Has anybody read marcus de sautoy's book 'the music of the primes' which is basically about prime numbers and the Riemann Hypothesis? There is a baffling bit about Ramajan's infinite sum:
1 + 2 + 3 + ... n+ ... = -1/12.
Can anybody throw any light on this?

Question

Has anybody read marcus de sautoy's book 'the music of the primes' which is basically about prime numbers and the Riemann Hypothesis?  There is a baffling bit about Ramajan's infinite sum:
1 + 2 + 3 + ... n+ ...  = -1/12.
Can anybody throw any light on this?

inkyvoyd · Answer

Uh, all I know is that 1-2+3-4+5-6+7...=1/4 or something...

cwrw238 · Answer

oh! the book says that the clue to decoding this formula is to write it as

1 + 1/2^-1 + 1/3^-1 + 1/ 4^-1 +...+ 1/n^-1 + .....
- and this is Riemanns answer on how to calculate the zeta function when fed with the number -1.

cwrw238 · Answer

- the book didn't elucidate any further on this which is very frustrating.

cwrw238 · Answer

probably the math is above me anyway!!