Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 25 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
We use the Van der Corput sum-integral lemma. Put and . The Fourier series of the periodization of giveswhere integer endpoints have half weight. This is the Dirichlet-Jordan convergence theorem for a piecewise smooth, or more generally bounded-variation, periodic function. Here is , so the periodized function has bounded variation. Changing to the requested endpoint convention costs at most one.
Write . For , . Since is continuous and monotone, the reciprocal has bounded variation, and integration by parts in the Riemann-Stieltjes sense yieldsThe variation of the reciprocal is at most . Summing over gives , separating and using convergence of . For each endpoint, useThe symmetric partial sums of the first term are a constant multiple of , uniformly bounded in and ; this standard Fourier series bound follows by splitting at and applying Abel summation to the remaining sine sum. The second term is absolutely summable with bound . The same bound therefore holds for the whole sum of the integrals. Since is the ordinary integral,No second derivative is required; monotonicity supplies the needed variation estimate.
For the Hardy-Littlewood approximation to the Riemann zeta function, take . On , and is monotone. The proved lemma says that the difference between the partial sum of and its integral over is uniformly in . Weighted Abel summation with the decreasing weight then makes the weighted difference , since its total variation on is . Initially for , the tail integral is . The bounded primitive of the discrepancy gives a locally uniformly convergent weighted discrepancy integral for every , continuing the identity to that region. Thus, away from the pole,If the ordinary sum-integral comparison supplies the same estimate. At the formula is understood meromorphically. It approximates the Riemann zeta function by a finite Dirichlet polynomial, transfers exponential sum estimates to bounds in the critical strip, yields elementary near-one bounds for and its derivative, and supports estimates for the mean value of Dirichlet polynomials and numerical calculations.
Van der Corput sum-integral lemma 2026-10-06
For a real phase with continuous monotone derivative and , the sum-integral discrepancy has the displayed uniform bound. Periodization and the Dirichlet-Jordan convergence theorem express it as symmetric nonzero Fourier modes. Integration by parts gives endpoint terms and reciprocal-derivative variations. Monotonicity bounds their total variation by . Pairing the leading endpoint terms reduces them to the uniformly bounded sine series. The exclusion of integer nonzero frequencies is essential.