Sequence and Series

Gabriel Asare Okyere (PhD)

Kwame Nkrumah Unversity of Science and Technology.

December 18, 2018

Gabriel Asare Okyere (Kwame Nkrumah Unversity of Science

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 REARRANGEMENTS

The question of whether a given convergent series is absolutely

convergent or conditionally convergent has a bearing on the question
of whether infinite sums behave like finite sums.
If we rearrange the order of the terms in a finite sum then of course
the value of the sum remains unchanged. But this is not always the
case for an infinite series. By a rearrangement of an infinite series
P
an we mean a series obtained by simplyPchanging the order of the
terms. For instance, a rearrangement of an could start as follows:

a1 + a2 + a3 + a4 + a15 + a6 + a20 + . . .

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 It turns out that
P
if an is an absolutely convergent
P series with sum s,
then any rearrangement of an has the same sum s.

However, any conditionally convergent series can be rearranged to

give a different sum. To illustrate this fact let’s consider the
alternating harmonic series
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1− + − + − + − + · · · = ln 2 (1)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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 1
If we multiply this series by 2
we get
1 1 1 1 1
− + − + · · · = ln 2
2 4 6 8 2
Inserting zeros between the terms of this seres, we have
1 1 1 1 1
0+ = 0 − + 0 + + 0 − + · · · = ln 2 (2)
2 4 6 8 2

Note
Adding these zeros does not affect the sum of the series ; each term
in the sequence of partial sums is repeated, but the limit is the same.

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 Now we add the series in equations 1 and 2
1 1 1 1 1 1
− + − − + · · · = ln 2
1+ (3)
3 2 5 7 4 2
Notice that the series in (3) contains the same terms as in (1), but
rearranged so that one negative term occurs after each pair of
positive terms. The sums of these series, however, are different. In
fact, Riemann P proved that
if an is a conditionally convergent series and r
is any real number whatsoever, P
then there is a rearrangement of an that has a
sum equal to r .

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 Exercises

∞
X (1.1)n
1. (−1)n 4
n=1
n
∞
X n2 2n
2. (−1)n+1
n=1
n!
∞
X cos nπ 3
3.
n=1
n!
∞  n 2
X 1
4. 1+
n=1
n
∞
X 2n n!
n
5. (−1)
n=1
5.8.11 . . . (3n + 2)

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 1 X
6. (a) Find the partial sum S5 of the series . Estimate the ∞
n=1
n2n
error in using S5 as an approximation to the sum of the series.
(b) Find the value of n so that Sn is within 0.00005 of the sum.
Use this value of n to approximate the sum of the series.

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 STRATEGY FOR TESTING SERIES

We now have several ways of testing a series for convergence or

divergence; the problem is to decide which test to use on which
series. In this respect, testing series is similar to integrating functions.
Again there are no hard and fast rules about which test to apply to a
given series, but you may find the following advice of some use.
It is not wise to apply a list of the tests in a specific order until one
finally works. that would be a waste of time and effort. Instead, as
with integration, the main strategy is to classify the series according
to its form.

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 P 1
If the series is of the form np
, it is a p-series, which we know
to be convergent if p > 1 and divergent if p ≤ 1.
P n−1 P n
If the series has the form ar or ar , it is a geometric
series which converges if |r | < 1and diverges if |r | ≥ 1. Some
preliminary algebraic manipulation may be required to bring the
series into this form.
If the series has a form that is similar to a p-series or a
geometric series, then one of the comparison tests should be
considered, In particular, if an is a rational function of an
algebraic function of n (involving roots of polynomials), then the
series should be compared with a p-series. TheP comparison tests
apply only to series with positive terms, but if an has some
negative
P terms, then we can apply the comparison Test to
|an | and test for absolute convergence.

