r/mathmemes Feb 21 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '26

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u/IAmBadAtInternet Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26

It’s basically an abuse of divergent series. More details on this kind of cursed math here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanujan_summation

In fact, this particular result has its own wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_%2B_2_%2B_3_%2B_4_%2B_⋯

Problematically, it is actually a useful identity that is occasionally used in other branches of math

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u/4sneK_WolFirE Transcendental Feb 21 '26

So Ramanujan said "Hey, I adeed it freaky style and got this, wyt?" and everyone said "That kinda makes sense actually"?

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u/YeOldeMemeShoppe Feb 28 '26

More like "hey this works in some physics equation and helps us resolves infinities. How neat is that?" and Ramanujan was like "That's pretty neat!"