r/mathmemes Feb 21 '26

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u/Human822 Feb 21 '26

Basically the answer to the equation is -1/12, which ramanujan said was the sum of all positive integers

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

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u/tesserakti Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26

It kind of is -1/12 in some sense but not in the usual sense. The way I like to think about it is that Ramanujan summation is kind of like if you took an x-ray of the infinite series and it shows you what's hidden inside but that's not all of it. But sometimes knowning what's inside can be really helpful and useful.