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Analysis

The development of infinitesimal calculus was at the forefront of 18th-century mathematical research, and the Bernoullis —family friends of Euler—were responsible for much of the early progress in the field. Thanks to their influence, studying calculus became the major focus of Euler's work. While some of Euler's proofs are not acceptable by modern standards of mathematical rigour (in particular his reliance on the principle of the generality of algebra), his ideas led to many great advances.Euler is well known in analysis for his frequent use and development of power series, the expression of functions as sums of infinitely many terms, such as e x = ∑ n = 0 ∞ x n n ! = lim n → ∞ (1 0 ! + x 1 ! + x 2 2 ! + ⋯ + x n n !). {\displaystyle e^{x}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{x^{n} \over n!}=\lim _{n\to \infty }\left({\frac {1}{0!}}+{\frac {x}{1!}}+{\frac {x^{2}}{2!}}+\cdots +{\frac {x^{n}}{n!}}\right).}

Euler's use of power series enabled him to solve the Basel problem, finding the sum of the reciprocals of squares of every natural number, in 1735 (he provided a more elaborate argument in 1741). The Basel problem was originally posed by Pietro Mengoli in 1644, and by the 1730s was a famous open problem, popularized by Jacob Bernoulli and unsuccessfully attacked by many of the leading mathematicians of the time. Euler found that:

∑ n = 1 ∞ 1 n 2 = lim n → ∞ (1 1 2 + 1 2 2 + 1 3 2 + ⋯ + 1 n 2) = π 2 6. {\displaystyle \sum _{n=1}^{\infty }{1 \over n^{2}}=\lim _{n\to \infty }\left({\frac {1}{1^{2}}}+{\frac {1}{2^{2}}}+{\frac {1}{3^{2}}}+\cdots +{\frac {1}{n^{2}}}\right)={\frac {\pi ^{2}}{6}}.}

Euler introduced the constant γ = lim n → ∞ (1 + 1 2 + 1 3 + 1 4 + ⋯ + 1 n − ln (n)) ≈ 0.5772, {\displaystyle \gamma =\lim _{n\rightarrow \infty }\left(1+{\frac {1}{2}}+{\frac {1}{3}}+{\frac {1}{4}}+\cdots +{\frac {1}{n}}-\ln(n)\right)\approx 0.5772,} now known as Euler's constant or the Euler–Mascheroni constant, and studied its relationship with the harmonic series, the gamma function, and values of the Riemann zeta function.

Euler introduced the use of the exponential function and logarithms in analytic proofs. He discovered ways to express various logarithmic functions using power series, and he successfully defined logarithms for negative and complex numbers, thus greatly expanding the scope of mathematical applications of logarithms. He also defined the exponential function for complex numbers and discovered its relation to the trigonometric functions. For any real number φ (taken to be radians), Euler's formula states that the complex exponential function satisfies e i φ = cos φ + i sin φ {\displaystyle e^{i\varphi }=\cos \varphi +i\sin \varphi }

which was called "the most remarkable formula in mathematics" by Richard P. Feynman.

A special case of the above formula is known as Euler's identity, e i π + 1 = 0 {\displaystyle e^{i\pi }+1=0}

Euler elaborated the theory of higher transcendental functions by introducing the gamma function and introduced a new method for solving quartic equations. He found a way to calculate integrals with complex limits, foreshadowing the development of modern complex analysis. He invented the calculus of variations and formulated the Euler–Lagrange equation for reducing optimization problems in this area to the solution of differential equations.

Euler pioneered the use of analytic methods to solve number theory problems. In doing so, he united two disparate branches of mathematics and introduced a new field of study, analytic number theory. In breaking ground for this new field, Euler created the theory of hypergeometric series, q-series, hyperbolic trigonometric functions, and the analytic theory of continued fractions. For example, he proved the infinitude of primes using the divergence of the harmonic series, and he used analytic methods to gain some understanding of the way prime numbers are distributed. Euler's work in this area led to the development of the prime number theorem.