Two powerful alternating sums $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_nH_n^{(2)}}{n^2}$ and $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^3}{n^2}$

harmonic-numbersintegrationpolylogarithmreal-analysissequences-and-series

where $H_n$ is the harmonic number and can be defined as:

$H_n=1+\frac12+\frac13+…+\frac1n$

$H_n^{(2)}=1+\frac1{2^2}+\frac1{3^2}+…+\frac1{n^2}$

these two sums are already solved by Cornel using summation manipulation and can be also found in his newly released book "(almost) impossible integrals, sums and series ".

I was able to evaluate them using integration and some harmonic identities.

\begin{align}
\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_nH_n^{(2)}}{n^2}&=4\operatorname{Li}_5\left(\frac12\right)+4\ln2\operatorname{Li}_4\left(\frac12\right)-\frac23\ln^32\zeta(2)+\frac74\ln^22\zeta(3)\\&\quad-\frac{15}{16}\zeta(2)\zeta(3)-\frac{23}8\zeta(5)+\frac2{15}\ln^52
\end{align}

\begin{align}
\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^3}{n^2}&=-6\operatorname{Li}_5\left(\frac12\right)-6\ln2\operatorname{Li}_4\left(\frac12\right)+\ln^32\zeta(2)-\frac{21}{8}\ln^22\zeta(3)\\&\quad+\frac{27}{16}\zeta(2)\zeta(3)+\frac94\zeta(5)-\frac15\ln^52
\end{align}

The point of posting these two sums is to use them as a reference in our solutions if needed.

Best Answer

To calculate these two sums, we are going to establish two relations and solve them by elimination.

To establish the first relation, we use $\displaystyle I=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1+x)+6\ln^2(1-x)\ln^2(1+x)}{x}\ dx=\frac{21}4\zeta(5)\tag{1}$

which was proved by Khalef Ruhemi ( unfortunately he is not an MSE user).

The proof as follows: using the algebraic identity $\ b^4+6a^2b^2=\frac12(a-b)^4+\frac12(a+b)^4-a^4$

with $\ a=\ln(1-x)$ and $\ b=\ln(1+x)$ , divide both sides by $x$ then integrate, we get

$$I=\frac12\underbrace{\int_0^1\frac1x{\ln^4\left(\frac{1-x}{1+x}\right)}\ dx}_{\frac{1-x}{1+x}=y}+\underbrace{\frac12\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1-x^2)}{x}\ dx}_{x^2=y}-\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1-x)}{x}\ dx$$

$$=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4x}{1-x^2}+\frac14\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1-x)}{x}\ dx-\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1-x)}{x}\ dx$$ $$=\frac12\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4x}{1-x}+\frac12\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4x}{1+x}-\frac34\underbrace{\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1-x)}{x}\ dx}_{1-x=y}$$ $$=\frac12\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4x}{1+x}\ dx+\frac14\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4x}{1-x}\ dx=\frac12\left(\frac{45}{2}\zeta(5)\right)+\frac14(24\zeta(5))=\frac{21}4\zeta(5)$$


On the other hand, $\quad\displaystyle I=\underbrace{\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1+x)}{x}\ dx}_{I_1}+6\int_0^1\frac{\ln^2(1-x)\ln^2(1+x)}{x}\ dx$

Using $\ln^2(1+x)=2\sum_{n=1}^\infty(-1)^n\left(\frac{H_n}{n}-\frac{1}{n^2}\right)x^n\ $ for the second integral, we get

\begin{align} I&=I_1+12\sum_{n=1}^\infty(-1)^n\left(\frac{H_n}{n}-\frac{1}{n^2}\right)\int_0^1x^{n-1}\ln^2(1-x)\ dx\\ I&=I_1+12\sum_{n=1}^\infty(-1)^n\left(\frac{H_n}{n}-\frac{1}{n^2}\right)\left(\frac{H_n^2+H_n^{(2)}}{n}\right)\\ I&=I_1+12\sum_{n=1}^\infty(-1)^n\left(\frac{H_n^3+H_nH_n^{(2)}}{n^2}\right)-12\sum_{n=1}^\infty(-1)^n\left(\frac{H_n^2+H_n^{(2)}}{n^3}\right)\tag{2} \end{align} From $(1)$ and $(2)$, we get

$$\boxed{\small{R_1=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^3}{n^2}+\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_nH_n^{(2)}}{n^2}=\frac{7}{16}\zeta(5)+\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^2}{n^3}+\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^{(2)}}{n^3}-\frac{1}{12}I_1}}$$

and the first relation is established.


