1
$\begingroup$

I was messing around and made some code to find the area of an n dimensional sphere. I noticed that as n increases, the area tends towards zero. These were the results:

area of 1 dimensional sphere: 2.0001751221664 area of 2 dimensional sphere: 3.1415926535898 area of 3 dimensional sphere: 4.189156979794 area of 4 dimensional sphere: 4.9348022005447 area of 5 dimensional sphere: 5.2642499169821 area of 6 dimensional sphere: 5.16771278005 area of 7 dimensional sphere: 4.7251796759576 area of 8 dimensional sphere: 4.0587121264168 area of 9 dimensional sphere: 3.2987977237512 area of 10 dimensional sphere: 2.5501640398773 area of 11 dimensional sphere: 1.8842688535664 area of 12 dimensional sphere: 1.3352627688546 area of 13 dimensional sphere: 0.91070849042345 area of 14 dimensional sphere: 0.59926452932079 area of 15 dimensional sphere: 0.38147668041015 area of 16 dimensional sphere: 0.23533063035889 area of 17 dimensional sphere: 0.14099345137557 area of 18 dimensional sphere: 0.082145886611128 area of 19 dimensional sphere: 0.046625683267975 area of 20 dimensional sphere: 0.025806891390014 

The function to find the area of an n dimensional sphere is:

$$f(n) = \frac{\pi^{\frac{n}{2}}}{\Gamma{(1 + \frac{n}{2})}}$$

where n is the dimension. How would I calculate the sum of all n dimensional spheres?

$\endgroup$
9
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Maple gives the answer as $-1+2e^\pi-e^\pi{\rm erfc}(\sqrt\pi)$. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 19, 2014 at 2:40
  • $\begingroup$ Mathematica says the sum is $e^\pi(1+\mbox{erf}(\sqrt{\pi}))-1$, where erf$(z)$ is the error function $\frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_0^z e^{-t^2}\,dt$. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 19, 2014 at 2:42
  • $\begingroup$ use summation with n -> 0 to infinity. Question what do you mean by sum of all n dimensonal spheres? Area or what? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 19, 2014 at 2:44
  • $\begingroup$ There seems to be something amiss---surely the volume of the $1$-ball should be exactly $2$. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 19, 2014 at 2:44
  • $\begingroup$ what is a one dimensional sphere anyway? I thought spheres were 3d and circles 2d. This is going to mess with my mind $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 19, 2014 at 2:46

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.