English

Lerch's $\Phi$ and the Polylogarithm at the Negative Integers

Number Theory 2024-11-26 v7

Abstract

At the negative integers, there is a simple relation between the Lerch Φ\Phi function and the polylogarithm. Starting from that relation and a formula for the polylogarithm at the negative integers known from the literature, we can deduce a simple closed formula for the Lerch Φ\Phi function at the negative integers, where the Stirling numbers of the second kind are not needed. Leveraging that finding, we also produce alternative formulae for the kk-th derivatives of the cotangent and cosecant (ditto, tangent and secant), as simple functions of the negative polylogarithm and Lerch Φ\Phi, respectively, which is evidence of the importance of these functions (they are less exotic than they seem). Lastly, we extend formulae for the Hurwitz zeta function only valid at the positive integers to the complex half-plane using this novelty.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.15306,
  title  = {Lerch's $\Phi$ and the Polylogarithm at the Negative Integers},
  author = {Jose Risomar Sousa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.15306},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

Fixed a typo, simplified formulae better and numbered a few more equations

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:31:59.558Z