Definition of a Bernoulli Number(& Contour Integral)

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So I'm a little confused on where the Bernoulli numbers come from. Most of the definitions involve contour integrals, which I can't define and understand as well as I thought, though I do know regular integration. So, where do the Bernoulli numbers come from? Also, what is a contour integral really?

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You probably mean the same as equation (2) of the MathWorld Bernoulli Number article, essentially equivalent to the exponential generating function in equation (1). Read the Wikipedia article Laurent series for the equivalence. Of course, there are easier ways of calculating Bernoulli numbers going back before Jakob Bernoulli. See the Wikipedia article Bernoulli number for more details and references.