I Summation Equality: Is it Me or Author?

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The discussion revolves around a paper review where the reviewer is confused by an equation related to summation equality. The author claims that the equation involving the sum of squared differences is correct, but the reviewer initially doubts this. After some back-and-forth, the reviewer realizes they made a simple mistake in their calculations, specifically miswriting a term. The conversation highlights the importance of careful mathematical expansion and verification in paper reviews. Ultimately, the reviewer acknowledges their error and expresses intent to resolve the issue.
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I'm doing my first paper review and an equation is holding me up. I can't tell if I'm just missing something silly or if the author made a mistake.

Given that:
\sum_{n=1}^{N}s_{n} = 1
The author says that:
\sum_{n=1}^{N}(s_{n} - \frac{1}{N})^{2} = \sum_{n=1}^{N}s_{n}^{2} - \frac{1}{N}
I seem to be having some trouble getting this to work. Am I just missing something? Or is this the author's mistake? Thanks!
 
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jenny_shoars said:
I seem to be having some trouble getting this to work.
Seems fine to me. Have you tried expanding the square or anything?
 
Dragon27 said:
Seems fine to me. Have you tried expanding the square or anything?
I did, but still didn't seem to get it to come out right. But, now that I know it's just me, I'll figure it out. Thanks!
 
jenny_shoars said:
Or is this the author's mistake?
No.

Dragon27 said:
Have you tried expanding the square or anything?
Good suggestion.
 
jenny_shoars said:
I did, but still didn't seem to get it to come out right. But, now that I know it's just me, I'll figure it out. Thanks!

Keep in mind that for a constant term ##k## , ##\sum_{k=1}^N k = Nk##.
 
Sorry, I discovered my error very shortly after reading Dragon27's reply. I had made a very simple mistake where I wrote \frac{N}{N^2}=N. Just not enough sleep I guess.
 
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