Chebyshev estimate Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Chebyshev estimate is
It gives upper and lower bounds of the correct linear order without asserting the Prime number theorem asymptotic .
Exponentially damped reciprocal-prime sum Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
For , prime-number estimates and partial summation give, for an absolute ,
Indeed, comparison with the prime-density integral and the substitution reduce the left side to .
The prime factorization of gives . The Chebyshev estimate bounds the error on replacing each floor by its argument by . Dividing by and using the Stirling formula gives . The contribution of is bounded by the convergent series . This proves the Mertens first theorem without the Prime number theorem.
Mertens bound from a log-integrable Chebyshev error Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
Suppose and . The Möbius divisor-sum identity gives . The exact Dirichlet convolution identity then gives , because its error is a convergent dyadic harmonic sum. Since , the displayed Mertens function bound follows. The classical Prime number theorem error meets the summability condition. This is a deduction from the Chebyshev error itself, without a separate estimate for the reciprocal zeta function.
Natural density Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-13
For a set of nonnegative integers, its natural density is the limiting proportion of the first nonnegative integers that belong to :
provided this limit exists. Write for the counting function. The numerator is a finite cardinality; the denominator is exactly , including zero. Every existing natural density lies between zero and one.
For the even nonnegative integers , there are elements below and below . Thus using the ceiling function, and . For the square numbers , the exact count for is
The floor function counts the allowed indices , and the extra one counts zero. At , the square numbers below ten are , so the proportion is ; at , it is . The count grows like the square root of , while the denominator grows like .
The prime numbers also have natural density zero. If is their set, the Prime number theorem gives , hence . The Prime number theorem is a substantial result about the count, rather than a consequence of the fact that there are infinitely many prime numbers. [ref]
Why use natural density when cardinality already measures size? The even nonnegative integers, the square numbers, and the prime numbers all have the same countably infinite cardinality, yet their proportions among large initial integer intervals differ. Natural density distinguishes frequent membership from sparse membership. Equivalently, under a uniform distribution on a finite set of possible nonnegative integers, is the probability of landing in . A set without natural density shows why this limiting proportion need not exist.
Figure 1.
Exact proportions below N: even integers, squares, and an alternating-block set
. Every point uses the count in divided by , with zero included among the even integers and square numbers. The right panel marks exact block-boundary counts for a set without natural density. Its low and high proportions approach and along different subsequences. Details.
Write for the Chebyshev theta function and for the Second Chebyshev function, where is the Von Mangoldt function. We first establish the Chebyshev estimate. Every prime divides the central binomial coefficient , so
Apply this at successive powers of two and use monotonicity to obtain . Since
the terms contribute and therefore . This Chebyshev estimate from central binomial coefficients is all the information about the distribution of primes needed here.
The Von Mangoldt divisor identity gives the factorial proof of Mertens first theorem. With , interchange the finite sums to obtain
Comparison of with gives . Dividing the preceding identity by , using and the Chebyshev estimate, gives
The contribution of higher prime powers is bounded independently of , because
Thus the Mertens first theorem is
For the square-root logarithmic sum over primes, apply partial summation to with weight . The lower endpoint is understood as , so
The main terms are and . The bounded error in produces a bounded integral, since . Therefore
Neither argument uses the Prime number theorem.
First alternative. The Euler product of the Riemann zeta function is absolutely convergent for . Its logarithm and the nonnegative trigonometric polynomial
give
Consequently . Suppose and the Riemann zeta function had a zero of order at . As , its simple pole at one gives , the alleged zero gives , and remains bounded. The product would be , contradicting its lower bound. Thus there are no zeta zeros on ; the point itself is a pole, not a zero.
For the first integral of the Chebyshev function, define
The logarithmic derivative identity , valid for , leads to
To verify the kernel rather than assume an inversion formula, integrate on the vertical line . Closing to the left when gives the residues at zero and minus one, namely ; closing to the right when gives zero. At the integral is zero as well. The horizontal integrals tend to zero because of the quadratic denominator, and the distant vertical integrals vanish in the indicated direction. Multiplying this kernel by with gives . The absolute convergence of the Dirichlet series on , together with the integrable denominator, permits interchange with the integral and proves the formula.
