MAA 102

Chapter 2: Series
2.1

SERIES

Given a sequence {an } , we define a new sequence {S n } by

n

S n = ak = a1 + a2 + + an
k =1

where Sn is called the nth partial sum.

S1 = a1
S 2 = a1 + a2
S3 = a1 + a2 + a3
S n = a1 + a2 + a3 + + an
This new sequence {S n } is called the sequence of partial sums.

EXAMPLE 2.1.

Derive the partial sum sequence for the following series.

(a)

n 1
n =1 2

(b)

n =1

SOLUTION.

(a)

2-1

(b)

2-2

DEFINITION 2.1.

An infinite series a1 + a2 + = an , with the partial sum sequence

n =1

{Sn } , converges if

lim Sn exists.
n

If lim Sn = A , then we say that

n

an converges to A, that is
n =1

a
n =1

= A . If lim Sn does not

n

exist, then the series diverges.

EXAMPLE 2.2.

Determine whether the following series converges or diverges.

(a)

n 1
n =1 2

(b)

n =1

SOLUTION.

(a)

2
n =1

n 1

(b)

n =1

2-3

THEOREM 2.1.

(Geometric Series)

The geometric series

ar

n 1

= a + ar + ar 2 + + ar n 1 + with a 0

n =1

(i)

converges and has the sum

(ii)

diverges if r 1 .

EXAMPLE 2.3.

a
if r < 1 .
1 r

4 8 16
Prove that the infinite series 3 2 + +
converges and find
3 9 27

its sum.

SOLUTION.

2-4

EXAMPLE 2.4.

Determine whether the series

13

converges or diverges.
n=0 7 2

SOLUTION.

THEOREM 2.2.

If an infinite series

a
n =1

is convergent, then lim an = 0 .

n

The converse is false, that is, if lim an = 0 , it does not necessarily follow that the series
n

a
n =1

1
= 0 but
n n

n is convergent. For example, lim

COROLLARY 2.1.

is divergent.

n =1

(Test for Divergence)

If lim an 0 , then the infinite series

n

a
n =1

is divergent.

2-5

Determine whether the following series converges or diverges.

EXAMPLE 2.5.

(a)

1 2 3
n
+ + ++
+ ...
3 5 7
2n + 1

(b)

( 1)

n =1

SOLUTION.

(a)

(b)

( 1)

Three ways to check!

n =1

(i) Theorem 2.2

(ii) Theorem 2.1

(iii) Definition 2.1

2-6

THEOREM 2.3.

If

the

convergent

series

an = A

and

n =1

( a
n =1

b
n =1

= B,

+ b n ) = A + B where , .

Note that if 0 , then

a
n =1

and

a
n =1

will converge/diverge together.

EXAMPLE 2.6.

Determine the convergence or divergence of

( 2a
n =1

a
n =1

then

+ 2 n )

if

= 2.75 .

SOLUTION.

2-7

The converse of Theorem 2.3 is false, that is, if

( a
n =1

necessarily follow that

a
n =1

+ b n ) is convergent, it does not

and

b
n =1

is convergent.

EXAMPLE 2.7.

Determine the convergence or divergence of

n n + 1 .
n =1

SOLUTION.

2-8

2.2

POSITIVE-TERM SERIES

It is not easy to find the sum of an infinite series. We can, however, develop techniques for
using the nth term a n to test a series for convergence or divergence. When applying these
tests, we shall be concerned not with the sum of the series but whether the series converges or
diverges. In this section, we shall consider only positive term series, that is, infinite series
for which every term is positive.

(Integral Test)

TEST 2.1.

If the function f ( x ) is continuous, positive valued

( f ( x ) > 0)

and decreasing for x 1 ,

then the infinite series f (1) + f ( 2 ) + f ( 3) + + f ( n ) +

(i)
(ii)

f ( x ) dx converges.

converges if
diverges if

DEFINITION 2.2.

f ( x ) dx diverges.
1

f ( x ) dx = lim f ( x ) dx
1

b 1

2-9

EXAMPLE 2.8.

Use the Integral Test to determine whether the series

k =1

(k

k2
3

+ 2)

converges or diverges.

SOLUTION.

2-10

Use the Integral Test to prove that the harmonic series

EXAMPLE 2.9.

diverges.

n =1

SOLUTION.

THEOREM 2.4.

The p-series

n =1

(i)

converges if p > 1 .

(ii)

diverges if p 1 .

EXAMPLE 2.10.

(a) 1 +

Determine whether the following series converge or diverge.

1 1
1
+ 2 + + 2 +
2
n
2 3

(b) 5 +

5
5
5
+
+ +
+
2
3
n

SOLUTION.

