11 questions linked to/from Funny identities
27k views

Surprising identities / equations

What are some surprising equations/identities that you have seen, which you would not have expected? This could be complex numbers, trigonometric identities, combinatorial results, algebraic results, ...
47k views

Why does $1+2+3+\cdots = -\frac{1}{12}$?

$\displaystyle\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{n^s}$ only converges to $\zeta(s)$ if $\text{Re}(s) > 1$. Why should analytically continuing to $\zeta(-1)$ give the right answer?
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A strange integral: $\int_{-\infty}^{+\infty} {dx \over 1 + \left(x + \tan x\right)^2} = \pi.$

While browsing on Integral and Series, I found a strange integral posted by @Sangchul Lee. His post doesn't have a response for more than a month, so I decide to post it here. I hope he doesn't mind ...
2k views

Bad Fraction Reduction That Actually Works

$$\frac{16}{64}=\frac{1\rlap{/}6}{\rlap{/}64}=\frac{1}{4}$$ This is certainly not a correct technique for reducing fractions to lowest terms, but it happens to work in this case, and I believe there ...
16k views

Prove that $\prod_{k=1}^{n-1}\sin\frac{k \pi}{n} = \frac{n}{2^{n-1}}$

Using $\text{n}^{\text{th}}$ root of unity $$\large\left(e^{\frac{2ki\pi}{n}}\right)^{n} = 1$$ Prove that $$\prod_{k=1}^{n-1}\sin\frac{k \pi}{n} = \frac{n}{2^{n-1}}$$
719 views

On the “funny” identity $\tfrac{1}{\sin(2\pi/7)} + \tfrac{1}{\sin(3\pi/7)} = \tfrac{1}{\sin(\pi/7)}$

This equality in the title is one answer in the MSE post Funny Identities. At first, I thought it had to do with $7$ being a Mersenne prime, but a little experimentation with Mathematica's integer ...
414 views

How is it possible that $\infty!=\sqrt{2\pi}$?

I read from here that: $$\infty!=\sqrt{2\pi}$$ How is this possible ? $$\infty!=1\times2\times3\times4\times5\times\ldots$$ But \begin{align} 1&=1\\ 1\times2&=2\\ 1\times2\times3&=6\\ &...
171 views

Help with Trigonometry homework - prove an identity

I need to prove the following identity: $\sin^2 2\alpha-\sin^2 \alpha = \sin 3\alpha \sin \alpha$ What I have tried, is to work on each side of the identity. I have started with the left side: \...