Here is a quantitative contour route from this relation to the Prime number theorem. Question 3 establishes a zero-free region of the Riemann zeta function and the accompanying bounds for its logarithmic derivative, independently of the Prime number theorem. In a sufficiently narrow half-width region they imply
on the left and horizontal sides of the rectangle with heights and left edge , after making small enough also for bounded heights. The explanation of this bound is included at the end of Question 3. Take and . On the original line, the omitted tails are
since the Euler product bounds by . Shift the truncated integral to the left edge. The only enclosed pole is at , with residue ; the kernel poles at zero and minus one lie outside the rectangle. The left edge contributes , since there. The two horizontal edges contribute . In particular, for some ,
It remains to remove the smoothing; differentiating an asymptotic formula would not justify this step. The monotonicity of the Second Chebyshev function gives, for with ,
First let with fixed. After division by , the lower and upper bounds tend to and . Let to obtain . Higher prime powers contribute by the Chebyshev estimate, so . Finally partial summation gives
The integral is , by splitting at and using . This proves the Prime number theorem with .
Second alternative. We prove the functional equation of the Riemann zeta function from a theta function. Set for . With Fourier transform convention , the Gaussian function has
Indeed, differentiation under the integral and integration by parts give , while the Gaussian integral gives . Periodize : the smooth period-one function has Fourier coefficients , by integrating on and interchanging its absolutely convergent sum with the integral. Its absolutely convergent Fourier series, evaluated at zero, proves the Poisson summation formula in this case. Hence
For , termwise integration and the defining integral of the Gamma function give the Mellin representation of the completed Riemann zeta function:
Split at one and substitute in the lower integral. The elementary part is
and the remaining part becomes an integral over . Thus
The integral is an entire function of , because decays exponentially and uniform convergence holds on every compact subset of the complex plane. This proves meromorphic continuation of the completed Riemann zeta function, with only the displayed simple poles, and the right side is invariant under . Therefore
The Gamma reflection formula and Gamma duplication formula give the equivalent form , understood by meromorphic continuation. Multiplication by gives the entire Riemann xi function .
Let count positive ordinates of Nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function up to height , including multiplicity. The Riemann–von Mangoldt formula is
More precisely, away from ordinates of zeros, the constant term is , the additional term is , and the remaining error is . Here the argument is continued along , and . The coarse formula displayed above holds at all large heights with the usual right-continuous counting convention. Subtract it at and : the main term changes by and each error is . Hence
For infinitely many reciprocal-logarithmic gaps between zeta zeros, fix any , for example . Suppose all sufficiently late gaps satisfied . Summing and using
gives . The last elementary estimate follows by integral comparison with and one integration by parts. The Riemann–von Mangoldt formula would imply
a contradiction. This reasoning is valid whether repeated ordinates are listed according to multiplicity or only distinct ordinates are listed, since in either case . Consequently infinitely often, for any fixed .
The permitted zero-count bound implies, by partial summation,
Indeed, the zeros with contribute a bounded amount since ; the rest contribute . For every zero in the sum, the preceding zero-free region of the Riemann zeta function gives
The supplied truncated explicit formula for the second Chebyshev function therefore implies
Choose , with any fixed positive and then, for example, . Both terms have exponential decay in , and the logarithmic factors can be absorbed by slightly decreasing its coefficient. Hence, for some absolute ,
If the truncated formula is taken only at admissible heights and non-prime-power endpoints, choose such heights of the same size and first apply it at half-integers. Monotonicity and the jump of at an integer transfer this bound to all ; these convention choices do not change the conclusion.
To pass from prime powers to primes, let . The higher prime-power contribution satisfies
Thus . Apply partial summation again:
The integral is : use and split at . It is therefore smaller than the first term, which is asymptotic to . This proves the Prime number theorem in the requested form
A suitable large sieve statement is the following. If are separated modulo one by at least and is supported on consecutive integers, then
The sharper classical constant also suffices, but is unnecessary for the requested bound. This is the exponential-sum large sieve.
