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Tag Archives: sum
The Möbius function proof, part 2 (the subset parity lemma)
Continuing from my previous post, we are in the middle of proving that satisfies the same equation as , that is, and that therefore for all , that is, is the sum of all the th primitive roots of unity. … Continue reading
Posted in arithmetic, combinatorics, complex numbers, primes, proof
Tagged circle, complex, moebius, mu, primitive, proof, roots, sum, unit, unity
3 Comments
The Möbius function proof, part 1
In my last post, I introduced the Möbius function , which is defined in terms of the prime factorization of : if has any repeated prime factors, that is, if is divisible by a perfect square. Otherwise, if has distinct … Continue reading
The Möbius function
Time to pull back the curtain a bit! My recent series of posts on complex roots of unity may seem somewhat random and unmotivated so far, but the fact is that I definitely have a destination in mind—we are slowly … Continue reading
Computing sums of primitive roots
Remember this picture? It, and other pictures like it, express the fact that for a given , if we take the primitive roots for each of the divisors of , together they make up exactly the set of all th … Continue reading
Sums of primitive roots
In my previous post, we saw that adding up all the complex th roots of unity always yields zero (unless , in which case the sum is ). Intuitively, this is because the roots are symmetrically distributed around the unit … Continue reading
Sums and symmetry
Let’s continue our exploration of roots of unity. Recall that for any positive integer , there are complex numbers, evenly spaced around the unit circle, whose th power is equal to . These are called the th roots of unity. … Continue reading
Totient sums
I took a bit of a break to travel to Japan for a conference, but I’m back now to continue the series I started with Post Without Words #10, a follow-up post, and Post Without Words #11. Recall that we … Continue reading
Sigmas and sums of squares
Commenter Rachel recently asked, How would you find the sum of ? See here for an explanation of sigma notation—in this case it denotes the sum Of course, for any particular value of we can just plug in values and … Continue reading
Prime Time in Haskell
In a recent blog post, Patrick Vennebush of Math Jokes 4 Mathy Folks noted that 2011 can be expressed as a sum of consecutive prime numbers, and challenged his readers to work out how. He also posed a couple further … Continue reading
Posted in arithmetic, number theory, primes, programming
Tagged consecutive, Haskell, primes, sum
8 Comments
The Math Less Traveled 