Numberphile v. Math: the truth about 1+2+3+...=-1/12

Why HN readers recommended it

HN points to it as the in-depth rebuttal to the Numberphile video that explains why the 'proof' is wrong yet the result is meaningful.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

Mathologer

Topic

divergent series and zeta function

Format

explainer

Level

intermediate

HN recommenders in dataset

4

HN mentions in dataset

7

Recommendation years in dataset

2020–2023

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• Burkard Polster's (Mathologer) videos on the subject are probably going to be more useful than Numberphile. Numberphile merely presents a trick; Mathologer points out both that it's patent nonsense [0] and that it's useful patent nonsense [1]. [0] [VIDEO] [1] [LINK]

• That proof (and the more general statement) is not correct because it makes assumptions about infinite summation of divergent series that are not true. There is a link between the sum of natural numbers -- namely, the analytic continuation of the Reimann Zeta function has …

• I find a response video to it more enlightening. It's often found as the number one related video. [VIDEO]