Put , , and . By the orthogonality of roots of unity,
At most of these residue counts are nonzero. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives , and the frequency contributes exactly . Thus, if ,
If for some prime, is empty and the result is immediate.
All fractions , , , are distinct reduced fractions. Their circular spacing is at least , because two distinct fractions of these denominators differ modulo one by at least . Apply the large sieve with and , and sum the preceding lower bounds:
For and a positive sieve denominator, division proves
When the denominator is zero this asserts no restriction; that degenerate case is interpreted as a vacuous bound.
For the least-nonresidue application, first establish the positive density of power-smooth integers. Fix , with an integer , and let tend to infinity. Choose ordered primes, with repetitions allowed, in the interval
Their product satisfies . Every number has , so is -smooth. By partial summation of the Prime number theorem, or the Mertens theorem for reciprocal primes,
The number of ordered representations is at least
because for .
This representation count must not be confused with a count of distinct integers. A number at most has at most prime factors in that interval, counted with multiplicity. There are therefore only a bounded number, depending on , of ordered -tuples which can occur as divisors of it; the cofactor is then fixed. Dividing by this bounded multiplicity proves
for a fixed and all sufficiently large .
Now work on a dyadic prime interval and let be the primes there with . Take and , so . Let be the -smooth integers at most . The density lemma gives for an absolute .
For each , every prime factor of a member of is at most and is smaller than . Hence it is a nonzero quadratic residue modulo . Multiplicativity of the Legendre symbol makes every member of a nonzero quadratic residue modulo . It therefore avoids all quadratic-nonresidue classes. In the sieve inequality set at exceptional primes and zero at every other prime up to . For odd , , so
Thus each dyadic interval has at most exceptional primes. The finitely many small intervals can be absorbed into this absolute bound. Summing the intervals up to proves the large-sieve logarithmic exceptional-prime bound for least quadratic nonresidues:
The least nonresidue is normally defined for odd primes; any convention at the prime two changes the count by at most one.
For , the absolutely convergent logarithm of the Euler product for the Riemann zeta function is
The elementary identity therefore gives
Thus the expression inside the logarithm is at least one. The Meromorphic continuation of the Riemann zeta function to the right half-plane has only a simple pole at one, of residue one. It follows, for example, from
whose integral is holomorphic there.
Suppose and has a zero of order at . As , the real factor is , the middle factor is , and the factor at is bounded. Their product would tend to zero, contradicting its lower bound one. Hence
At there is a pole, not a zero; the statement about the line does not assert a finite value for . This proves the three-four-one product proof of zeta boundary nonvanishing.
To relate the Second Chebyshev function to the logarithmic derivative, differentiate the Euler product in its half-plane of absolute convergence:
Since , its first integral of the Chebyshev function is
For any fixed , its Mellin inversion formula is
For justification, the elementary contour kernel is for and zero for . Close left or right and take the residues at zero and minus one; at the continuous value is zero. Absolute convergence on allows termwise integration of the Dirichlet series, and multiplying this kernel by gives .
Here is how the relation yields the asymptotic. Move the contour to the left, using the functional equation of the Riemann zeta function to control the left-hand side. The residue at is , and a Nontrivial zero of the Riemann zeta function contributes , multiplied by its multiplicity. The kernel poles at zero and minus one contribute and ; a trivial zero of the Riemann zeta function contributes . Thus the smoothed explicit formula for the Chebyshev function is
For the contour argument, use heights avoiding the zero ordinates and then let those heights increase. The local zero bound from the Riemann–von Mangoldt formula, together with the Local partial-fraction expansion of the Riemann zeta logarithmic derivative, permits heights with logarithmic-derivative bound in each fixed vertical strip. The horizontal integrals then vanish because the denominator is of size . After that, send the left edge through negative odd integers to minus infinity; the functional equation of the Riemann zeta function bounds the logarithmic derivative there by a logarithm, and makes the left integral vanish for fixed . This explains why this smoothing allows a convergent contour calculation without a quantitative zero-free region.