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 If you can see at a glance that lim an 6= 0, then the Test for
n→∞
Divergence should be used.
If the series is of the form (−1)n−1 bn or (−1)n bn , then the
P P
Alternating Test is an obvious possibility.
Series that involve factorials or other products (including a
constant raised to the nth power) are often conveniently tested
using the Ratio Test. Bear in mind that | aan+1 n
| → 1 as n → ∞
for all p-series and therefore all rational or algebraic functions of
n. Thus, the Ratio Test should not be used for such series.
If an is of the form (bn )n , the Root Test may be useful.
If an is of the form (bn )n , then the Root Test may be useful.
Z ∞
If an = f (n), where f (x)dx is easily evaluated, then the
1
Integral Test is effective (assuming the hypotheses of this test
are satisfied).

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 Example 1
∞
X n−1
n=1
2n + 1
1
Since an → 2
6= 0 as n → ∞, we should use the Test for Divergence.

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 Example 2
∞ √
X n3 + 1
n=1
3n3 + 4n2 + 2
Since an is an algebraic function of n,we compare given series with a
p-series.
X The comparison series for the Limit Comparison Test is
bn , where
√ 3
n3 n2 1
bn = 3
= 3 = 3
3n 3n 3n 2

Example 3
∞
2
X
ne −n
n=1
Z x
2
Since the integral xe −x dx is easily evaluated, we use the Integral
1
Test. The Ratio Test also works.
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 Example 4
∞
X n3
(−1)n
n=1
n4 + 1
Since the series is alternating, we use the Alternating Series Test.

Example 5
∞
X 2k
k=1
k!
Since the series is alternating, we use the Alternating Series Test.

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 Example 6
∞
X 1
n=1
2 + 3n
X 1
Since the series is closely related to the geometric series , we
3n
use the Comparison Test.

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 Theorem 2

cn (x − a)n has radius of convergence R > 0,

P
If the power series
then the function f is defined by
∞
X
2
f (x) = c0 + c1 (x − a) + c2 (x − a) + · · · = cn (x − a)n
n=0

is differentiable (and therefore continuous) on the interval

(a − R, a + R) and
∞
X
(i) f 0 (x) = c1 + 2c2 (x − a) + 3c3 (x − a)2 + · · · = ncn (x − a)n−1
n=0

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 R (x − a)2 (x − a)3
(ii) f (x) dx = C + c0 (x − a) + c1 + c2 + ···
∞
2 3
X (x − a)n+1
=C+ cn
n=0
n+1
The radii of convergence of the power series in Equation (i) and (ii)
are both R

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 NOTE 1 Equation (i) and (ii) in Theorem 2 can be written in
the form"∞ # "∞ #
d X n
X d
n
(iii) cn (x − a) = [cn (x − a) ]
dx n=0 n=0
dx
"∞ # ∞ Z
R X n
X
(iv) cn (x − a) dx = cn (x − a)n dx
n=0 n=0
We know that, for the finite sums, the derivative of a sum is the sum
of the derivatives and the integral of the sum is the sum of the
integrals. Equation (iii) and (iv) assert that the same is true for
infinite sums, provided we are dealing with power series.

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 NOTE 2 Although Theorem 2 says that the radius of
convergence remains same when a power series is differentiated or
integrated, this does not mean that the the interval of convergence
remains the same. It may happen that the original series convergence
at an end-point, whereas the differentiated series diverges there.

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 NOTE 3 The idea of differentiating a power series term by term is
the basis for a powerful method for solving differential equations. We
will discuss this method later

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 The Bessel function
∞
X (−1)n x 2n
J0 (x) =
n=0
22n (n!)2

is defined for all x.

