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In number theory, an arithmetic (or arithmetical) function is a real or complex valued function ƒ(n) defined on the set of natural numbers (i.e. positive integers) that "expresses some arithmetical property of n."[1] An example of an arithmetic function is the non-principal character (mod 4) defined by
To emphasise that they are being thought of as functions rather than sequences, values of an arithmetic function are usually denoted by a(n) rather than an. There is a larger class of number-theoretic functions that do not fit the above definition, e.g. the prime-counting functions. This article provides links to functions of both classes. [edit] Notation
Similarly,
The notations can be combined: and similarly [edit] Multiplicative and additive functionsAn arithmetic function a is
Two whole numbers m and n are called coprime if their greatest common divisor is 1; i.e., if there is no prime number that divides both of them. Then an arithmetic function a is
[edit] Ω(n), ω(n), νp(n) - prime power decompositionThe fundamental theorem of arithmetic states that any positive integer n can be factorised uniquely as a product of powers of primes: It is often convenient to write this as an infinite product over all the primes, where all but a finite number have a zero exponent. Define νp(n) as the exponent of the highest power of the prime p that divides n. I.e. if p is one of the pi then νp(n) = ai, otherwise it is zero. Then In terms of the above the functions ω and Ω are defined by
To avoid repetition, whenever possible formulas for the functions listed in this article are given in terms of n and the corresponding pi, ai, ω, and Ω. [edit] Multiplicative functions[edit] σk(n), τ(n), d(n) - divisor sumsσk(n) is the sum of the kth powers of the positive divisors of n, including 1 and n, where k is a complex number. σ1(n), the sum of the (positive) divisors of n, is usually denoted by σ(n). Since a positive number to the zero power is one, σ0(n) is therefore the number of (positive) divisors of n; it is usually denoted by d(n) or τ(n) (for the German Teiler = divisors). Setting k = 0 in the second product gives [edit] φ(n) - Euler totient functionφ(n), the Euler totient function, is the number of positive integers not greater than n that are coprime to n. [edit] μ(n) - Möbius functionμ(n), the Möbius function, is important because of the Möbius inversion formula. See Dirichlet convolution, below. This implies that μ(1) = 1. (Because Ω(1) = ω(1) = 0.) [edit] τ(n) - Ramanujan tau functionτ(n), the Ramanujan tau function, is defined by its generating function identity: Although it is hard to say exactly what "arithmetical property of n" it "expresses",[2] (τ(n) is (2π)−12 times the nth Fourier coefficient in the q-expansion of the modular discriminant function)[3] it is included among the arithmetical functions because it is multiplicative and it occurs in identities involving certain σk(n) and rk(n) functions (because these are also coefficients in the expansion of modular forms). [edit] cq(n) - Ramanujan's sumcq(n), Ramanujan's sum, is the sum of the nth powers of the primitive qth roots of unity: Even though it is defined as a sum of complex numbers (irrational for most values of q), it is an integer. For a fixed value of n it is multiplicative in q:
Many of the functions mentioned in this article have expansions as series involving these sums; see the article Ramanujan's sum for examples. [edit] Completely multiplicative functions[edit] λ(n) - Liouville functionλ(n), the Liouville function, is defined by [edit] χ(n) - charactersAll Dirichlet characters χ(n) are completely multiplicative; e.g. the non-principal character (mod 4) defined in the introduction, or the principal character (mod n) defined by [edit] Additive functions[edit] ω(n) - distinct prime divisorsω(n), defined above as the number of distinct primes dividing n, is additive [edit] Completely additive functions[edit] Ω(n) - prime divisorsΩ(n), defined above as the number of prime factors of n counted with multiplicities, is completely additive. [edit] νp(n) - prime power dividing nFor a fixed prime p, νp(n), defined above as the exponent of the largest power of p dividing n, is completely additive. [edit] Neither multiplicative nor additive[edit] π(x), Π(x), θ(x), ψ(x) - prime count functionsUnlike the other functions listed in this article, these are defined for non-negative real (not just integer) arguments. They are used in the statement and proof of the prime number theorem. π(n), the prime counting function, is the number of primes not exceeding x. A related function counts prime powers with weight 1 for primes, 1/2 for their squares, 1/3 for cubes, ... θ(x) and ψ(x), the Chebyshev functions