EulerMascheroni constant

Eulers constant redirects here. For the base of the natu- and was chosen at a later time perhaps because of the conral logarithm, e 2.718..., see e (mathematical constant). stants connection to the gamma function.[3] For examThe EulerMascheroni constant (also called Eulers ple, the German mathematician Carl Anton Bretschneider used the notation in 1835[4] and Augustus De Morgan used it in a textbook published in parts from 1836 to
1842.[5]

2 Appearances
The EulerMascheroni constant appears, among other
places, in the following ('*' means that this entry contains
an explicit equation):
1

10

11

Expressions involving the exponential integral*

12

The Laplace transform* of the natural logarithm

The area of the blue region converges to the EulerMascheroni

constant.

The rst term of the Taylor series expansion for the

Riemann zeta function*, where it is the rst of the
Stieltjes constants*

constant) is a mathematical constant recurring in analysis

and number theory, usually denoted by the lowercase
Greek letter gamma ().

Calculations of the digamma function

It is dened as the limiting dierence between the

harmonic series and the natural logarithm:

A product formula for the gamma function

An inequality for Eulers totient function

1
= lim ln n +
n
k
k=1
)
(
1
1
=

dx.
x x
1

The growth rate of the divisor function

In Dimensional regularization of Feynman diagrams
in Quantum Field Theory
The calculation of the MeisselMertens constant

Here, x represents the oor function.

The third of Mertens theorems*

The numerical value of the EulerMascheroni constant,

to 50 decimal places, is

Solution of the second kind to Bessels equation

In the regularization/renormalization of the Harmonic series

[1] as a nite value
0.57721566490153286060651209008240243104215933593992.
The mean of the Gumbel distribution

The information entropy of the Weibull and Lvy

distributions, and, implicitly, of the chi-squared distribution for one or two degrees of freedom.

History

The constant rst appeared in a 1734 paper by the Swiss

mathematician Leonhard Euler, titled De Progressionibus
harmonicis observationes (Enestrm Index 43). Euler
used the notations C and O for the constant. In 1790,
Italian mathematician Lorenzo Mascheroni used the notations A and a for the constant. The notation appears
nowhere in the writings of either Euler or Mascheroni,

The answer to the coupon collectors problem*

In some formulations of Zipfs law
A denition of the cosine integral*
Lower bounds to a prime gap.
1

3 PROPERTIES

Properties

The number has not been proved algebraic or

transcendental. In fact, it is not even known whether is
irrational. Continued fraction analysis reveals that if is
rational, its denominator must be greater than 10242080 .[6]
The ubiquity of revealed by the large number of equations below makes the irrationality of a major open
question in mathematics. Also see Sondow (2003a).

3.1

m1
[(m) 1]
m
m=2
[
)]
n (

2n 1
1 (1 k)
= lim
ln n +

n
2n
k
nk
k=2
[
(
)]

m
2n 2m n 1
1
= lim
n ln 2 + O
.
n
n e2
(m + 1)! t=0 t + 1
2n e2n
m=0

3
2

ln 2

(1)m

Relation to gamma function

The error term in the last equation is a rapidly decreasing

is related to the digamma function , and hence the function of n. As a result, the formula is well-suited for
derivative of the gamma function , when both functions ecient computation of the constant to high precision.
are evaluated at 1. Thus:
Other interesting limits equaling the EulerMascheroni
constant are the antisymmetric limit (Sondow, 1998):
= (1) = (1).
This is equal to the limits:
]
]
[
1
1
= lim (z)
= lim (z) +
.
z0
z0
z
z
[

)
(
)
(

1
1
1
(1 + s) +
= lim+
n = lim (s)
= lim
s
s1
s0
n
s
s

1
2
s1
n=1
and de la Valle-Poussins formula

Further limit results are (Krmer, 2005):

[
]
1
1
1
lim

= 2
z0 z (1 + z)
(1 z)
[
]
1
1
1
2
lim

= 2.
z0 z (1 z)
(1 + z)
3

n
1 ( n n )

n n
k
k

= lim

k=1

where are ceiling brackets.

