In number theory, an additive function is an arithmetic functionf(n) of the positive integer variable n such that whenever a and b are coprime, the function applied to the product ab is the sum of the values of the function applied to a and b:[1]
Completely additive
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An additive function f(n) is said to be completely additive if holds for all positive integers a and b, even when they are not coprime. Totally additive is also used in this sense by analogy with totally multiplicative functions. If f is a completely additive function then f(1) = 0.
Every completely additive function is additive, but not vice versa.
Examples
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Examples of arithmetic functions which are completely additive are:
The multiplicity of a prime factor p in n, that is the largest exponent m for which pmdividesn.
a0(n) – the sum of primes dividing n counting multiplicity, sometimes called sopfr(n), the potency of n or the integer logarithm of n (sequence A001414 in the OEIS). For example:
The function Ω(n), defined as the total number of prime factors of n, counting multiple factors multiple times, sometimes called the "Big Omega function" (sequence A001222 in the OEIS). For example;
From any additive function it is possible to create a related multiplicative function which is a function with the property that whenever and are coprime then:
One such example is Likewise if is completely additive, then is completely multiplicative. More generally, we could consider the function , where is a nonzero real constant.
Summatory functions
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Given an additive function , let its summatory function be defined by . The average of is given exactly as
The summatory functions over can be expanded as where
The average of the function is also expressed by these functions as
There is always an absolute constant such that for all natural numbers,
Let
Suppose that is an additive function with
such that as ,
Examples of this result related to the prime omega function and the numbers of prime divisors of shifted primes include the following for fixed where the relations hold for :