Definition:Summation/Finite
< Definition:Summation(Redirected from Definition:Finite Summation)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Definition
Let $\struct {S, +}$ be an algebraic structure where the operation $+$ is an operation derived from, or arising from, the addition operation on the natural numbers.
Let the set of values of $j$ which satisfy the propositional function $\map R j$ be finite.
Then the summation $\ds \sum_{\map R j} a_j$ is described as being a finite summation.
Notation
The sign $\sum$ is called the summation sign and sometimes referred to as sigma (as that is its name in Greek).
Historical Note
The notation $\sum$ for a summation was famously introduced by Joseph Fourier in $1820$:
- Le signe $\ds \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^{i \mathop = \infty}$ indique que l'on doit donner au nombre entier $i$ toutes les valeurs $1, 2, 3, \ldots$, et prendre la somme des termes.
- (The sign $\ds \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^{i \mathop = \infty}$ indicates that one must give to the whole number $i$ all the values $1, 2, 3, \ldots$, and take the sum of the terms.)
- -- 1820: Refroidissement séculaire du globe terrestre (Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomathique de Paris Vol. 3, 7: pp. 58 – 70)
However, some sources suggest that it was in fact first introduced by Euler.