A limit related to the beta function (expressed in terms of Closely related to this is the rational zeta series expression. By taking separately the rst few terms of the segamma functions) is
ries above, one obtains an estimate for the classical series
limit:
[
]
1
1
1+ n
2
( n )(n + 1) n
n
= lim

1
n
n+1
(2 + n + n )
n

(
)
m

1
(m, n + 1)
m (1)k
=
ln n
,
= lim
ln((k + 1)).
k
m
m
k
k
m=2
k=1
k=1

where (s,k) is the Hurwitz zeta function. The sum in this

equation involves the harmonic numbers, Hn. Expanding
some
of the terms in the Hurwitz zeta function gives:
can also be expressed as an innite sum whose terms
involve the Riemann zeta function evaluated at positive
integers:
1
1
1
Hn = ln(n) + + 2n
12n
2 + 120n4 ,
1
where 0 < < 252n6 .

m (m)
=
(1)
m
m=2

3.2

Relation to the zeta function

= ln 4 +

m=2

(1)m

(m)
.
2m1 m

Other series related to the zeta function include:

3.3 Integrals
equals the value of a number of denite integrals:

3.4

Series expansions

ex ln x dx = 4

1
=

where N 1 (n) and N 0 (n) are the number of 1s and 0s, respectively, in the base 2 expansion of n.
ex x ln x dx
2

We have also Catalan's 1875 integral (see Sondow and

Zudilin)

(
)
1
ln ln
dx
x

1 (

(
=
0

(
=

1
1

ex 1 x ex
1
ex
1 + xk

1 (
dx =
0

dx
,
x

1
1
+
ln x 1 x

k>0

1
=

=
0

dx

where Hx is the fractional harmonic number.

x2

( + 2 ln 2)
ln x dx =
4

(
)]
1
ln 1 +
.
k
k

k=1

The series for is equivalent to a series Nielsen found in

1897:

=1

(1)k

k=2

ex ln2 x dx = 2 +

.
6

dx.

Euler showed that the following innite series approaches

:

Denite integrals in which appears include:

3.4 Series expansions

Hx dx,
0

1 2n 1
x
1 + x n=1

log2 k
.
k+1

In 1910, Vacca found the closely related series:

One can express using a special case of Hadjicostass

formula as a double integral (Sondow 2003a, 2005) with
equivalent series:

(1)k

k=2

1
2

1
3

log2 k
k

+2

(1
4

1
5

1
6

1
7

+3

(1
8

1
9

1
10

1
11

1
15

]
[

n + 1 where log2 is the logarithm to base 2 and is the oor

1
x1
dx dy =
ln
. function.
(1 x y) ln x y
n
n
n=1
0 0
In 1926 he found a second series:
An interesting comparison by J. Sondow (2005) is the
double integral and alternating series

1 1

1
1
+ (2) =
2
1
1
k
(
)]

[

k
1
x1
n + 1 k=2
ln 4 =
(1)n1
dx dy =
ln
.
(1 + x y) ln x y
n
n
2
n=1
0 0
k
k

1
=
2 = 2 +
It shows that ln 4/ may be thought of as an alternating
k=2 k
k
Euler constant.

2
3

22
32
1 k
1 k
+
22
k + 22
32
k + 32
k=1

The two constants are also related by the pair of series From the MalmstenKummer expansion for the loga(see Sondow 2005 #2)
rithm of the gamma function we get:

N1 (n) + N0 (n)
=
2n(2n + 1)
n=1

N1 (n) N0 (n)
= ln 4 ,
2n(2n
+
1)
n=1

)
(
= ln 4 ln ( 34 ) +

k=1

(1)k+1

ln(2k + 1)
.
2k + 1

An important expansion for Eulers constant is due to

Fontana and Mascheroni

k=1

4 GENERALIZATIONS

1
1
1
19
3
|Gn |
= +
+
+
+
+ ,
n
2
24
72
2880
800
n=1

1.78107241799019798523650410310717954916964521430343
A073004.
Other innite products relating to e include:

where Gn are Gregory coecients.

Another important expansion with the Gregory coecients involving Eulers constant is:

(k 1)!|Gk |
1

,
Hn = + ln n +
2n
n(n + 1) (n + k 1)
k=2

(
)n

1
e1+ 2
1

=
e1+ 2n 1 +
n
2
n=1
(
)n

2
2
e3+2
2+ n
=
e
.
1
+
n2
= 1, 2, . . . ,
n
n=1

1
1
1
19from the Barnes G-function.
These products result
= + ln n +

2n 12n(n + 1) 12n(n + 1)(n + We
2) also
120n(n
+
1)(n
+ 2)(n + 3)
have
and is convergent for all n.
( ) 12 ( 2 ) 13 ( 3 ) 41 ( 4 4 ) 51
2
2 4
2 4
2

e =
3
1
13
13
1 36 5

Series of prime numbers:

ln p
.
= lim ln n
n
p1

where the nth factor is the (n + 1)th root of

pn

Series relating to square roots:

= limn

n
1
k=1 k

ln

n
k=1

]
k

ln 2 [7]
2 .

