|
Benford's law for coefficients of modular forms and partition functions
Authors:
Theresa C. Anderson, Larry Rolen and Ruth Stoehr
Journal:
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 139 (2011), 1533-1541
MSC (2010):
Primary 11F12, 11F20, 11P82
Posted:
October 5, 2010
MathSciNet review:
2763743
Full-text PDF
Abstract |
References |
Similar Articles |
Additional Information
Abstract: Here we prove that Benford's law holds for coefficients of an infinite class of modular forms. Expanding the work of Bringmann and Ono on exact formulas for harmonic Maass forms, we derive the necessary asymptotics. This implies that the unrestricted partition function , as well as other natural partition functions, satisfies Benford's law.
- 1.
F. Benford. The law of anomalous numbers. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1938, Vol. 78, No. 4, pages 551-572.
- 2.
Kathrin
Bringmann and Ken
Ono, An arithmetic formula for the
partition function, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc.
135 (2007), no. 11, 3507–3514 (electronic). MR 2336564
(2008m:11206), http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9939-07-08883-1
- 3.
K. Bringmann and K. Ono. Coefficients of harmonic Maass forms. Proceedings of the 2008 University of Florida Conference on Partitions,
-series and Modular Forms, in press.
- 4.
Persi
Diaconis, The distribution of leading digits and uniform
distribution 𝑚𝑜𝑑 1, Ann. Probability
5 (1977), no. 1, 72–81. MR 0422186
(54 #10178)
- 5.
G.
H. Hardy and S.
Ramanujan, Une formule asymptotique pour le nombre des partitions
de 𝑛 [Comptes Rendus, 2 Jan. 1917], Collected papers of
Srinivasa Ramanujan, AMS Chelsea Publ., Providence, RI, 2000,
pp. 239–241 (French). MR
2280874
- 6.
T. Hill. The first-digit phenomenon, American Scientists 86 (1996), 358-363.
- 7.
Theodore
P. Hill, A statistical derivation of the significant-digit
law, Statist. Sci. 10 (1995), no. 4,
354–363. MR 1421567
(98a:60021)
- 8.
Alex
V. Kontorovich and Steven
J. Miller, Benford’s law, values of 𝐿-functions and
the 3𝑥+1 problem, Acta Arith. 120 (2005),
no. 3, 269–297. MR 2188844
(2007c:11085), http://dx.doi.org/10.4064/aa120-3-4
- 9.
L.
Kuipers and H.
Niederreiter, Uniform distribution of sequences,
Wiley-Interscience [John Wiley & Sons], New York, 1974. Pure and
Applied Mathematics. MR 0419394
(54 #7415)
- 10.
Simon
Newcomb, Note on the Frequency of Use of the Different Digits in
Natural Numbers, Amer. J. Math. 4 (1881),
no. 1-4, 39–40. MR
1505286, http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2369148
- 11.
Ken
Ono, The web of modularity: arithmetic of the coefficients of
modular forms and 𝑞-series, CBMS Regional Conference Series in
Mathematics, vol. 102, Published for the Conference Board of the
Mathematical Sciences, Washington, DC, 2004. MR 2020489
(2005c:11053)
- 12.
Sinai
Robins, Generalized Dedekind 𝜂-products, The
Rademacher legacy to mathematics (University Park, PA, 1992) Contemp.
Math., vol. 166, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1994,
pp. 119–128. MR 1284055
(95k:11061), http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/conm/166/01645
- 13.
Don
Zagier, Elliptic modular forms and their applications, The
1-2-3 of modular forms, Universitext, Springer, Berlin, 2008,
pp. 1–103. MR 2409678
(2010b:11047), http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74119-0_1
- 1.
- F. Benford. The law of anomalous numbers. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1938, Vol. 78, No. 4, pages 551-572.
- 2.
- K. Bringmann and K. Ono. An arithmetic formula for the partition function. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 135 (2007), 3507-3514. MR 2336564 (2008m:11206)
- 3.
- K. Bringmann and K. Ono. Coefficients of harmonic Maass forms. Proceedings of the 2008 University of Florida Conference on Partitions,
-series and Modular Forms, in press.
- 4.
- P. Diaconis. The distribution of leading digits and uniform distribution mod
. The Annals of Probability, 1977, Vol. 5, No. 1, pages 75-81. MR 0422186 (54:10178)
- 5.
- G. H. Hardy and S. Ramanujan. Une formule asymptotique pour le nombre des partitions de n [Comptes Rendus, 2 Jan. 1917] (French) [An asymptotic formula for the number of partitions of
], Collected Papers of Srinivas Ramanujan, pages 239-241, AMS Chelsea Publ., Providence, RI, 2000. MR 2280874
- 6.
- T. Hill. The first-digit phenomenon, American Scientists 86 (1996), 358-363.
- 7.
- T. Hill. A statistical derivation of the significant-digit law, Statistical Science 10 (1996), 354-363. MR 1421567 (98a:60021)
- 8.
- A. Kontorovich and S. Miller. Benford's Law, Values of L-functions, and the
problem, Acta Arithmetica, 120 (2005), no. 3, pages 952-992. MR 2188844 (2007c:11085)
- 9.
- L. Kuipers and H. Niederreiter. Uniform Distribution of Sequences. Dover Publications, 2006. MR 0419394 (54:7415)
- 10.
- S. Newcomb. Note on the Frequency of Use of Different Digits in Natural Numbers. American Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1881, pages 39-40. MR 1505286
- 11.
- K. Ono. The Web of Modularity: Arithmetic of Coefficients of Modular Forms and
-series. American Mathematical Society, 2004. MR 2020489 (2005c:11053)
- 12.
- S. Robins, Generalized Dedekind
-products, Contemp. Math., The Rademacher Legacy to Mathematics, 166, Amer. Math. Soc., 1994, 119-128. MR 1284055 (95k:11061)
- 13.
- D. Zagier, Elliptic Modular Forms and Their Applications, The 1-2-3 of Modular Forms: Lectures at a Summer School in Nordfjordeid, Norway, Springer-Verlag, 2008. MR 2409678 (2010b:11047)
Similar Articles
Retrieve articles in Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society
with MSC (2010):
11F12,
11F20,
11P82
Retrieve articles in all journals
with MSC (2010):
11F12,
11F20,
11P82
Additional Information
Theresa C. Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Email:
tcanderson@math.brown.edu
Larry Rolen
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Email:
lrolen@wisc.edu
Ruth Stoehr
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Email:
rstoehr@emory.edu
DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/S0002-9939-2010-10577-4
PII:
S 0002-9939(2010)10577-4
Received by editor(s):
April 30, 2010
Received by editor(s) in revised form:
May 5, 2010
Posted:
October 5, 2010
Communicated by:
Matthew A. Papanikolas
Article copyright:
© Copyright 2010 American Mathematical Society
The copyright for this article reverts to public domain 28 years after publication.
|