Zeta Annuities, Fractional Calculus, and Polylogarithms
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Jim TAO School of Risk Management and Insurance, College of Business and Economics, California State University, Fullerton, United State of America (CSUF)
Mathematical jokes about analytic continuation often conflate values of the Riemann zeta function with divergent sums. Another mathematical joke involves a lottery in which the prize is an infinite amount of money. When the winning ticket is drawn, the jubilant winner comes to claim his prize, and the mathematician who organized the lottery explains the mode of payment: “1 dollar now, 1/2 dollar next week, 1/3 dollar the week after that…” The joke here is that the harmonic series technically diverges but grows so slowly as to be insignificant in one’s lifetime.
Tao, J. 2022. Zeta Annuities, Fractional Calculus and Polylogarithms. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Volume XVII, Summer, 2(74): 162 – 172. https://doi.org/10.57017/jaes.v17.2(76).07
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