Thus by Theorem 2, J0 is differentiable for all x and its derivative is
found by term-by-term differentiations as follows:
∞ ∞
0
X d (−1)n x 2n X (−1)n 2nx 2n−1
J0 (x) = =
n=0
dx 22n (n!)2 n=0
22n (n!)2

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 Example 5
Express 1/(1 − x) as a power series by differentiating Equation 4.
What is the radius of convergence?
Solution: Differentiating each side of the equation
∞
1 X
= 1 + x + x2 + x3 + · · · = xn |x| < 1 (4)
1−x n=0

∞
d  1  X
we get = 1 + 2x + 3x 2 + · · · = nx n−1
dx 1 − x n=0

If
" we wish, we∞can replace#n by n + 1 and write the answer as
1 X
= (n + 1)x n According to Theorem 2, the radius of
(1 − x) n=0
convergence of the differential series is the same as the radius of
convergence of the original series, namely, R = 1
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 Example 6
Find the power series representation for ln(1 − x) and its radius of
convergence.
Solution: We might notice that, except for a factor of −1, the
derivative of this function is 1/(1 − x). So we integrate both sides of
Equation 1 Z Z
1
− ln(1 − x) = dx = (1 + x + x 2 + · · · ) dx
1−x
∞ ∞
x2 x3 X x n+1 X xn
x+ + + ··· + C = +C = +C |x| < 1
2 3 n=0
n + 1 n=0
n
To determine the value of C , we put x = 0 in this equation and
obtain − ln(1 − 0) = C . Thus C = 0 and
∞
x2 x3 X xn
ln(1 − x) = −x − − − ··· = − |x| < 1
2 3 n=1
n
The radius of convergence is the same as for the original series:
R=1
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 Example 6 Cont’d

1
Notice what happens if we put x = 2
in the result of Example 6.
Since ln 21 = − ln 2, we see that

X xn ∞
1 1 1 1
ln 2 = + + + + ··· =
2 8 24 64 n=1
n · 2n

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 Example 7

Find the power series representation for f (x) = tan−1 (x)

Solution: We observe that f 0 (x) = 1/(1 + x 2 ) and find the required
series by integrating the power series for 1/(1 + x 2 ) found in
Example 1 Z Z
1
−1
tan (x) = 2
dx = (1 − x 2 + x 4 − x 6 + · · · ) dx
1+x
x3 x5 x7
=C +x − + − + ···
3 5 7
To find C we put x = 0 and obtain C = tan−1 0 = 0. Therefore
∞
x3 x5 x7 X x 2n+1
−1
tan (x) = x − + − + ··· = − (−1)n
3 5 7 n=0
2n + 1
Since the radius of convergence of the series for 1/(1 + x 2 ) is 1, the
radius of convergence of this series for tan−1 x is also 1
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 Example 8
R
(a) Evaluate [1/(1 + x 2 )] dx as a power series.
R 0.5
(b) Use part (a) to approximate 0 [1/(1 + x 2 )] dx correct to within
10−7
Solution:
(a) The first step is to express the integrand, 1/(1 + x 2 ), as the sum
of a power series. As in Example 1,we start with Example 1 and
∞
1 1 X
replace x by −x :7
= = (−x 7 )n
1 + x7 1 − (x 7 ) n=0

∞
X
= (−1)n x 7n = 1 − x 7 + x 14 − · · ·
n=0

Now we integrate term by term:

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 Example 8 Continued
∞
x 7n+1
Z Z X
1
dx = (−1)n
1 + x7 n=0
7n + 1
x 8 x 15 x 22
=C +x −
+ − + ···
8 15 22
This series converges for |x −7 | < 1, that is, for |x| < 1
(b) In applying the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, it doesn’t
matter which anti derivative we use, so let’s use the anti derivative
from part (a) with C = 0
Z 0.5 1/2
x 8 x 15 x 22

1
dx = x − + − + ···
0 1 + x7 8 15 22 0

1 1 1 1 (−1)n
= − + − + · · · + + ···
2 8 · 28 15 · 215 22 · 222 (7n + 1)27n+1
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 Example 8 Continued

This infinite series is the exact value of the definite integral, but since
it is an alternating series, we can approximate the sum using the
Alternating Series Estimation Theorem. If we stop adding after the
term with n = 3, the error is smaller than the term with n = 4
1
≈ 6.4 × 10−11
29 · 229
So we have
Z 0.5
1 1 1 1 1
7
dx ≈ − 8
+ 15
− ≈ 0.49951374
0 1+x 2 8·2 15 · 2 22 · 222

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