Can it be done - easily?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg13211] Can it be done - easily?
- From: "Barry Culhane" <barryc at schaffner.com>
- Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 07:42:59 -0400
- Organization: Schaffner Ltd.
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Myself and two workmates are software developers. One guy wanted a
formula to calculate a result for the following equation...
Z = sum of X/Y where X is a fixed number, and Y ranges from A-B in
fixed steps...
i.e... X=10000 ; Y=100,200,300...1000
i.e... Z= 10000/100 + 10000/200 + ... 10000/1000 = 292.896
He and I tried to figure out a simple formula to calculate it, but
couldn't. The third guy said it was *not* *possible* to derive a
formula - we think he's wrong, but can't prove it. MathCad can solve
it in the blink of an eye, even if the value of Y ranges from 1 to 1e6
in steps of 1 !!!
Can anyone come up with a simple formula to give a reasonably accurate
result? It is too slow to actually divide X by Y for each value of Y
as there may be 1000 or even 100,000 values of Y.
Thanks in advance...
> Barry Culhane
> Schaffner Ltd, Limerick, IRELAND