Is there any definition of the sum of $n$ summands, when $n$ is not a natural number?

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I think, from the algebraic point of view, that this doesn't make sense, since the addition of $n$ terms is defined "inductively" from the binary operation of the addition. This even yields the formula of $nx = x + x + \cdots + x$, where the $x$ is added $n$ times (which I saw as a different operation than the multiplication in a ring, but an action of the natural numbers in the ring).

However, it would make sense to make a definition of adding $n \in \mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{N}$ terms or summands? Something like the sense of a fractional derivative?

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Markus Muller and Dierk Schleicher say there is.

http://www.mpmueller.net/HowToAdd.pdf