The regularization of is also involved in computing the Casimir force for a scalar field in one dimension. An exponential cutoff function suffices to smooth the series, representing the fact that arbitrarily high-energy modes are not blocked by the conducting plates. The spatial symmetry of the problem is responsible for canceling the quadratic term of the expansion. All that is left is the constant term , and the negative sign of this result reflects the fact that the Casimir force is attractive.