What is this mathematical equation from Fringe?

Solution 1:

The last formula seems to be an integral expression for the Dirichlet $\eta$ function:

$$\eta(s)=\sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{(-1)^{k-1}}{k^s}\quad \Re(s) > 0$$

Using the relationship with the usual Riemann $\zeta$ function

$$\eta(s)=(1-2^{1-s})\zeta(s)$$

and this integral expression, you get that integral in the notebook:

$$\eta(s) = \frac1{\Gamma(s)} \int_0^{\infty}\frac{x^{s-1}}{e^x+1}\mathrm dx$$

There is also this closely related integral (which Arturo mentions in his answer).

The (first part of the) second line looks to be the chain of relations relating Riemann $\zeta$, Dirichlet $\eta$, and Dirichlet $\lambda$:

$$\frac{\zeta(s)}{2^s}=\frac{\lambda(s)}{2^s-1}=\frac{\eta(s)}{2^s-2}$$

In the second part, the expressions look to be the differentiation of Dirichlet $\eta$, but the screenshot is fuzzy around that region...

Solution 2:

By sheer coincidence, this equation occurs in P. Mark Kayll's paper Integrals don't have anything to do with discrete Math, do they? (Mathematics Magazine 84 no. 2, April 2011, pages 108-119, doi:10.4169/math.mag.84.2.108, which I was reading through today. It is equation (6) on page 111.

$\zeta(s)$ is the Riemann zeta function, $$\zeta(s) = \sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{k^s}.$$

$\Gamma(s)$ is the Gamma function, $$\Gamma(s) = \int_0^{\infty} t^{s-1}e^{-t}\,dt.$$

$R(s)\gt \frac{1}{2}$ says that the real part of $s$ is greater than $\frac{1}{2}$.

The final equation is just a recasting of the equality $$\zeta(x)\Gamma(x) = \int_0^{\infty}\frac{t^{x-1}}{e^t-1}\,dt$$ which holds whenever $\Gamma(x)$ is finite.

Nothing to get too excited about... unless you don't know what any of the symbols mean, which I suspect holds for a very large portion of the viewership of Fringe.

Solution 3:

It's Riemann's zeta-function as a Mellin transform. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riemann_zeta_function#Mellin_transform