TITLE: Sum of $\sin$ when angles shrink by $1/n$
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: There are many identities known like
$$\sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \sin (k \cdot \theta + \varphi) = \frac{\sin\left(n \cdot \frac{\theta}{2}\right)}{\sin\left(\frac{\theta}{2}\right)} \cdot \sin \left(\frac{2 \varphi + (n-1)\cdot \theta}{2} \right)$$
However, in such situations the angles add up and are equidistant. Instead, I pose myself the question whether there is a simplifying formula for
$$\sum_{k=1}^{n} k \cdot \sin \left(\frac{x}{k} \right),$$
particularly,  if $x$ is much larger than $n$.

REPLY [3 votes]: If you rewrite everything using complex exponentials, then it's clear why a sum such as $$\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\sin(k\theta+\phi)$$ has a nice closed formula, since it's just two  geometric sums
$$ e^{i\phi}\sum_{k=1}^{n-1} e^{\pm i\theta k}. $$
And if you want $\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}k\sin(k\theta+\phi)$, it's similar, there are nice formulas for $\sum_{k=1}^{n-1}kT^k$. On the other hand, the sum you're asking about looks like
$$ \sum_{k=1}^n k\sin\left(\frac{x}{k}\right)
= \frac12\sum_{k=1}^n \Bigl(ke^{\pi i x/k} + ke^{-\pi i x/k}\Bigr). $$
I don't think that there's a nice closed formula in general for
$$ \sum_{k=1}^n kT^{1/k},\quad\text{nor for}\quad \sum_{k=1}^n T^{1/k}. $$
However, as Carlo indicated, one can often get a good approximation using an integral.