In fact the Riemann–von Mangoldt formula, stated in the next solution, gives and hence
The Nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function satisfy , using the Euler product, the functional equation of the Riemann zeta function, and the nonvanishing just proved. For each such zero, as , whereas for . The dominated convergence theorem therefore makes the absolutely convergent zero sum, divided by , tend to zero. All the other displayed terms are . We obtain
It remains to unsmooth; differentiating an asymptotic without justification would not suffice. Monotonicity of gives, for fixed ,
Divide by and use the integral asymptotic. The lower and upper limits lie between and . Letting proves . Higher prime powers contribute , as in the first solution, so . Finally partial summation gives
The integral is , by and splitting at . Hence
which is the Prime number theorem.
Fix integers and with . We prove the Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions by showing that the prime Dirichlet sum in this residue class diverges as its real exponent decreases to one.
First justify the required Dirichlet L-function facts. If is a nonprincipal Dirichlet character modulo , its sum over a full period is zero: choose a unit with , and multiplication by permutes the residue classes, forcing the sum to equal times itself. Therefore the partial sums are bounded by . Partial summation gives
which supplies holomorphic continuation near one, with locally uniform convergence. For the principal Dirichlet character ,
has a simple pole at one, with residue .
The assumption in the question gives nonvanishing at one for real nonprincipal characters. We must also prove it for nonreal characters. For a nonreal , its square is nonprincipal. For real , logarithms of the Euler products give
For a prime not dividing , its logarithmic coefficient is , where . Primes dividing contribute only the positive zeta term. If vanished to order , the product would be and tend to zero: the squared-character factor is bounded because is nonprincipal. This is a contradiction. Hence
This step uses the given real-character hypothesis and the Euler product positivity for L-function nonvanishing for all remaining characters.
In choose the logarithm furnished by the absolutely convergent Euler product. Its prime-power expansion gives
The error from powers is uniformly bounded as , by . For nonprincipal , nonvanishing and holomorphic continuation at one provide a bounded logarithm in a neighborhood of one. The Euler-product branch differs from that branch by a constant integral multiple of on the final real interval, so it too is bounded. Thus
For the principal character, its simple pole instead gives
The Orthogonality of Dirichlet characters gives, for primes not dividing ,
Multiply by and sum. Absolute convergence allows the interchange for , so
The right side tends to infinity. If there were only finitely many primes in the progression, the left side would have a finite limit at one. This contradiction proves infinitely many primes occur in every reduced residue class. For or the character argument simply has no nonprincipal terms and gives the same conclusion.
For the final deduction the modulus is fixed. Let . The given consequence of the Siegel–Walfisz theorem is . Partial summation, including the prime through the lower endpoint when appropriate, gives
The boundary is . Write with . The main integral is . The error is : given , choose such that for . Its integral from to is a fixed constant, and its absolute value from to is at most plus a fixed constant. Divide by and then let . We obtain the reciprocal primes in a fixed arithmetic progression asymptotic
The argument uses the supplied prime-counting asymptotic in this last part; the preceding infinitude proof did not assume the Prime number theorem in arithmetic progressions.
The Prime number theorem states that , where counts primes not exceeding . Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions states that if , then the progression contains infinitely many primes.
If for an odd prime , the multiplicative order of modulo is four. Lagrange's theorem therefore gives . Conversely, Wilson's theorem gives . Pairing the factors and yields
For , the sign is positive, so the factorial supplies a square root of . Thus is a quadratic residue exactly when .
Write . The odd integer is modulo . If all of its prime factors were modulo , their product, with multiplicities, would be modulo , so at least one factor is modulo . Every prime factor of is odd and satisfies ; the criterion just proved gives . Neither integer is divisible by any , since their residues modulo are respectively and . Starting with any finite list thus produces a new prime in each residue class. Both classes contain infinitely many primes, independently of the general Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions.
