. It is conjectured that the Selberg class of series obeys the generalized Riemann hypothesis. The series is named in honor of Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
Euler's totient functionIn number theory, Euler's totient function counts the positive integers up to a given integer n that are relatively prime to n. It is written using the Greek letter phi as or , and may also be called Euler's phi function. In other words, it is the number of integers k in the range 1 ≤ k ≤ n for which the greatest common divisor gcd(n, k) is equal to 1. The integers k of this form are sometimes referred to as totatives of n. For example, the totatives of n = 9 are the six numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8.
Möbius inversion formulaIn mathematics, the classic Möbius inversion formula is a relation between pairs of arithmetic functions, each defined from the other by sums over divisors. It was introduced into number theory in 1832 by August Ferdinand Möbius. A large generalization of this formula applies to summation over an arbitrary locally finite partially ordered set, with Möbius' classical formula applying to the set of the natural numbers ordered by divisibility: see incidence algebra.
DivisorIn mathematics, a divisor of an integer , also called a factor of , is an integer that may be multiplied by some integer to produce . In this case, one also says that is a multiple of An integer is divisible or evenly divisible by another integer if is a divisor of ; this implies dividing by leaves no remainder. An integer n is divisible by a nonzero integer m if there exists an integer k such that . This is written as Other ways of saying the same thing are that m divides n, m is a divisor of n, m is a factor of n, and n is a multiple of m.
Power of twoA power of two is a number of the form 2n where n is an integer, that is, the result of exponentiation with number two as the base and integer n as the exponent. In a context where only integers are considered, n is restricted to non-negative values, so there are 1, 2, and 2 multiplied by itself a certain number of times. The first ten powers of 2 for non-negative values of n are: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, ... Because two is the base of the binary numeral system, powers of two are common in computer science.
Arithmetic functionIn number theory, an arithmetic, arithmetical, or number-theoretic function is for most authors any function f(n) whose domain is the positive integers and whose range is a subset of the complex numbers. Hardy & Wright include in their definition the requirement that an arithmetical function "expresses some arithmetical property of n". An example of an arithmetic function is the divisor function whose value at a positive integer n is equal to the number of divisors of n.
Multiplicative functionIn number theory, a multiplicative function is an arithmetic function f(n) of a positive integer n with the property that f(1) = 1 and whenever a and b are coprime. An arithmetic function f(n) is said to be completely multiplicative (or totally multiplicative) if f(1) = 1 and f(ab) = f(a)f(b) holds for all positive integers a and b, even when they are not coprime.
Amicable numbersAmicable numbers are two different natural numbers related in such a way that the sum of the proper divisors of each is equal to the other number. That is, s(a)=b and s(b)=a, where s(n)=σ(n)-n is equal to the sum of positive divisors of n except n itself (see also divisor function). The smallest pair of amicable numbers is (220, 284). They are amicable because the proper divisors of 220 are 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55 and 110, of which the sum is 284; and the proper divisors of 284 are 1, 2, 4, 71 and 142, of which the sum is 220.
Prime powerIn mathematics, a prime power is a positive integer which is a positive integer power of a single prime number. For example: 7 = 7^1, 9 = 3^2 and 64 = 2^6 are prime powers, while 6 = 2 × 3, 12 = 2^2 × 3 and 36 = 6^2 = 2^2 × 3^2 are not. The sequence of prime powers begins: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 32, 37, 41, 43, 47, 49, 53, 59, 61, 64, 67, 71, 73, 79, 81, 83, 89, 97, 101, 103, 107, 109, 113, 121, 125, 127, 128, 131, 137, 139, 149, 151, 157, 163, 167, 169, 173, 179, 181, 191, 193, 197, 199, 211, 223, 227, 229, 233, 239, 241, 243, 251, .
Harmonic numberIn mathematics, the n-th harmonic number is the sum of the reciprocals of the first n natural numbers: Starting from n = 1, the sequence of harmonic numbers begins: Harmonic numbers are related to the harmonic mean in that the n-th harmonic number is also n times the reciprocal of the harmonic mean of the first n positive integers. Harmonic numbers have been studied since antiquity and are important in various branches of number theory.
Completely multiplicative functionIn number theory, functions of positive integers which respect products are important and are called completely multiplicative functions or totally multiplicative functions. A weaker condition is also important, respecting only products of coprime numbers, and such functions are called multiplicative functions. Outside of number theory, the term "multiplicative function" is often taken to be synonymous with "completely multiplicative function" as defined in this article.
Aliquot sumIn number theory, the aliquot sum s(n) of a positive integer n is the sum of all proper divisors of n, that is, all divisors of n other than n itself. That is, It can be used to characterize the prime numbers, perfect numbers, sociable numbers, deficient numbers, abundant numbers, and untouchable numbers, and to define the aliquot sequence of a number. For example, the proper divisors of 12 (that is, the positive divisors of 12 that are not equal to 12) are 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, so the aliquot sum of 12 is 16 i.
Ramanujan's sumIn number theory, Ramanujan's sum, usually denoted cq(n), is a function of two positive integer variables q and n defined by the formula where (a, q) = 1 means that a only takes on values coprime to q. Srinivasa Ramanujan mentioned the sums in a 1918 paper. In addition to the expansions discussed in this article, Ramanujan's sums are used in the proof of Vinogradov's theorem that every sufficiently large odd number is the sum of three primes.
Generating functionIn mathematics, a generating function is a way of encoding an infinite sequence of numbers (an) by treating them as the coefficients of a formal power series. This series is called the generating function of the sequence. Unlike an ordinary series, the formal power series is not required to converge: in fact, the generating function is not actually regarded as a function, and the "variable" remains an indeterminate. Generating functions were first introduced by Abraham de Moivre in 1730, in order to solve the general linear recurrence problem.
Dirichlet convolutionIn mathematics, the Dirichlet convolution is a binary operation defined for arithmetic functions; it is important in number theory. It was developed by Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet. If are two arithmetic functions from the positive integers to the complex numbers, the Dirichlet convolution f ∗ g is a new arithmetic function defined by: where the sum extends over all positive divisors d of n, or equivalently over all distinct pairs (a, b) of positive integers whose product is n.
