Chebyshev function Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
The two Chebyshev functions measure the total natural logarithm weight of prime numbers or of prime powers greater than one below a real cutoff :
Here ranges over prime numbers, over positive integers, and over positive integers. The Chebyshev theta function , also written , weights each prime number once. The Second Chebyshev function weights every positive power of each prime number separately. Both vanish for ; the inclusive cutoff makes them right-continuous functions and nondecreasing functions, constant between their jumps. [ref]
At , the prime numbers are , while the extra prime powers greater than one are . Exactly,
At each prime number , both Chebyshev functions jump by . At a prime power with , only the Second Chebyshev function jumps, by . At and neither jumps. Notice that the gap is already positive at and : a shared jump does not remove the earlier contribution from .
Figure 1.
The Chebyshev functions separate at the extra prime powers , , and
. The upper panel compares and for . Solid endpoints include the jump at each contributing integer; open endpoints show the preceding value. The lower panel isolates , which jumps by at and and by at , reaching . All logarithms are natural logarithms. Details.
Grouping the prime powers by their exponent gives, for ,
The floor function cutoff is exact: forces whenever . For each exponent, is equivalent to . An upper cutoff smaller than the lower one means an empty sum. [ref]