Write and . The global partial-fraction expansion of the zeta logarithmic derivative is
Here is the Euler--Mascheroni constant, and the sum includes multiplicities of the Nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function. The paired terms are locally absolutely convergent away from their poles, by the Riemann–von Mangoldt formula. This identity follows by differentiating the genus-one Hadamard factorization of the Riemann xi function and using the Gamma function recurrence.
We first prove the classical zero-free region of the Riemann zeta function. The Euler-product nonvanishing of the Riemann zeta function and its functional equation place every nontrivial zero in the closed strip ; no assertion about zeros on its boundary is needed yet. The real logarithmic derivative of Riemann xi and the digamma function asymptotic imply, for and ,
Every summand being subtracted is nonnegative. If is a zero, retaining its summand gives ; at height the upper bound suffices. At real the simple pole of gives .
For , the Dirichlet series has nonnegative coefficients. The identity therefore gives the three-four-one zero-free-region argument
With , a zero at would consequently satisfy
Choose , with an absolute sufficiently small, and put . If , this inequality would imply . But for small enough , a contradiction.
For any fixed , the same positivity inequality as excludes a zero at : its negative contribution has coefficient at least four, whereas the real pole contributes only three. Any zero at only strengthens the contradiction. The pole at has a zero-free punctured neighbourhood. By compactness, the remaining bounded-height portion of the line has a zero-free neighbourhood as well. Shrink to combine these facts with the large-height bound. Hence
with the understanding that is a pole.
The Riemann–von Mangoldt explicit formula for the Second Chebyshev function, with half weight at a prime-power endpoint, is
The zero sum uses symmetric height truncation. To estimate it, take a half-integer and use the truncated explicit formula for the second Chebyshev function
The zero-free region gives for these zeros. The Riemann–von Mangoldt formula and partial summation give . Choose . Both the zero sum and the truncation error are then after reducing the positive constant to absorb logarithmic factors. Replacing an arbitrary by preserves the Von Mangoldt function sum and changes the main term by at most one. This proves the requested form of the Prime number theorem:
The Prime number theorem says as . Bertrand's postulate says that for every integer there is a prime number strictly between and .
To count S-smooth numbers, split each prime exponent into its parity and an even part. This gives the unique expression , where is a squarefree product of a subset of . There are possible , while whenever . The squarefree-part bound for smooth numbers therefore gives .
For an integer , take to be all prime numbers at most . Every positive integer at most is then S-smooth, so . Taking logarithms yields
Use the Fourier transform convention . The complex measure is finite because . The Möbius divisor-sum identity, proved in the preceding solution, allows multiplication of absolutely convergent Dirichlet series and gives
Here is the Riemann zeta function. We prove the estimates in the intended range . A uniform estimate of the printed form for all would be false: at , as , while its proposed upper bound tends to zero. A version valid for every replaces by .
For completeness, unique prime factorization and absolute convergence give and
as the logarithm defined by that Euler product. The elementary nonnegative trigonometric polynomial
therefore proves the three-four-one inequality for Euler products
We also need elementary uniform bounds for derivatives of the Riemann zeta function. For an integer , summation by parts gives
This continues the function to with just the pole at one. For , , choose . Differentiating times, the finite Dirichlet polynomial is bounded by . Derivatives of the second term have the same bound, since . In the last term, differentiated integrands are bounded by , whose integral is ; multiplication by is harmless. It follows that
As , the three-four-one inequality for Euler products gives, for ,
To handle bounded , first note that cannot vanish at for : a zero of order would make the three-four-one product , contradicting its lower bound one. At , the reciprocal extends holomorphically with a simple zero, since the pole of has residue one. Thus and all its derivatives are bounded on the compact rectangle , . This proves the requested reciprocal zeta bounds near the line one:
For the derivative estimate, repeatedly differentiate . Every term of is a constant times
The preceding derivative bounds and reciprocal estimate bound this by . Compact-height bounds supply the remaining range. Since , this has exactly the requested dependence, with an explicit logarithmic exponent linear in for .
Here is the unsmoothing a logarithmically weighted sum argument with the normalization repaired. For real ,
Indeed the Fourier transform of is , so Fourier inversion gives the identity, also at by continuity. In a vertical contour integral the coefficient is and the differential is . The printed real- integral has with and is missing this factor of .