(a)

(b)

2-11

(Comparison Test)

TEST 2.2.

Suppose 0 an bn for every positive integer n.

If

(i)

bn converges, then

n =1

(ii)

If

an diverges, then
n =1

EXAMPLE 2.11.

n =1

converges.

b
n =1

diverges.

Determine whether the following series converge or diverge.

(a)

n
n =1 4 + 3

n+2
2
n =1 n

(b)

SOLUTION.

(a)

(b)

2-12

LIMIT COMPARISON TEST

Suppose

a
n =1

(i)

and

b
n =1

are positive term series with lim

If 0 < A < , then

an and
n =1

(ii)

If A = 0 and

b
n =1

both converge or both diverge.

bn converges, then

n =1

(iii) If A = and

b
n =1

an
= A.
bn

n =1

converges.

diverges, then

a
n =1

diverges.

USING THE COMPARISON TEST

STEP 1:

Guess at whether the series

STEP 2:

Find a series that proves the guess to be correct.

That is, if we guess that

converges or diverges.

diverges, we must find a divergent series whose

terms are smaller than the corresponding terms of

If we guess that

converges, we must find a convergent series whose terms

are larger than the corresponding term of

Some informal principles can be used to find this divergent or convergent series.
1.

Constant terms in the denominator of an can usually be deleted without affecting

the convergence or divergence of the series.

2.

If a polynomial in n appears as a factor in the numerator or denominator of an , all

but the leading term in the polynomial can usually be discarded without affecting
the convergence or divergence of the series.

Unfortunately, it is not always so straightforward to find the series required for comparison,
so the Limit Comparison Test is introduced as an alternative to the comparison test.

2-13

Determine whether the following series converge or diverge.

EXAMPLE 2.12.

(a)

n =1

1
3

n2 + 2

(b)

n =1

n+2
n2 + 1

SOLUTION.

(a)

(b)

2-14

2.3

ALTERNATING SERIES

An infinite series whose terms are alternately positive and negative is called an alternating
series. It is customary to express an alternating series in one of the forms
a1 a2 + a3 a4 + + ( 1)

n 1

an +

or
a1 + a2 a3 + a4 + ( 1) an +
n

(Alternating Series Test)

TEST 2.3.

Suppose an alternating series

( 1)
n =1

(i)

an > 0 , n

(ii)

an +1 < an , n

(iii)

lim an = 0 .

n +1

an fulfils the following conditions:

Then the series is convergent.

If an alternating series satisfies the hypotheses of the alternating series test, and if S is the
sum of the series, then:

(a)

S lies between any two successive partial sums; that is, either
S n S Sn +1 or S n +1 S Sn
depending on which partial sum is larger.

(b)

If S is approximated by Sn, then the absolute error S S n satisfies

S S n an +1 .

Moreover, the sign of the error S Sn is the same as that of the coefficient of an +1 .

2-15

EXAMPLE 2.13.

(a)

( 1)
n =1

Determine whether the following alternating series converge or diverge.

n +1

1
n

(b)

( 1)
n =1

n 1

2n
4n 2 3

SOLUTION.

(a)

(b)

2-16

An infinite series

DEFINITION 2.3.

a
n =1

a
n =1

is absolutely convergent if the series

= a1 + a2 + + an +

obtained by taking the absolute value of each term is convergent. The series is said to be
absolutely divergent if the series of absolute values diverges.

Note that if

a
n =1

is a positive term series, then an = an , and in this case absolute

convergence is the same as convergence.

Prove that the alternating series

EXAMPLE 2.14.

n =1

( 1)
n2

n +1

is absolutely convergent.

SOLUTION.

If an infinite series

THEOREM 2.5.

a
n =1

is absolutely convergent, then

a
n =1

is

convergent.

The converse of Theorem 2.5 is false, that is, if

a
n =1

is convergent, it does not necessarily

follow that

a
n =1

is convergent.
2-17

An infinite series

DEFINITION 2.4.

an is conditionally convergent if
n =1

a
n =1

is

convergent and

a
n =1

is divergent.

EXAMPLE 2.15.

Show that the alternating series

n =1

( 1)
n

is conditionally convergent.

SOLUTION.

2-18

2.4

RATIO TEST

TEST 2.4.

(Ratio Test)

Let

an be an infinite series of nonzero terms. If lim

n =1

(i)

is absolutely convergent if L < 1 .

(ii)

is divergent if L > 1 or L = .

an +1
= L , then
an

a
n =1

(iii) may be absolutely convergent, conditionally convergent or divergent if L = 1 .

2-19

EXAMPLE 2.16.

Determine whether the following series are absolutely convergent,

conditionally convergent or divergent.

(a)

n =1 n !