are defined as sums of the natural logarithms of the primes not exceeding x: [edit] Λ(n) - von Mangoldt functionΛ(n), the von Mangoldt function, is 0 unless the argument is a prime power, in which case it is the natural log of the prime: [edit] p(n) - partition functionp(n), the partition function, is the number of ways of representing n as a sum of positive integers, where two representations with the same summands in a different order are not counted as being different: [edit] λ(n) - Carmichael functionλ(n), the Carmichael function, is the smallest positive number such that For powers of odd primes and for 2 and 4, λ(n) is equal to the Euler totient function of n; for powers of 2 greater than 4 it is equal to one half of the Euler totient function of n: and for general n it is the least common multiple of λ of each of the prime power factors of n: [edit] h(n) - Class numberh(n), the class number function, is the order of the ideal class group of an algebraic extension of the rationals with discriminant n. The notation is ambiguous, as there are in general many extensions with the same discriminant. See quadratic field and cyclotomic field for classical examples. [edit] rk(n) - Sum of k squaresrk(n) is the number of ways n can be represented as the sum of k squares, where representations that differ only in the order of the summands or in the signs of the square roots are counted as different. [edit] Summation functionsGiven an arithmetic function a(n), its summation function A(x) is defined by A can be regarded as a function of a real variable. Given a positive integer m, A is constant along open intervals m < x < m + 1, and has a jump discontinuity at each integer for which a(m) ≠ 0. Since such functions are often represented by series and integrals, to achieve pointwise convergence it is usual to define the value at the discontinuities as the average of the values to the left and right: Individual values of arithmetic functions may fluctuate wildly - as in most of the above examples. Summation functions "smooth out" these fluctuations. In some cases it may be possible to find asymptotic behaviour for the summation function for large x. A classical example of this phenomenon[4] is given by d(n), the number of divisors of n: [edit] Dirichlet convolutionGiven an arithmetic function a(n), let Fa(s), for complex s, be the function defined by the corresponding Dirichlet series (where it converges):[5] Fa(s) is called a generating function of a(n). The simplest such series, corresponding to the constant function a(n) = 1 for all n, is ς(s) the Riemann zeta function. The generating function of the Möbius function is the inverse of the zeta function: Consider two arithmetic functions a and b and their respective generating functions Fa(s) and Fb(s). The product Fa(s)Fb(s) can be computed as follows: It is a straightforward exercise to show that if c(n) is defined by then This function c is called the Dirichlet convolution of a and b, and is denoted by a * b. A particularly important case is convolution with the constant function a(n) = 1 for all n, corresponding to multiplying the generating function by the zeta function: Multiplying by the inverse of the zeta function gives the Möbius inversion formula: If f is multiplicative, then so is g. If f is completely multiplicative, then g is multiplicative, but may or may not be completely multiplicative. The article multiplicative function has a short proof. [edit] Relations among the functionsThere are a great many formulas connecting arithmetical functions with each other and with the other functions of analysis - in fact, a large part of elementary and analytic number theory is a detailed study of these relations. See the articles on the individual functions for details. Here are a few examples: [edit] Dirichlet convolutions
[edit] Sums of squares
Define the function σk*(n) as[17] That is, if n is odd, σk*(n) is the sum of the kth powers of the divisors of n, i.e. σk(n), and if n is even it is the sum of the kth powers of the even divisors of n minus the sum of the kth powers of the odd divisors of n. Adopt the convention that Ramanujan's τ(x) = 0 if x is not an integer. [edit] Divisor sum convolutionsHere "convolution" does not mean "Dirichlet convolution" but instead refers to the formula for the coefficients of the product of two power series: The sequence Since σk(n) (for natural number k) and τ(n) are integers, the above formulas can be used to prove congruences[26] for the functions. See Tau-function for some examples. Extend the domain of the partition function by setting p(0) = 1.
[edit]Let
[edit] Miscellaneous
[edit] Notes
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[edit] External links
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