Sum of consecutive numbers

I was wondering if there a way to figure out the number of ways to express an integer by adding up consecutive natural numbers.

For example for $N=3$ there is one way to express it
$1+2 = 3$

I have no idea where to start so any help would be appreciated

• Would for any odd number $N$ the sum of the two integers that bracket half that number count as one solution? Or as two? – hardmath Jan 12 '15 at 4:20
• Consecutive integers or consecutive naturals? – Milo Brandt Jan 12 '15 at 4:23
• @Meelo sorry, I meant consecutive natural numbers. I'll edit it in the question – lllll Jan 12 '15 at 4:25
• The sum of the natural numbers from $a$ to $b$ inclusive is $\frac{(a+b)(a-b+1)}{2}$. – Thomas Andrews Jan 12 '15 at 4:25
• See OEIS sequence A001227, oeis.org/A001227 – Robert Israel Jan 12 '15 at 4:27

The sum of the integers from $1$ to $n$ is $\dfrac{n(n+1)}{2}$. Hence, the sum of the integers from $m+1$ to $n$ is simply $\dfrac{n(n+1)}{2}-\dfrac{m(m+1)}{2}$. So, if the sum of the integers from $m+1$ to $n$ is $N$, then

$\dfrac{n(n+1)}{2}-\dfrac{m(m+1)}{2} = N$

$(n^2+n) - (m^2+m) = 2N$

$(n-m)(n+m+1) = 2N$

Hence, $n-m$ and $n+m+1$ are complementary factors of $2N$. Clearly, $n-m$ is smaller than $n+m+1$, and since $(n+m+1)-(n-m) = 2m+1$, the factors have opposite pairity.

For any $f_1$ and $f_2$ such that $2N = f_1f_2$, $f_1 > f_2$ and $f_1$, $f_2$ have opposite parity, we can solve $n+m+1 = f_1$ and $n-m = f_2$ to get $n = \dfrac{f_1+f_2-1}{2}$ and $m = \dfrac{f_1-f_2-1}{2}$.

Therefore, the number of ways to write $N = (m+1)+(m+2)+\cdots+(n-1)+n$ is simply the number of ways to factor $2N$ into two distinct positive integers with opposite parity.

Suppose $2N = 2^{k_0+1}p_1^{k_1}p_2^{k_2}\cdots p_r^{k_r}$ where $p_1,p_2,\ldots,p_r$ are distinct odd primes. There are $(k_1+1)(k_2+1)\cdots(k_r+1)$ ways to divide the odd primes between $f_1$ and $f_2$. There are $2$ ways to give all $2$'s to one of the factors $f_1$, $f_2$. However, we need to divide by $2$ since this overcounts cases in which $f_1 < f_2$. Also, we need to subtract out the one trivial solution $n = N$ and $m = N-1$. This leaves us with $(k_1+1)(k_2+1)\cdots(k_r+1)-1$ ways to factor $2N$ into two distinct positive integers with opposite parity.

Therefore, if $N$ has prime factorization $N = 2^{k_0}p_1^{k_1}p_2^{k_2}\cdots p_r^{k_r}$, then there are $(k_1+1)(k_2+1)\cdots(k_r+1)-1$ ways to write $N$ as the sum of two or more consecutive positive integers.

• Which is equal to the number of odd factors of $N$ bigger than $1$. – Thomas Andrews Jan 12 '15 at 4:37
• Isn't it turning polynomial problem into subexponential? – Imaskar Sep 3 '18 at 9:47
• A brute force approach to this problem is polynomial in $N$, while computing the prime factorization of $N$ is sub-exponential in $\ln N$ (not subexponential in $N$ itself). – JimmyK4542 Sep 3 '18 at 16:35

SUm of the first n consecutive numbers.

n*(n+1)/2. ex: what is the sum of first 4 consecutive no's: with out formula: 1+2+3+4 = 10 with formula: 4*(4+1)/2 = 20/2 = 10

• This does not answer OP's question – user4038800 Nov 29 '20 at 17:27