The classic Möbius inversion formula was introduced into number theory during the 19th century by August Ferdinand Möbius. It was later generalized to other "Möbius inversion formulas"; see incidence algebra. The classic version states that if g(n) and f(n) are arithmetic functions satisfying
The formula is also correct if f and g are functions from the positive integers into some abelian group.
In the language of convolutions (see multiplicative function), the inversion formula can also be expressed as
- μ * 1 = ε.
The Möbius inversion treated above is the original Möbius inversion. When the partially ordered set of natural numbers ordered by divisibility one is replaced by other locally finite partially ordered sets, one has other Möbius inversion formulas; for an account of those, see incidence algebra.
See also: August Ferdinand Möbius.