Bernoulli numbers and sums of powers

Abstract

There have been many studies of Bernoulli numbers since Jakob Bernoulli first used the numbers to compute sums of powers, 1 ^p + 2 ^p + 3 ^p + ··· + n^p , where n is any natural number and p is any non-negative integer. By examining patterns of these sums for the first few powers and the relation between their coefficients and Bernoulli numbers, the author hypothesizes and proves a new recursive algorithm for computing Bernoulli numbers, sums of powers, as well as m-ford sums of powers, which enrich the existing literatures of Bernoulli numbers.