To get the second relation, we need to use the sterling number formula ( check here) $$ \frac{\ln^k(1-x)}{k!}=\sum_{n=k}^\infty(-1)^k \begin{bmatrix} n \\ k \end{bmatrix}\frac{x^n}{n!}$$ letting $k=4$ and using $\displaystyle\begin{bmatrix} n \\ 4 \end{bmatrix}=\frac{1}{3!}(n-1)!\left[\left(H_{n-1}\right)^3-3H_{n-1}H_{n-1}^{(2)}+2H_{n-1}^{(3)}\right],$ we get $$\frac14\ln^4(1-x)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{x^{n+1}}{n+1}\left(H_n^3-3H_nH_n^{(2)}+2H_n^{(3)}\right)$$

differentiate both sides with respect to $x$, we get $$-\frac{\ln^3(1-x)}{1-x}=\sum_{n=1}^\infty x^n\left(H_n^3-3H_nH_n^{(2)}+2H_n^{(3)}\right)$$

Now replace $x$ with $-x$ then multiply both sides by $\frac{\ln x}{x}$ and integrate, we get $$-\sum_{n=1}^\infty(-1)^n\left(H_n^3-3H_nH_n^{(2)}+2H_n^{(3)}\right)\int_0^1x^{n-1}\ln x\ dx=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^3(1+x)\ln x}{x(1+x)}\ dx$$ $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n}{n^2}\left(H_n^3-3H_nH_n^{(2)}+2H_n^{(3)}\right)=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^3(1+x)\ln x}{x}\ dx-\underbrace{\int_0^1\frac{\ln^3(1+x)\ln x}{1+x}\ dx}_{IBP}$$ $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n}{n^2}\left(H_n^3-3H_nH_n^{(2)}+2H_n^{(3)}\right)=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^3(1+x)\ln x}{x}\ dx+\frac14I_1$$ Rearranging the terms, we get $$\boxed{R_2=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^3}{n^2}-3\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_nH_n^{(2)}}{n^2}=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^3(1+x)\ln x}{x}-2\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^{(3)}}{n^2}+\frac14I_1}$$ and the second relation is established.


Now we are ready to calculate the first sum. \begin{align} \sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^3}{n^2}&=\frac{3R_1+R_2}{4}\\ &=\frac34\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^2}{n^3}+\frac34\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^{(2)}}{n^3}-\frac12\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^{(3)}}{n^2}\\ &\quad+\frac14\int_0^1\frac{\ln x\ln^3(1+x)}{x}\ dx+\frac{21}{64}\zeta(5) \end{align} the closed form of the first and second sum can be found here and the closed form of the third sum is evaluated here. as for the integral, I evaluated it here. by combining these results, we get our closed form.

and the second sum. $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_nH_n^{(2)}}{n^2}=\frac{R_1-R_2}{4}$$ $$\small{=\frac14\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^2}{n^3}+\frac14\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^{(2)}}{n^3}+\frac12\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nH_n^{(3)}}{n^2}-\frac14\int_0^1\frac{\ln x\ln^3(1+x)}{x}\ dx-\frac1{12}I_1+\frac{7}{64}\zeta(5)}$$ lets calculate $I_1$ and by setting $\frac1{1+x}=y$, we get \begin{align} I_1&=\int_0^1\frac{\ln^4(1+x)}{x}=\int_{1/2}^1\frac{\ln^4x}{x}\ dx+\int_{1/2}^1\frac{\ln^4x}{1-x}\ dx\\ &=\frac15\ln^52+\sum_{n=1}^\infty\int_{1/2}^1 x^{n-1}\ln^4x\ dx\\ &=\frac15\ln^52+\sum_{n=1}^\infty\left(\frac{24}{n^5}-\frac{24}{n^52^n}-\frac{24\ln2}{n^42^n}-\frac{12\ln^22}{n^32^n}-\frac{4\ln^32}{n^22^n}-\frac{\ln^42}{n2^n}\right)\\ &=4\ln^32\zeta(2)-\frac{21}2\ln^22\zeta(3)+24\zeta(5)-\frac45\ln^52-24\ln2\operatorname{Li}_4\left(\frac12\right)-24\operatorname{Li}_5\left(\frac12\right) \end{align} by combining the result of $I_1$ along with the results we used in our first sum, we get the closed form of the second sum.


UPDATE:

The identity used above:

$$-\frac{\ln^3(1-x)}{1-x}=\sum_{n=1}^\infty x^n\left(H_n^3-3H_nH_n^{(2)}+2H_n^{(3)}\right)$$

can also be proved this way.

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