complex analysis - Evaluate $sum_{n=1}^infty frac{(-1)^{n+1}n^2}{n^4+1}$

Evaluate

$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{(-1)^{n+1}n^2}{n^4+1}$$

Does anyone have any smart ideas how to evaluate such a sum? I know one solution with complex numbers and complex analysis but I'm looking for some more smart or sophisticated methods.

Answer

I would not say that it is elegant, but:

The form $n^4+1$ in the denominator suggests that one should be able to get this series by expanding a combination of a hyperbolic and trigonometric function in a Fourier series.

Indeed, after some trial and error, the following function seems to work:

$$
\begin{gathered}
\left(\cos \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right) \sinh \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right)-\sin
\left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right) \cosh \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right)\right)\cos \left(\frac{x}{\sqrt{2}}\right) \cosh \left(\frac{x}{\sqrt{2}}\right) \\
+ \left(\cos \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right) \sinh \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right)+\sin \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right) \cosh
\left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right)\right)\sin \left(\frac{x}{\sqrt{2}}\right) \sinh
\left(\frac{x}{\sqrt{2}}\right)
\end{gathered}
$$

It is even, and its cosine coefficients are
$$
\frac{\sqrt{2}\bigl(\cos(\sqrt{2}\pi)-\cosh(\sqrt{2}\pi)\bigr)(-1)^{n+1} n^2}{\pi(1+n^4)},\quad n\geq 1.
$$
(The zero:th coefficient is also zero). Evaluating at $x=0$ (the series converges pointwise there) gives
$$
\sum_{n=1}^{+\infty}\frac{(-1)^{n+1}n^2}{1+n^4}=
\frac{\pi\left(\sin
\left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right) \cosh \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right)-\cos \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right) \sinh \left(\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{2}}\right)\right)}{\sqrt{2}\bigl(\cosh(\sqrt{2}\pi)-\cos(\sqrt{2}\pi)\bigr)}\approx 0.336.

$$