We prove an upper bound on sums of squares of minors of $\{+1, -1\}$-matrices. The bound is sharp for Hadamard matrices, a result due to de Launey and Levin [‘$(1,-1)$-matrices with near-extremal properties’, SIAM J. Discrete Math.23(2009), 1422–1440], but our proof is simpler. We give several corollaries relevant to minors of Hadamard matrices.

In this article we consider sums S(t) = Σnψ (tf(n/t)), where ψ denotes, essentially, the fractional part minus ½ f is a C4-function with f″ non-vanishing, and summation is extended over an interval of order t. For the mean-square of S(t), an asymptotic formula is established. If f is algebraic this can be sharpened by the indication of an error term.

The main object of this paper is the mean square Ih(s) of higher derivatives of Hurwitz zeta functions ζ(s, α). We shall prove asymptotic formulas for Ih(1/2 + it) as t → +∞ with the coefficients in closed expressions (Theorem 1). We also prove a certain explicit formula for Ih(1/2 + it) (Theorem 2), in which the coefficients are, in a sense, not explicit. However, one merit of this formula is that it contains sufficient information for obtaining the complete asymptotic expansion for Ih(1/2 + it) when h is small. Another merit is that Theorem 1 can be strengthened with the aid of Theorem 2 (see Theorem 3). The fundamental method for the proofs is Atkinson's dissection argument applied to the product ζ(u, α)ζ(v, α) with the independent complex variables u and v.