Gaussian quadrature for sums: A rapidly convergent summation scheme

Abstract

Gaussian quadrature is a well-known technique for numerical integration. Recently Gaussian quadrature with respect to discrete measures corresponding to finite sums has found some new interest. In this paper we apply these ideas to infinite sums in general and give an explicit construction for the weights and abscissae of Gaussian formulas. The abscissae of the Gaussian summation have a very interesting asymptotic distribution function with a kink singularity. We apply the Gaussian summation technique to two problems which have been discussed in the literature. We find that the Gaussian summation has a very rapid convergence rate for the Hardy-Littlewood sum for a large range of parameters.