Sharp bounds for harmonic numbers

Feng Qi, Bai-Ni Guo

Published 2010-02-20Version 1

In the paper, we first survey some results on inequalities for bounding harmonic numbers or Euler-Mascheroni constant, and then we establish a new sharp double inequality for bounding harmonic numbers as follows: For $n\in\mathbb{N}$, the double inequality -\frac{1}{12n^2+{2(7-12\gamma)}/{(2\gamma-1)}}\le H(n)-\ln n-\frac1{2n}-\gamma<-\frac{1}{12n^2+6/5} is valid, with equality in the left-hand side only when $n=1$, where the scalars $\frac{2(7-12\gamma)}{2\gamma-1}$ and $\frac65$ are the best possible.