TITLE: Putnam Series Question
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: I'm studying for the Putnam Exam and am a bit confused about how to go about solving this problem.

Sum the series
  $$
\sum_{m = 1}^{\infty} \sum_{n = 1}^{\infty} \frac{m^2n}{3^m(n3^m + m3^n)}.
$$

I've tried "splitting" the expression to see if a geometric sum pops up but that didn't get me anywhere. I've also tried examining the first few terms of the series for the first few values of $m$ to see if an inductive pattern emerged but no luck there either.

REPLY [13 votes]: Let 
$$
S = \sum_{m=1}^\infty \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{m^2n}{3^m(n3^m + m3^n)}= \sum_{m=1}^\infty \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{\frac{3^m}{m}\left( \frac{3^m}{m} + \frac{3^n}{n} \right)}. 
$$
Then we see by symmetry, that 
$$
2S = \sum_{m=1}^\infty \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{\left( \frac{3^m}{m} + \frac{3^n}{n} \right)}\left( \frac{1}{\frac{3^m}{m}} + \frac{1}{\frac{3^n}{n}}\right),
$$
or what is the same, 
$$
2S = \sum_{m=1}^\infty\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{mn}{3^m 3^n} = \left( \sum_{m=1}^\infty \frac{m}{3^m} \right)^2.
$$
The problem reduces to calculating the last single sum. 
To this end, recall that for $|x|< 1,$ geometric series yields
$$
\frac{1}{1-x} = 1 + x+ x^2 + \cdots,
$$
multiplying by $x,$ and differentiating (this is justified because the series on the right converges on compact subsets of $|x| < 1,$ 
$$
\frac{1}{(1-x)^2} = 1+ 2x + 3x^2 + \cdots,
$$
and multiplying by $x$ one more time, 
$$
\frac{x}{(1-x)^2} = x + 2x^2 + 3x^3 + \cdots.
$$
Set $x = 1/3$ to evaluate the single sum on the right. We obtain (if I haven't messed up calculations)
$$
S = \frac{9}{32}.
$$