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Meissel–Mertens constant

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In the limit, the sum of the reciprocals of the primes < n and the function ln(ln n) are separated by a constant, the Meissel–Mertens constant (labelled M above).

The Meissel-Mertens constant (named after Ernst Meissel and Franz Mertens), also referred to as the Mertens constant, Kronecker's constant, Hadamard-de la Vallée-Poussin constant, or the prime reciprocal constant, is a mathematical constant in number theory, defined as the limiting difference between the harmonic series summed only over the primes and the natural logarithm of the natural logarithm:

M = lim n → ∞ ( ∑ p  prime p ≤ n 1 p − ln ⁡ ( ln ⁡ n ) ) = γ + ∑ p [ ln ( 1 − 1 p ) + 1 p ] . {\displaystyle M=\lim _{n\rightarrow \infty }\left(\sum _{\scriptstyle p{\text{ prime}} \atop \scriptstyle p\leq n}{\frac {1}{p}}-\ln(\ln n)\right)=\gamma +\sum _{p}\left.}

Here γ is the Euler–Mascheroni constant, which has an analogous definition involving a sum over all integers (not just the primes).

The plot of the prime harmonic sum up to n = 2 15 , 2 16 , … , 2 46 ≈ 7.04 × 10 13 {\displaystyle n=2^{15},2^{16},\ldots ,2^{46}\approx 7.04\times 10^{13}} and the Merten's approximation to it. The original of this figure has y axis of the length 8 cm and spans the interval (2.5, 3.8), so if the n axis would be plotted in the linear scale instead of logarithmic, then it should be 5.33 ( 3 ) × 10 9 {\displaystyle 5.33(3)\times 10^{9}} km long — that is the size of the Solar System.

The value of M is approximately

M ≈ 0.2614972128476427837554268386086958590516... (sequence A077761 in the OEIS).

Mertens' second theorem establishes that the limit exists.

The fact that there are two logarithms (log of a log) in the limit for the Meissel–Mertens constant may be thought of as a consequence of the combination of the prime number theorem and the limit of the Euler–Mascheroni constant.

In popular culture

The Meissel-Mertens constant was used by Google when bidding in the Nortel patent auction. Google posted three bids based on mathematical numbers: $1,902,160,540 (Brun's constant), $2,614,972,128 (Meissel–Mertens constant), and $3.14159 billion (π).

See also

References

  1. "Google's strange bids for Nortel patents". FinancialPost.com. Reuters. July 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-16.

External links

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