The IndefiniteSummation(f, k) command computes a closed form of the indefinite sum of f with respect to k, that is, it finds a function  such that .

The DefiniteSummation(f, k=m..n) command computes a closed form of the definite sum of  over the specified range .

For notational convenience, there are two special cases:

- The DefiniteSummation(f, k=alpha) command, where alpha is a RootOf structure, computes the definite sum of  over the index of the specified RootOf

- The DefiniteSummation(f, k=expr) command is used for function evaluation at a specified point. This is an equivalence of eval(f, k=expr).

The Summation(f, ...) command is the combination of DefiniteSummation and IndefiniteSummation commands.

For a specified summation problem give to Summation, there is a preprocess that classifies whether the summation is a definite or indefinite sum.  It then calls either IndefiniteSummation or DefiniteSummation as appropriate.

If Summation, IndefiniteSummation, or DefiniteSummation fails to compute a closed form, the unevaluated sum returns.

Note: The sum routine recognizes various resummation methods and thus is able to give the 'correct' value for various classes of divergent sums. If the environment variable _EnvFormal is set to true, sum uses this technique.

If _EnvFormal is set to false, then Maple tries harder to determine whether the given definite sum is divergent and returns infinity, -infinity, or unevaluated in that case. Note that this may slow down the computation.

In that case, Maple also tries to recognize removable singularities in the summation interval.

By default, _EnvFormal is unassigned.

For more information, see sum,details.

If the option parametric is specified for a definite sum, then a result is returned that is valid for all possible integer values of any parameters occurring in the summand or the summation bounds. In general, the result is expressed in terms of piecewise functions.

Warning, unable to determine if the summand is singular in the interval of summation; try to use assumptions or use the parametric option