Cyclic sum

From AoPSWiki

A cyclic sum is a summation that cycles through all the values of a function and takes their sum, so to speak.

Rigorous definition

Consider a function $f(a_1,a_2,a_3,\ldots a_n)$ . The cyclic sum $\sum f(a_1,a_2,a_3,\ldots a_n)$ is equal to

$f(a_1,a_2,a_3,\ldots a_n)+f(a_2,a_3,a_4,\ldots a_n,a_1)+f(a_3,a_4,\ldots a_n,a_1,a_2)\ldots+f(a_n,a_1,a_2,\ldots a_{n-1})$

Note that not all permutations of the variables are used; they are just cycled through.

Notation

A cyclic sum is often specified by having the variables to cycle through underneath the sigma, as follows: $\sum_{a,b,c}\frac{ab}{cd}$ . Note that a cyclic sum need not cycle through all of the variables.

A cyclic sum is also sometimes specified by $\sum_{cyc}$ . This notation implies that all variables are cycled through.

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Cyclic sum

From AoPSWiki

Rigorous definition

Notation

See also