(c)

(b)

( 1)
n =1

n!
en

n
n =1

SOLUTION.

(a)

(b)

(c)

2-20

2.5

ROOT TEST

(Root Test)

TEST 2.5.

Let

an be an infinite series. If lim n an = L , then

n

n =1

(i)

is absolutely convergent if L < 1 .

(ii)

is divergent if L > 1 or L = .

a
n =1

(iii) may be absolutely convergent, conditionally convergent or divergent if L = 1 .

EXAMPLE 2.17.

n
(a) n 1
n =1 2

Determine the convergence or divergence of the following series.

2
(b) n
3
n =1

SOLUTION.

(a)

(b)

2-21

SUMMARY

To determine the convergence of an infinite series an :

n =1

STEP 1 :

Find lim an .
n

If lim an 0 , then

(i)

(ii)

a
n =1

is divergent (Collorary 2.1).

If lim an = 0 , then no conclusion can be made. Go to Step 2.

n

STEP 2 :

Determine whether

a
n =1

(i)

is positive term series or alternating series.

If positive term series, use

(ii)

integral test

comparison test

ratio test

root test

If alternating series, use

alternating series test

ratio test

root test

Ratio Test and Root Test can be used for any series, namely positive term series and
alternating series.

Ratio Test

Series with factorials (!) and (expression)n.

Root Test

Series with (expression)n

2-22

STRATEGY FOR SERIES

STEP 1:

With a quick glance does it look like the series terms dont converge to zero in the
limit, i.e. does lim an 0 ? If so, use the Divergence Test. Note that you should
n

only do the divergence test if a quick glance suggests that the series terms may
not converge to zero in the limit.

STEP 2:

1
n
)
or
a
geometric
series
(
ar
or
ar n 1 )? If so

np
n =1
n =1
use the fact that p-series will only converge if p > 1 and a geometric series will
only converge if r < 1 . Remember as well that often some algebraic manipulation

Is the series a p-series (

is required to get a geometric series into the correct form.

STEP 3:

Is the series similar to a p-series or a geometric series? If so, try the Comparison
Test.

STEP 4:

Is the series a rational expression involving only polynomials or polynomials under

radicals (i.e. a fraction involving only polynomials or polynomials under radicals)?
If so, try the Comparison Test and/or the Limit Comparison Test. Remember
however, that in order to use the Comparison Test and the Limit Comparison Test
the series terms all need to be positive.

STEP 5:

Does the series contain factorials or constants raised to powers involving n? If so,
then the Ratio Test may work. Note that if the series term contains a factorial then
the only test that weve got that will work is the Ratio Test.

STEP 6:

Can the series terms be written in the form an = ( 1) bn or an = ( 1)

n

n +1

bn ? If so,

then the Alternating Series Test may work.

STEP 7:

Can the series terms be written in the form an = ( bn ) ? If so, then the Root Test
n

may work.

STEP 8:

If an = f ( n ) for some positive, decreasing function and

f ( x ) dx
a

is easy to

evaluate then the Integral Test may work.

2-23

EXTRA NOTES

Divergence Test
If lim an 0 then
n

will diverge

Integral Test
Suppose that f ( x ) is a positive, decreasing function on the interval

[k , )

and that

f ( n ) = an then,
1. If

2. If

f ( x ) dx is convergent so is

n=k

f ( x ) dx is divergent so is

n=k

Comparison Test
Suppose that we have two series

and

with an , bn 0 for all n and an bn for all

n. Then,

b
If a

1. If

2.

a .
is divergent then so is b .

is convergent then so is

Limit Comparison Test

Suppose that we have two series

and

with an , bn 0 for all n. Define,

an
.
n b
n

c = lim

If c is positive (i.e. c > 0 ) and is finite (i.e. c < ) then either both series converge or both
series diverge.

2-24

Alternating Series Test

Suppose that we have a series

and either an = ( 1) bn or an = ( 1)
n

n +1

bn where bn 0

for all n. Then if,

1. lim bn = 0 and,
n

2.

{bn } is eventually a decreasing sequence,

Then the series is convergent.

Ratio Test
Suppose we have the series

L = lim

. Define,

an +1
an

Then,
1. if L < 1 the series is absolutely convergent (and hence convergent).
2. if L > 1 the series is divergent.
3. if L = 1 the series may be divergent, conditionally convergent, or absolutely
convergent.

Root Test
Suppose that we have the series

L = lim n an = lim an
n

. Define,

1
n

Then,
1. if L < 1 the series is absolutely convergent (and hence convergent).
2. if L > 1 the series is divergent.
3. if L = 1 the series may be divergent, conditionally convergent, or absolutely
convergent.

2-25