Euler function

Modulus of phi on the complex plane, colored so that black=0, red=4

For other meanings, see List of topics named after Leonhard Euler.

In mathematics, the Euler function is given by

$\phi(q)=\prod_{k=1}^\infty (1-q^k).$

Named after Leonhard Euler, it is a prototypical example of a q-series, a modular form, and provides the prototypical example of a relation between combinatorics and complex analysis.

Properties

The coefficient p(k) in the formal power series expansion for 1 / ϕ(q) gives the number of all partitions of k. That is,

$\frac{1}{\phi(q)}=\sum_{k=0}^\infty p(k) q^k$

where p(k) is the partition function of k.

The Euler identity, also known as the Pentagonal number theorem is

$\phi(q)=\sum_{n=-\infty}^\infty (-1)^n q^{(3n^2-n)/2}.$

Note that (3n² − n) / 2 is a pentagonal number.

The Euler function is related to the Dedekind eta function through a Ramanujan identity as

$\phi(q)= q^{-\frac{1}{24}} \eta(\tau)$

where q = e^2πiτ is the square of the nome.

Note that both functions have the symmetry of the modular group.

The Euler function may be expressed as a Q-Pochhammer symbol:

$\phi(q)=(q;q)_\infty$

The logarithm of the Euler function is the sum of the logarithms in the product expression, each of which may be expanded about q=1, yielding:

$\ln(\phi(q))=-\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{1}{n}\,\frac{q^n}{1-q^n}$

which is a Lambert series with coefficients -1/n. The logarithm of the Euler function may therefore be expressed as:

$\ln(\phi(q))=\sum_{m=1}^\infty b_m q^m$

where

$b_m=-\sum_{n|m}\frac{1}{n}=$ -[1/1, 3/2, 4/3, 7/4, 6/5, 12/6, 8/7, 15/8, 13/9, 18/10, ...] (see OEIS A000203)

References

• Apostol, Tom M. (1976), Introduction to analytic number theory, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics, New York-Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-90163-3, MR0434929