What is partition function ?
The partition function is a fundamental quantity in statistical mechanics that describes how a system is distributed among its possible energy states. For a system in thermal equilibrium: Z = Σ e⁻ᴱⁱ/ᵏᴮᵀ where Eᵢ is the energy of the ith state, kB is the Boltzmann constant, and T is the absolute temperature. The partition function is useful because many thermodynamic quantities, such as internal energy, entropy, and Helmholtz free energy, can be calculated from it.