Set , taking when . Its Dirichlet series is . The logarithmically smoothed Perron formula, justified by absolute convergence, gives
For choose . The integral of is finite, with a constant depending only on , and . Thus, with ,
For , subtraction gives the exact finite-difference identity
The last sum is , since there are terms. Consequently
For , choose to get exponent . For , the trivial bound is already no larger than that estimate. The extra term is absorbed for fixed . Hence
This also yields the cancellation needed for the Prime number theorem. Choose a fixed , discard at cost for the unweighted sum, and use partial summation with on the rest. The displayed bound gives ; the preceding solution then gives .
Let be the Möbius function. Its Möbius divisor-sum identity is
Indeed, for the sum is the expansion of ; nonsquarefree divisors contribute zero. Thus, for arithmetic functions ,
To prove Möbius inversion, substitute the first formula into the second and collect the coefficient of . It is , which is one for and zero otherwise. Conversely the same divisor interchange recovers from the displayed formula for . In Dirichlet convolution notation this is simply , where is supported at one.
The Prime number theorem with classical zero-free-region error states that some absolute satisfies
Here is the Von Mangoldt function. An equivalent prime-counting form, after decreasing if needed, is . The contributions of proper prime powers are and can be absorbed into this error. We use to keep it distinct from the Fourier transform appearing in Question 5.
Here is a direct deduction of the requested Mertens bound from a log-integrable Chebyshev error from the stated Prime number theorem. First, the divisor identity gives
Second, the exact Dirichlet convolution identity
follows from : multiplication of a Dirichlet convolution by differentiates its two factors, so applying it to and convolving again with gives this formula. Summing it yields
The last harmonic sum is . To see this without an endpoint approximation, split into dyadic ranges . In each range , and its exponential factor is at most . Their sum over converges. The finitely many terms with obey the same estimate after adjusting the constant in the prime-number-theorem error. Therefore
For the Mertens function ,
The second sum has absolute value at most , by an integral comparison or the Stirling formula. Consequently
The absolute value in this conclusion is present in the original PDF.
For the unit-modulus prime values in this question, the Granville-Soundararajan distance is
The second identity uses . Thus it is the Euclidean distance between the finite weighted vectors and . Nonnegativity, symmetry and the triangle inequality follow from that norm representation, and it vanishes exactly when the two prime-value vectors agree. This proves the prime-restriction metric for pretentious distance.
On whole arithmetic functions at fixed it is a pseudometric. For example and have identical values at every prime and zero distance for every , but different values at four. Thus the literal identity-of-indiscernibles assertion needs the prime-restriction quotient.
Since ,
For completeness, partial summation and the prime-counting form of the Prime number theorem give
To verify the constant and the error, replace by in the first expression. Differentiating shows its two contributions combine to plus a constant. The error integral converges absolutely because , and . This proves the Mertens second theorem in the form needed here. In particular the pretentious distance between one and the Möbius function satisfies
For the last request, retain the earlier prime normalization ; the proof also works with the weaker assumption . Without a bound on prime values, the original definition and the absolute convergence of the displayed measure need not apply to an unrestricted multiplicative arithmetic function. For example is multiplicative and squarefree-supported, but for the displayed measure has infinite positive mass: its prime terms alone are , which diverges by the Prime number theorem.
Put , , and use the Fourier transform convention . Since is supported on squarefree integers, the defining property of a multiplicative arithmetic function gives the absolutely convergent Euler product
The bound on prime values gives for squarefree , so the total variation norm of a measure is bounded by ; thus is a finite measure. Expanding the logarithm of the modulus, with an absolute remainder since , gives
All constants here are uniform in . Moreover
using the pole of the Riemann zeta function. The nonnegative deficits give
Indeed, the replacement of by for costs at most
by the Mertens first theorem, while discarding the terms costs nothing in this lower bound. Thus the large Fourier coefficient criterion for pretentiousness is
In particular,
The comparison function is the Archimedean character with this sign because our Fourier transform uses .