3.5

k+1 n
k

(k + 1)(1)

( ).

k=0

This innite product, rst discovered by Ser in 1926, was

rediscovered by Sondow (2003) using hypergeometric
functions.

Asymptotic expansions

equals the following asymptotic formulas (where Hn is

the nth harmonic number.)
1
1
1
Hn ln n 2n
+ 12n
2 120n4 +
(Euler)
(
)
1
1
Hn ln n + 12 + 24n
48n
3 +
(Negoi)

Hn ln n+ln(n+1)

2
1

(Cesro)
30n2 (n+1)2

1
6n(n+1)

3.7 Continued fraction

The continued fraction expansion of is of the form [0;
1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 4, 3, 13, 5, 1, 1, 8, 1, 2, 4, 1, 1, 40,
...]
A002852, of which there is no apparent pattern.
The continued fraction is known to have at least 470,000
terms,[6] and it has innitely many terms if and only if
is irrational.

4 Generalizations

The third formula is also called the Ramanujan expansion.

3.6

Exponential

The constant e is important in number theory. Some

authors denote this quantity simply as . e equals the
following limit, where pn is the nth prime number:
abm(x) =
n
1 pi
e = lim
.
n ln pn
p 1
i=1 i

Eulers generalized constants are given by

This restates the third of Mertens theorems.[8]

merical value of e is:

n
n

1
1
The nu- = lim

dx ,
n
k
x
k=1

5
for 0 < < 1, with as the special case = 1.[9] This can
be further generalized to

cf = lim
n

n
f (k)

k=1

f (x) dx

for some arbitrary decreasing function f. For example,

lnn (x)
x

fn (x) =

List of numbers
Irrational and suspected irrational numbers

gives

fa =

Euler initially calculated the constants value to 6 decimal places. In 1781, he calculated it to 16 decimal
places. Mascheroni attempted to calculate the constant
to 32 decimal places, but made errors in the 20th
22nd decimal places; starting from the 20th digit, he
calculated 1811209008239 when the correct value is
0651209008240.

6 See also

gives rise to the Stieltjes constants, and

fa (x) = x

5 Published digits

(3)
2

(a 1)(a) 1
a1

where again the limit

1
= lim (a)
a1
a1

appears.

A two-dimensional limit generalization is the Masser

Gramain constant.

EulerLehmer constants are given by summation of inverses of numbers in a common modulo class:[10][11]

(a, q) = lim
x

0<nx
na (mod q)

q1

7 Notes

ln x
1

.
n
q

Footnotes

The basic properties are

(0, q) =

ln q
,
q

[1]

A001620

[2]

A002852

[3] Lagarias, Jerey C. (October 2013). Eulers constant:

Eulers work and modern developments (PDF). Bulletin
of the American Mathematical Society. 50 (4): 556.
doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-2013-01423-x.

(a, q) = ,

a=0

q(a, q) =

q1

2aij
q

ln 1 e

j=1

and if gcd(a,q) = d then

q (a q )
,
ln d.
q(a, q) =
d
d d

2ij
q

)
,

[4] Carl Anton Bretschneider: Theoriae logarithmi integralis

lineamenta nova (13 October 1835), Journal fr die reine
und angewandte Mathematik 17, 1837, pp. 257285 (in
Latin; " = c = 0,577215 664901 532860 618112 090082
3.. on [EulerMascheroni constant p. 260])
[5] Augustus De Morgan: The dierential and integral calculus, Baldwin and Craddock, London 18361842 ("" on
p. 578)

7 NOTES

[6] Havil 2003 p 97.

