This article uses technical mathematical notation for logarithms. All instances of log(x) without a subscript base should be interpreted as a
natural logarithm, commonly notated as ln(x) or loge(x).
for some positive constant a. Here, O(...) is the
big O notation.
More precise estimates of π(x) are now known. For example, in 2002,
Kevin Ford proved that[7]
Mossinghoff and Trudgian proved[8] an explicit upper bound for the difference between π(x) and li(x):
For values of x that are not unreasonably large, li(x) is greater than π(x). However, π(x) − li(x) is known to change sign infinitely many times. For a discussion of this, see
Skewes' number.
μ(n) is the
Möbius function, li(x) is the
logarithmic integral function, ρ indexes every zero of the Riemann zeta function, and li(xρ/n) is not evaluated with a
branch cut but instead considered as Ei(ρ/n log x) where Ei(x) is the
exponential integral. If the trivial zeros are collected and the sum is taken only over the non-trivial zeros ρ of the Riemann zeta function, then π0(x) may be approximated by[10]
The
Riemann hypothesis suggests that every such non-trivial zero lies along Re(s) = 1/2.
Table of π(x), x/log(x), and li(x)
The table shows how the three functions π(x), x/log(x), and li(x) compared at powers of 10. See also,[3][11] and[12]
The value for π(1024) was originally computed by J. Buethe,
J. Franke, A. Jost, and T. Kleinjung assuming the
Riemann hypothesis.[13]
It was later verified unconditionally in a computation by D. J. Platt.[14]
The value for π(1025) is due to J. Buethe,
J. Franke, A. Jost, and T. Kleinjung.[15]
The value for π(1026) was computed by D. B. Staple.[16] All other prior entries in this table were also verified as part of that work.
The values for 1027, 1028, and 1029 were announced by David Baugh and Kim Walisch in 2015,[17] 2020,[18] and 2022,[19] respectively.
Algorithms for evaluating π(x)
A simple way to find π(x), if x is not too large, is to use the
sieve of Eratosthenes to produce the primes less than or equal to x and then to count them.
A more elaborate way of finding π(x) is due to
Legendre (using the
inclusion–exclusion principle): given x, if p1, p2,…, pn are distinct prime numbers, then the number of integers less than or equal to x which are divisible by no pi is
(where ⌊x⌋ denotes the
floor function). This number is therefore equal to
when the numbers p1, p2,…, pn are the prime numbers less than or equal to the square root of x.
In a series of articles published between 1870 and 1885,
Ernst Meissel described (and used) a practical combinatorial way of evaluating π(x): Let p1, p2,…, pn be the first n primes and denote by Φ(m,n) the number of natural numbers not greater than m which are divisible by none of the pi for any i ≤ n. Then
Given a natural number m, if n = π(3√m) and if μ = π(√m) − n, then
Using this approach, Meissel computed π(x), for x equal to 5×105, 106, 107, and 108.
In 1959,
Derrick Henry Lehmer extended and simplified Meissel's method. Define, for real m and for natural numbers n and k, Pk(m,n) as the number of numbers not greater than m with exactly k prime factors, all greater than pn. Furthermore, set P0(m,n) = 1. Then
where the sum actually has only finitely many nonzero terms. Let y denote an integer such that 3√m ≤ y ≤ √m, and set n = π(y). Then P1(m,n) = π(m) − n and Pk(m,n) = 0 when k ≥ 3. Therefore,
The computation of P2(m,n) can be obtained this way:
where the sum is over prime numbers.
On the other hand, the computation of Φ(m,n) can be done using the following rules:
Using his method and an
IBM 701, Lehmer was able to compute the correct value of π(109) and missed the correct value of π(1010) by 1.[20]
Further improvements to this method were made by Lagarias, Miller, Odlyzko, Deléglise, and Rivat.[21]
Other prime-counting functions
Other prime-counting functions are also used because they are more convenient to work with.
Riemann's prime-power counting function
Riemann's prime-power counting function is usually denoted as Π0(x) or J0(x). It has jumps of 1/n at prime powers pn and it takes a value halfway between the two sides at the discontinuities of π(x). That added detail is used because the function may then be defined by an inverse
Mellin transform.
Formally, we may define Π0(x) by
where the variable p in each sum ranges over all primes within the specified limits.
Formulas for prime-counting functions come in two kinds: arithmetic formulas and analytic formulas. Analytic formulas for prime-counting were the first used to prove the
prime number theorem. They stem from the work of Riemann and
von Mangoldt, and are generally known as
explicit formulae.[23]
Here ρ are the zeros of the Riemann zeta function in the critical strip, where the real part of ρ is between zero and one. The formula is valid for values of x greater than one, which is the region of interest. The sum over the roots is conditionally convergent, and should be taken in order of increasing absolute value of the imaginary part. Note that the same sum over the trivial roots gives the last
subtrahend in the formula.
For Π0(x) we have a more complicated formula
Again, the formula is valid for x > 1, while ρ are the nontrivial zeros of the zeta function ordered according to their absolute value. The integral is equal to the series over the trivial zeros:
The first term li(x) is the usual
logarithmic integral function; the expression li(xρ) in the second term should be considered as Ei(ρ log x), where Ei is the
analytic continuation of the
exponential integral function from negative reals to the complex plane with branch cut along the positive reals.
is Riemann's R-function[24] and μ(n) is the
Möbius function. The latter series for it is known as
Gram series.[25][26] Because log x < x for all x > 0, this series converges for all positive x by comparison with the series for ex. The logarithm in the Gram series of the sum over the non-trivial zero contribution should be evaluated as ρ log x and not log xρ.
Folkmar Bornemann proved,[27] when assuming the
conjecture that all zeros of the Riemann zeta function are simple,[note 1] that
where ρ runs over the non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function and t > 0.
The sum over non-trivial zeta zeros in the formula for π0(x) describes the fluctuations of π0(x) while the remaining terms give the "smooth" part of prime-counting function,[28] so one can use
as a good estimator of π(x) for x > 1. In fact, since the second term approaches 0 as x → ∞, while the amplitude of the "noisy" part is heuristically about √x/log x, estimating π(x) by R(x) alone is just as good, and fluctuations of the
distribution of primes may be clearly represented with the function
Inequalities
Here are some useful inequalities for π(x).
for x ≥ 17.
The left inequality holds for x ≥ 17 and the right inequality holds for x > 1. The constant 1.25506 is 30 log 113/113 to 5 decimal places, as π(x) log x/x has its maximum value at x = 113.[29]
^Mossinghoff, Michael J.; Trudgian, Timothy S. (2015). "Nonnegative trigonometric polynomials and a zero-free region for the Riemann zeta-function". J. Number Theory. 157: 329–349.
arXiv:1410.3926.
doi:
10.1016/J.JNT.2015.05.010.
S2CID117968965.
^Riesel, Hans (1994). Prime Numbers and Computer Methods for Factorization. Progress in Mathematics. Vol. 126 (2nd ed.). Birkhäuser. pp. 50–51.
ISBN0-8176-3743-5.