Series of zeta sum

Let $\zeta$ denote the Riemann zeta function. Evaluate the series:

$\mathcal{S} = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \left( n - \sum_{k=2}^{n} \zeta(k) \right)$

Solution

Let $a \in \mathbb{R} \mid \left| a \right|<2$ . We are proving the more general result.

$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} a^n \left ( n - \sum_{k=2}^{n} \zeta(k) \right ) = a \left ( \frac{\psi^{(0)}\left ( 2-a \right ) + \gamma}{1-a} + 1 \right )$

where $\psi^{(0)}$ denotes the digamma function.

First of all, we note that:

$\begin{align*} \sum_{k=2}^{n} \zeta(k) &= \sum_{k=2}^{n} \sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m^k} \\ &= \sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \sum_{k=2}^{n} \frac{1}{m^k}\\ &=\sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \sum_{k=0}^{n-2} \frac{1}{m^{k+2}} \\ &=\sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m^2} \sum_{k=0}^{n-2} \frac{1}{m^k} \\ &=\sum_{m=1}^{1} \frac{1}{m^2} \sum_{k=0}^{n-2} \frac{1}{m^k} + \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m^2}\sum_{k=0}^{n-2} \frac{1}{m^k} \\ &= n-1 + \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m^2} \left ( \frac{1-\frac{1}{m^{n-1}}}{1-\frac{1}{m}} \right ) \\ &= n-1 +\sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{m^{n-1}-1}{\left ( m-1 \right ) m^n} \\ & = n -1 + \sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m(m+1)} - \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(m-1) m^n} \\ &= n - \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(m-1) m^n} \end{align*}$

Thus,

$\begin{align*} \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} a^n \left ( n - \sum_{k=2}^{n} \zeta(k) \right ) &= \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m-1}\sum_{n=2}^{\infty} \left ( \frac{a}{m} \right )^n \\ &=a^2 \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(m-1) m \left ( m-a \right )} \\ &=a^2 \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m-a} \left ( \frac{1}{m-1} - \frac{1}{m} \right ) \\ &=a^2 \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(m-1)(m-a)} -a^2 \sum_{m=2}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m(m-a)} \\ &=a^2 \sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m(m+1-a)} - a^2 \sum_{m=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{m(m-a)} + \\ & \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad + \frac{a^2}{1-a} \\ &=\frac{a^2}{1-a} \left ( \psi^{(0)} (2-a) + \gamma \right ) +\\ & \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad + a \left ( \psi^{(0)} (1-a) + \gamma \right )+\frac{a^2}{1-a}\\ &= a \left ( \frac{\psi^{(0)}(2-a) + \gamma}{1-a} + 1 \right ) \end{align*}$