Python program to calculate harmonic series

Question

Does anyone know how to write a program in Python that will calculate the addition of the harmonic series. i.e. 1 + 1/2 +1/3 +1/4...

Answer 1

A fast, accurate, smooth, complex-valued version of the H function can be calculated using the digamma function as explained here. The Euler-Mascheroni (gamma) constant and the digamma function are available in the numpy and scipy libraries, respectively.

from numpy import euler_gamma
from scipy.special import digamma

def digamma_H(s):
    """ If s is complex the result becomes complex. """
    return digamma(s + 1) + euler_gamma

from fractions import Fraction

def Kiv_H(n):
    return sum(Fraction(1, d) for d in xrange(1, n + 1))

def J_F_Sebastian_H(n):
    return euler_gamma + log(n) + 0.5/n - 1./(12*n**2) + 1./(120*n**4)

Here's a comparison of the three methods for speed and precision (with Kiv_H for reference):

Kiv_H(x) J_F_Sebastian_H(x) digamma_H(x) x seconds bits seconds bits seconds bits 1 5.06e-05 exact 2.47e-06 8.8 1.16e-05 exact 10 4.45e-04 exact 3.25e-06 29.5 1.17e-05 52.6 100 7.64e-03 exact 3.65e-06 50.4 1.17e-05 exact 1000 7.62e-01 exact 5.92e-06 52.9 1.19e-05 exact