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It's relatively simple to prove that this sum converges by using that $|\sin(t)|\leq|t|$ to get that $|f(x)|<\frac{\pi^2 x}{6}$, but this doesn't give boundedness.

I've tried using Abel summation and the approximation $\lfloor t \rfloor \approx t$, but the maximum possible error term is linear in $x$ ($2x/\pi$ if I remember correctly), and I've tried to use the Chinese Remainder Theorem to construct values of $x=\frac{\pi}{2} N$ for which the $\sin(x/n)\approx 1$ for small values of $n$, but I haven't been able to get anywhere with that as the behavior of numbers that are close to $n\bmod 4n$ for lots of $n$ is not very nice. My hunch says that there should be values of $x$ for which "the stars align" and the first few terms are close to $1/n$, where "few" is enough for $f(x)$ to get arbitrarily big, but I'm not sure if there's a way to rigorize this via a probabilistic argument.

For completeness, here's a bit of what I've done so far:

Say it were possible for $\sin(x/n)$ to equal $1$ for every $1\leq n\leq K$. Then

$$f(x) = H_K+\sum_{n=K+1}^{\lfloor x\rfloor} \frac{\sin(x/n)}{n} + \sum_{n=\lfloor x\rfloor+1}^{\infty} \frac{\sin(x/n)}{n}.$$

Using for the first sum that $-1\leq \sin(x)$ and for the second sum that $t\sin(1)\leq \sin(t)$ for $0\leq t\leq 1$,

$$f(x)\geq H_K - \left(H_{\lfloor x\rfloor}-H_{K+1}\right)+x\sin(1)\zeta\left(2,\lfloor x\rfloor+1\right),$$

where $\zeta(s,q)$ is the Hurwitz Zeta Function. It shouldn't be too hard to prove that $\zeta(2,q)>1/q$ (although I don't know of a proof offhand), so this implies

$$f(x)\geq H_K - \left(H_{\lfloor x\rfloor}-H_{K+1}\right)+\frac{\sin(1)x}{\lfloor x\rfloor+1}.$$

If $K$ and $x$ are both *large*, this is asymptotically about

$$\ln\left(\frac{K(K+1)}{x}\right)+C$$

for some constant $C$. Thus, if we could make $K$ grow a bit faster than $\sqrt{x}$, we would be able to prove that $f$ is unbounded.

Unfortunately, $\sin(x/n)=1$ for all $1\leq n\leq K$ is not possible for $K\geq 2$ for modular reasons (specifically numbers that are $1\bmod 4$ are not also $2\bmod 8$). So, we would need to find a threshold $\mu$ as well as a $K$ for which $\sin(x/n)>\mu$ for all $1\leq n\leq K$, and then weaken our bounds accordingly. Or, we could try to use a better bound than $-1$ on $\sin$ for the first sum. I'm not really sure.

  • So essentially, you are trying to prove it's unbounded, right? Or have you tried to prove boundedness? I feel that could be easier to prove (because almost periodic functions are bounded). –  Feb 01 '18 at 05:58
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    https://math.stackexchange.com/a/182491/42969 provides a representation as an integral with a link to Walter Gautschi, The Hardy–Littlewood function: an exercise in slowly convergent series, where it is stated that "Hardy and Littlewood prove that the function is unbounded, ..." – Martin R Feb 01 '18 at 06:09
  • @MartinR Thank you for your response. However, I am unable to view the paper here due to a paywall. Do you know of any place I could find a proof elsewhere? – Carl Schildkraut Feb 01 '18 at 06:16
  • @ProfessorVector I had tried to prove boundedness via Abel Summation and upper bounding via some approximation, but every approximation I could come up with resulted in only a linear bound, and the reasons for that (i.e. hard-to-define relationships between $\sin(x/n)$ for various values of $n$) caused me to think that there's no way this function is bounded. So, I gave that up and tried to prove unboundedness. – Carl Schildkraut Feb 01 '18 at 06:22
  • @CarlSchildkraut: Unfortunately not. I just quoted from the Walter Gautschi article, which is free. – Martin R Feb 01 '18 at 06:23
  • @MartinR Darn. Thanks for the reference anyway; if you want to post that as an answer I'll accept it in a day or so if nothing better comes along. – Carl Schildkraut Feb 01 '18 at 06:27
  • It is easy to show that if we extend the domain to $\Bbb C$ that it is unbounded on $\Bbb C$ because it is analytic and not constant. But for only $x\in\Bbb R$ it's quite a different Q – DanielWainfleet Feb 01 '18 at 06:46
  • Carl: You are welcome. Apparently the question has been asked before and @Dap (now) added that information to her/his answer, so I won't add another one. – Martin R Feb 01 '18 at 06:48
  • @Dap I didn't see that; sorry. Should I simply delete my question, or just add a vote to close as a duplicate? – Carl Schildkraut Feb 01 '18 at 07:08
  • @CarlSchildkraut: if you're happy it's a duplicate I think delete. But it sounds like you might want an explanation of Jack D'Aurizio's bullet point 2, which the current answer to his question takes as an assumption. – Dap Feb 01 '18 at 07:12

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