English

Mertens' prime product formula, dissected

Number Theory 2021-08-31 v3 Combinatorics

Abstract

In 1874, Mertens famously proved an asymptotic formula for the product p/(p1)p/(p-1) over all primes pp up to xx. On the other hand, one may expand Mertens' prime product into series over numbers nn with only small prime factors. It is natural to restrict such series to numbers nn with a fixed number kk of prime factors. In this article, we obtain formulae for these series for each kk, which together dissect Mertens' original estimate. The proof is by elementary methods of a combinatorial flavor.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2002.03361,
  title  = {Mertens' prime product formula, dissected},
  author = {Jared Duker Lichtman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.03361},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Interprets Corollary 1.5 in terms of "friable regularity," under extended definition from convergent series to partial sums of arbitrary sequences. Incorporates referee comments

R2 v1 2026-06-23T13:35:42.072Z