mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, summation is the
addition
Addition (usually signified by the Plus and minus signs#Plus sign, plus symbol ) is one of the four basic Operation (mathematics), operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and Division (mathematics), division. ...
of a sequence of any kind of numbers, called ''addends'' or ''summands''; the result is their ''sum'' or ''total''. Beside numbers, other types of values can be summed as well: functions, vectors, matrices, polynomials and, in general, elements of any type of mathematical objects on which an
operation
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
denoted "+" is defined.
Summations of infinite sequences are called series. They involve the concept of
limit
Limit or Limits may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Limit'' (manga), a manga by Keiko Suenobu
* ''Limit'' (film), a South Korean film
* Limit (music), a way to characterize harmony
* "Limit" (song), a 2016 single by Luna Sea
* "Limits", a 2019 ...
, and are not considered in this article.
The summation of an explicit sequence is denoted as a succession of additions. For example, summation of is denoted , and results in 9, that is, . Because addition is
associative
In mathematics, the associative property is a property of some binary operations, which means that rearranging the parentheses in an expression will not change the result. In propositional logic, associativity is a valid rule of replacement f ...
and commutative, there is no need of parentheses, and the result is the same irrespective of the order of the summands. Summation of a sequence of only one element results in this element itself. Summation of an empty sequence (a sequence with no elements), by convention, results in 0.
Very often, the elements of a sequence are defined, through a regular pattern, as a function of their place in the sequence. For simple patterns, summation of long sequences may be represented with most summands replaced by ellipses. For example, summation of the first 100 natural numbers may be written as . Otherwise, summation is denoted by using Σ notation, where is an enlarged capital Greek letter
sigma
Sigma (; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; grc-gre, σίγμα) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as ...
. For example, the sum of the first natural numbers can be denoted as
For long summations, and summations of variable length (defined with ellipses or Σ notation), it is a common problem to find closed-form expressions for the result. For example,
:
Although such formulas do not always exist, many summation formulas have been discovered—with some of the most common and elementary ones being listed in the remainder of this article.
Notation
Capital-sigma notation
Mathematical notation uses a symbol that compactly represents summation of many similar terms: the ''summation symbol'', , an enlarged form of the upright capital Greek letter
sigma
Sigma (; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; grc-gre, σίγμα) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as ...
. This is defined as
:
where is the index of summation; is an indexed variable representing each term of the sum; is the lower bound of summation, and is the upper bound of summation. The "" under the summation symbol means that the index starts out equal to . The index, , is incremented by one for each successive term, stopping when .
This is read as "sum of , from to ".
Here is an example showing the summation of squares:
:
In general, while any variable can be used as the index of summation (provided that no ambiguity is incurred), some of the most common ones include letters such as , , , and ; the latter is also often used for the upper bound of a summation.
Alternatively, index and bounds of summation are sometimes omitted from the definition of summation if the context is sufficiently clear. This applies particularly when the index runs from 1 to ''n''. For example, one might write that:
:
Generalizations of this notation are often used, in which an arbitrary logical condition is supplied, and the sum is intended to be taken over all values satisfying the condition. For example:
:
is an alternative notation for the sum of over all ( integers) in the specified range. Similarly,
:
is the sum of over all elements in the set , and
:
is the sum of over all positive integers dividing .
There are also ways to generalize the use of many sigma signs. For example,
:
is the same as
:
A similar notation is used for the product of a sequence, where , an enlarged form of the Greek capital letter pi, is used instead of
Special cases
It is possible to sum fewer than 2 numbers:
* If the summation has one summand , then the evaluated sum is .
* If the summation has no summands, then the evaluated sum is zero, because zero is the
identity
Identity may refer to:
* Identity document
* Identity (philosophy)
* Identity (social science)
* Identity (mathematics)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film
* ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...
for addition. This is known as the '' empty sum''.
These degenerate cases are usually only used when the summation notation gives a degenerate result in a special case.
For example, if in the definition above, then there is only one term in the sum; if , then there is none.
Formal definition
Summation may be defined recursively as follows:
:, for ''b'' < ''a'';
:
:, for ''b'' ≥ ''a''.
Measure theory notation
In the notation of
measure
Measure may refer to:
* Measurement, the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event
Law
* Ballot measure, proposed legislation in the United States
* Church of England Measure, legislation of the Church of England
* Mea ...
and
integration
Integration may refer to:
Biology
*Multisensory integration
*Path integration
* Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome
*DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...
theory, a sum can be expressed as a
definite integral
In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to functions in a way that describes displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding integrals is called integration. Along with di ...