22 Dec
2009
22 Dec
'09
5:38 a.m.
Yes, this was a long standing problem that Euler solved : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_problem the basel problem, but if I may, I think that he guessed the first result for Pi^2/6 and managed a way to make a proof in the general case. This is typical from Euler... many of his results are based on computation first then eventually a general result with a ~proof another example is the Euler-Maclaurin formula. Simon Plouffe