Beyond the Basel problem: Euler’s derivation of the general formula for ζ (2n)

Abstract

The problem of finding a closed-form evaluation of baffled the pioneers of calculus such as Leibniz and James Bernoulli and, following the latter’s promulgation of the problem, it became known as the Basel problem after his home town (which was also Euler’s birthplace). Euler’s early sensational success in solving the Basel problem by identifying is extremely well-documented. In this paper, we give the full details of his subsequent derivation of the general formula(1)where (Bn) is a sequence of ‘strange constants’. Euler’s polished account of his discovery, in which he popularised the designation of the strange constants as ‘Bernoulli numbers’, appears in Chapter 5 of Volume 2 of his great textbook Institutiones calculi differentialis [1; E212]: see [2] for an online English translation. Here, we will focus on his initial step-by-step account which appeared in his paper with Eneström number E130, written c1739, carrying the rather nondescript title De seriebus quibusdam considerationes, ‘Considerations about certain series’. (For convenience, we will just use ‘Eneström numbers’ when referencing Euler’s work: all are readily available on-line at [1].) Euler’s proof is notable for its early, sophisticated and incisive use of generating functions and for his brilliant insight that the sequence (Bn) occurring in the coefficients of the general ζ(2n) formula (1) also occurs in the Euler-Maclaurin summation formula and in the Maclaurin expansion of . By retracing Euler’s original path, we shall not only be able to admire the master in full creative flow, but also appreciate the role played by recurrence relations such as(2)which, as our ample list of references (which will be reviewed later) suggests, have been rediscovered over and over again in the literature. Moreover, our historical approach makes it clear that, while deriving (2) is relatively straightforward (and may be used to calculate ζ(2n) recursively as a rational multiple of π2n), it is establishing the connection between ζ(2n) and the Bernoulli numbers that was for Euler the more difficult step. Even today, this step presents pedagogical challenges depending on one’s starting definition for the Bernoulli numbers and what identities satisfied by them one is prepared to assume or derive.