[7] http://mathworld.wolfram.com/
Euler-MascheroniConstant.html
[8] http://mathworld.wolfram.com/MertensConstant.html
(14)
[9] Havil, 117-118
[10] Ram Murty, M.; Saradha, N. (2010). EulerLehmer
constants and a conjecture of Erdos. JNT. 130: 2671
2681. doi:10.1016/j.jnt.2010.07.004.
[11] Lehmer, D. H. (1975). Euler constants for arithmetical
progressions (PDF). Acta Arith. 27 (1): 125142.
[12] Nagisa Large Computations

References
Blagouchine, Iaroslav V. (2014), Rediscovery of
Malmstens integrals, their evaluation by contour integration methods and some related results, The
Ramanujan Journal, 35 (1): 21110 PDF
Blagouchine, Iaroslav V. (2016), Expansions of
generalized Eulers constants into the series of polynomials in 2 and into the formal enveloping series
with rational coecients only, J. Number Theory
(Elsevier), 158: 365396, arXiv:1501.00740
Borwein, Jonathan M.; David M. Bradley; Richard
E. Crandall (2000). Computational Strategies for
the Riemann Zeta Function (PDF). Journal of
Computational and Applied Mathematics. 121: 11.
doi:10.1016/s0377-0427(00)00336-8. Derives as
sums over Riemann zeta functions.
Gourdon, Xavier, and Sebah, P. (2002) "Collection
of formulas for Eulers constant, ."
Gourdon, Xavier, and Sebah, P. (2004) "The Euler
constant: ."
Donald Knuth (1997) The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 1, 3rd ed. Addison-Wesley. ISBN
0-201-89683-4
Krmer, Stefan (2005) Die Eulersche Konstante
und verwandte Zahlen. Ph.D. Thesis, University of
Gttingen, Germany.
Sondow, Jonathan (1998). An antisymmetric formula for Eulers constant. Mathematics Magazine.
71. pp. 219220.
Sondow, Jonathan (2002). A hypergeometric approach, via linear forms involving logarithms, to
irrationality criteria for Eulers constant. Mathematica Slovaca. 59: 307314. arXiv:math.NT/
0211075 . with an Appendix by Sergey Zlobin

Sondow, Jonathan (2003). An innite product for

e via hypergeometric formulas for Eulers constant,
". arXiv:math.CA/0306008 .
Sondow, Jonathan (2003). Criteria for irrationality of Eulers constant. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society. 131. pp. 33353344.
arXiv:math.NT/0209070 .
Sondow, Jonathan (2005). Double integrals for
Eulers constant and ln 4/ and an analog of
Hadjicostass formula. American Mathematical
Monthly. 112: 6165. arXiv:math.CA/0211148 .
doi:10.2307/30037385.
Sondow, Jonathan (2005). New Vacca-type rational series for Eulers constant and its 'alternating'
analog ln 4/". arXiv:math.NT/0508042 .
Sondow, Jonathan; Zudilin, Wadim (2006). Eulers constant, q-logarithms, and formulas of Ramanujan and Gosper. arXiv:math.NT/0304021 .
Ramanujan Journal 12: 225-244.
Vacca, G. (1926). Nuova serie per la costante
di Eulero, C = 0,577". Rendiconti, Accademia
Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma, Classe di Scienze
Fisiche. Matematiche e Naturali. 6 (3): 1920.
James Whitbread Lee Glaisher (1872), On the history of Eulers constant. Messenger of Mathematics
vol.1, p. 25-30, JFM 03.0130.01
Carl Anton, Bretschneider (1837). Theoriae logarithmi integralis lineamenta nova. Crelle Journal.
17: 257285. (submitted 1835)
Lorenzo Mascheroni (1790). Adnotationes ad calculum integralem Euleri, in quibus nonnulla problemata ab Eulero proposita resolvuntur. Galeati,
Ticini.
Lorenzo Mascheroni (1792). Adnotationes ad calculum integralem Euleri. In quibus nonnullae formulae ab Eulero propositae evolvuntur. Galeati,
Ticini. Both online at EulerMascheroni constant at
Google Books
Havil, Julian (2003). Gamma: Exploring Eulers
Constant. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-69109983-9.
Karatsuba, E. A. (1991). Fast evaluation of transcendental functions. Probl. Inf. Transm. 27 (44):
339360.
Karatsuba, E.A. (2000). On the computation of the
Euler constant ". J. of Numerical Algorithms. 24
(1-2): 8397.
Lerch, M. (1897). Expressions nouvelles de la constante d'Euler. Sitzungsberichte der Kniglich Bhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften. 42: 5.

7
Lagarias, Jerey C. (October 2013). Eulers constant: Eulers work and modern developments
(PDF). Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 50 (4): 556. doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-201301423-x.

External links
Weisstein, Eric W. EulerMascheroni constant.
MathWorld.
Jonathan Sondow.
Fast Algorithms and the FEE Method, E.A. Karatsuba (2005)
Further formulae which make use of the constant:
Gourdon and Sebah (2004).

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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