# On Cantor’s singular moments

(Date: April 14, 1999)  

## Abstract.

We evaluate a constant explicitly, thereby answering a question raised in .

In problem 10621 of the American Mathematical Monthly, Cantor’s singular moments $`J_n`$ were to be computed. In the published answers  they come out as

$$J_n=\frac{2}{3(n+1)}\underset{j=0}{\overset{n}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n+1}{j}\right)\frac{B_j}{32^{j1}1}\text{for}n1$$

and $`J_0=1`$, with Bernoulli numbers $`B_n`$.

The editor asked, whether it is possible to compute

$$J_1=\underset{n0}{}J_n$$

exactly.

The purpose of this note is to do that. In  we considered a similar problem, and the gentle reader is invited to consult this paper for more background about the technique, as well as  for more information about the Cantor distribution.

Following the method described in , we can write $`J_n`$ as a contour integral viz.

$`J_n`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{2}{3(n+1)}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\frac{1}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{1}{2}+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(n+2)\mathrm{\Gamma }(1s)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(n+2s)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (1s)}{32^{s1}1}}𝑑s`$   
$`={\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\frac{1}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{1}{2}+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(n+1)\mathrm{\Gamma }(1s)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(n+2s)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (1s)}{32^{s1}1}}𝑑s.`$   
Therefore

$`{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{N}{}}}J_n`$ $`=J_0+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\frac{1}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{1}{2}+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(N+2)\mathrm{\Gamma }(1s)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(N+2s)s}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (1s)}{32^{s1}1}}𝑑s`$   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\frac{1}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{1}{2}+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(2)\mathrm{\Gamma }(1s)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(2s)s}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (1s)}{32^{s1}1}}𝑑s.`$   
From this form, one could even compute the asympotics as $`N\mathrm{}`$. However, here, we only have to note that the first integral is of order $`N^{1\mathrm{log}_23}`$, which means that it goes to zero. Consequently

$`{\displaystyle \underset{n0}{}}J_n`$ $`=1{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\frac{1}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{1}{2}+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(1s)s}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (1s)}{32^{s1}1}}𝑑s`$   
$`={\displaystyle \frac{4}{3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\frac{3}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{3}{2}+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s(s1)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (s)}{32^s1}}𝑑s`$   
$`={\displaystyle \frac{4}{3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \underset{k,m1}{}}3^k{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi i}}{\displaystyle _{\frac{3}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{3}{2}+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s(s1)}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2^k}{m}}\right)^s𝑑s.`$   
The last step was by using the Dirichlet series for $`\zeta (s)`$ and the geometric series, both valid for $`\mathrm{}s=\frac{3}{2}`$. A simple application of residue calculus, as it is often used in the context of the Mellin–Perron summation formula (see ) evaluates the integrals inside the summation:

$$\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{\frac{3}{2}i\mathrm{}}^{\frac{3}{2}+i\mathrm{}}\frac{1}{s(s1)}t^s𝑑s=\{\begin{array}{cc}t1\hfill & \text{for }t1\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{for }t<1\hfill \end{array}.$$

Therefore

$`{\displaystyle \underset{n0}{}}J_n`$ $`=1+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{1m2^k}{}}3^k\left({\displaystyle \frac{2^k}{m}}1\right)`$   
$`=1+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}\right)^kH_{2^k}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}\right)^k`$   
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \underset{k1}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}\right)^kH_{2^k}=\mathrm{3.36465\hspace{0.33em}07281\hspace{0.33em}00925\hspace{0.33em}16083\hspace{0.33em}89349\hspace{0.33em}6289}\mathrm{},`$   
with harmonic numbers $`H_n=_{1kn}\frac{1}{k}`$.