Ugh. First, the title of this article is wrong because in the article itself the author says it IS -1/12, just not the way the video proved it.
And, yes, I know in math that HOW you get the answer is somehow seen as being more important than the answer itself, but really? You consider this attention damaging? This is like the people who complain about Mythbusters because it's not "real science".
Look, anything that gets people more interested in math is great, especially when it's a video as harmless as this one (it's not as if this video could actually impact someone's life or well-being).
So drop this "I was the cool form of uncool before uncool became a thing" attitude and just be happy that people are interested in math for a change.
No, the title is right. The sum is not -1/12, there is no sum because it diverges. The Ramanujan summation is not the real summation, its a way to assign a sum to divergent series which can be useful in some cases.
> just be happy that people are interested in math for a change
Sorry, can't do it. Mythbusters actually is real science, and anyone who thinks it isn't doesn't understand science. But this video is not real math, notwithstanding that the result it derives looks the same as one that can be derived using real math.
And, yes, I know in math that HOW you get the answer is somehow seen as being more important than the answer itself, but really? You consider this attention damaging? This is like the people who complain about Mythbusters because it's not "real science".
Look, anything that gets people more interested in math is great, especially when it's a video as harmless as this one (it's not as if this video could actually impact someone's life or well-being).
So drop this "I was the cool form of uncool before uncool became a thing" attitude and just be happy that people are interested in math for a change.