# Determine whether $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{\sin (n^2)}{n}$ converges.

Determine whether $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\dfrac{\sin (n^2)}{n}$$ converges.

This question was proposed by Dr. Wolfgang Hintzeh here: Convergence of $\sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{\sin(k(k-1))}{k}$

My attempt

I can see that all terms are bounded by $$\frac{1}{n}$$ but we cannot conclude that all terms are less than some $$\frac{1}{n^p},p>1$$. And because both Ratio Test and Comparison Test give no information about the convergence, I formed the corresponding integral, but since the Integral Test is not valid for this kind of series, I want to use it to check whether the series converges absolutely.

I constructed the graph of $$\displaystyle\int_1^{\infty}\left|\dfrac{\sin (x^2)}{x}\right|dx$$:

How is that possible for the integral to be less than $$0$$ on some intervals? What is wrong with my method? Can anybody give me some hints to prove or disprove its convergence?

• It looks unlikely to converge absolutely, I'd expect $|\sin n^2|$ to be equidistributed in the interval $[0,1]$ and so the series to compare unfavourably with $\sum\frac1n$. Proving that seems hard though. – Angina Seng Dec 8 '19 at 2:53
• The engine computes indefinite integral and definite integral in different ways. – xbh Dec 8 '19 at 3:06
• @xbh Ok, then how to calculate the integral? it is hard to evaluate... – Kevin. S Dec 8 '19 at 3:08
• This series has positive terms. I don't understand why you are distinguishing it converging form it converging absolutely. And either way, the Integral Test doesn't apply, because $\sin^2(x)/x$ is not a decreasing function. – alex.jordan Dec 8 '19 at 3:17
• @KevinSong I might rewrite the summand as $\frac{\sin (n^2)}{n}$ (with parentheses) to avoid confusion with the more common expression $\sin^2 n = (\sin n)^2$. – Travis Willse Dec 8 '19 at 3:36

To answer the question in the title of the post, the series $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{\sin(n^2)}{n}$$ converges conditionally - but the proof relies on some more advanced concepts.

Actually, this is a special case of a problem solved on mathoverflow. More precisely, on that page they show a more general result, which states that for a wide range of $$x\in\mathbb R$$ the series $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{\sin(2\pi xn^2)}{n}$$ is conditionally convergent. Your question is the special case $$x=1/2\pi$$, which happens to satisfy the crucial condition on $$x\in\mathbb R$$ for the result to apply.

The exact condition on $$x\in\mathbb R$$ is that $$x$$ is not a Liouville number. Liouville numbers are an extremely rare class of transcendental numbers that have amazingly accurate rational approximations. There is a quantity called the irrationality measure which can be given to any irrational number, and if it takes the value $$\infty$$ then the number is Liouville (and conversely, if it is finite then the number is non-Liouville). This paper gives upper bounds for the irrationality measures of some common numbers, including $$\pi$$, which has the consequence that $$\pi$$ is non-Liouville. Since $$x=\frac{1}{2\pi}$$ is obtained from $$\pi$$ using rational operations, it is therefore non-Liouville as well.

• About that solution on mathoverflow... in it, they use the property of Liouville numbers that there is $n^a < q \leq n$ such that $|2x - p/q| \leq 1/nq$. This looks a little different from the other definitions of Liouville numbers that I have found online. Do you happen to know where I can find this formulation, or at least why ${1 \over \pi}$ satisfies the condition? – Zarrax Dec 8 '19 at 5:08
• @Zarrax that's a good question, which might be even more valuable directly on the mathoverflow answer itself – pre-kidney Dec 8 '19 at 5:17
• The answer is over three years old so I wasn't sure if it would get a response, but maybe I should still do that. I'm pretty sure ${1 \over \pi}$ satisfies an appropriate approximation property but it's been hard to pin down the right reference. – Zarrax Dec 8 '19 at 5:37


### Counterexample for integral test when the terms are not decreasing

Consider $$f(x) = \frac {\pi x} {1 + (\pi x)^6 \sin^2 (\pi x)}, x \geq 0.$$ Then $$f$$ is nonnegative, and the limit $$f(+\infty)$$ does not exist, since $$f (n) = \pi n \to +\infty$$ as $$n \to \infty$$. Then the series $$\sum_1^{+\infty} f(n)$$ diverges since a necessary condition for convergence is that $$\lim_{n \to +\infty} f(n) = 0$$. But the integral $$\int_0^{+\infty} f(x) \diff x$$ converges since $$\int_n^{n+1} f(x) \diff x = \int_{n\pi}^{(n+1)\pi} \frac x {1 + x^6 \sin^2 x} \diff x\leq \frac {2\pi^2}{n^2},$$ for each $$n \in \N^*$$, then the integral is bounded from above by $$\pi^4/3$$.

• I thought the question is about the conditional convergence of a sum, not about the integral, but I think I have misread the question. It is very confusing, since the title of the question doesn't seem to match with what is asked in the body of the question. – pre-kidney Dec 8 '19 at 3:24
• @pre-kidney Yes. I cannot guarantee this is what the OP wants since the question is not very clear to me. – xbh Dec 8 '19 at 3:28
• Thanks for sharing this. – Kevin. S Dec 8 '19 at 4:42