Value of infinite sum $\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{\sin n}{\sqrt{n}}$

dirichlet-seriessequences-and-series

The series $\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{\sin n }{\sqrt{n}}$ is clearly convergence as can be shown with the Dirichlet's test. But what is this value and how to evaluate this sum to get a closed form solution?

With WolframAlpha I arrive for example at:

$$\dfrac{1}{2} i (Li_{1/2}(e^{-i}) – Li_{1/2}(e^i))≈1.04398 $$

Best Answer

This is a Clausen function of order 1/2 given by

$$\operatorname{Si}_{1/2}(1)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{\sin(n)}{\sqrt n}$$

By applying Euler's formula for $\sin(z)=\frac1{2i}(e^{iz}-e^{-iz})$ one gets the relation to the polylogarithm:

$$\operatorname{Si}_{1/2}(1)=\frac1{2i}(\operatorname{Li}_{1/2}(e^i)-\operatorname{Li}_{1/2}(e{-i}i))$$

Quicker numerical evaluation can be done using various relations such as the above. Applying a more brute force approach, one may take the Cesaro summation:

$$\operatorname{Si}_{1/2}(1)=\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac1n\sum_{k=1}^n\sum_{j=1}^k\frac{\sin(j)}{\sqrt j}$$

Evaluating the above at $n=33208$ gives us

$$\operatorname{Si}_{1/2}(1)\simeq1.0439773797177627$$