- #1
pellman
- 684
- 5
Reimann sums, okay. How about a "Reimann product"?
An integral is a sort of "continuous sum". Very roughly, the sum Σk f(xk) Δx goes over to the integral ∫f(x)dx when the number of terms becomes infinite while Δx goes to zero.
What about a similar "continuous product"? If we have the product
Πk [f(xk)] Pk
and let the exponents Pk go to zero while the number of products goes to infinite (and the range of xk is fixed as in an integral) what sort of an animal do we get?
I realize that we can turn this product into a sum by taking the anti-logarithm. Then the continuous limit of this product is e raised to an integral with ln(f) in the integrand. However, I'm curious if the properties of these sorts of entities are known without resorting to integrals. And is there a notation for them?
An integral is a sort of "continuous sum". Very roughly, the sum Σk f(xk) Δx goes over to the integral ∫f(x)dx when the number of terms becomes infinite while Δx goes to zero.
What about a similar "continuous product"? If we have the product
Πk [f(xk)] Pk
and let the exponents Pk go to zero while the number of products goes to infinite (and the range of xk is fixed as in an integral) what sort of an animal do we get?
I realize that we can turn this product into a sum by taking the anti-logarithm. Then the continuous limit of this product is e raised to an integral with ln(f) in the integrand. However, I'm curious if the properties of these sorts of entities are known without resorting to integrals. And is there a notation for them?