4.1.

Power Series
An infinite series of the form


a  z  z 
n 0
n 0
n
 a0  a1  z  z0   a2  z  z0  
2
 an  z  z 0  
n

is called power series about the point , where are real or

complex constants. In simple notation we can write the above power series
as . Here the point is called the centre of the power series.
Note:
i) Substituting in , we obtain . Thus, the power
series always converges at the point and the series reduces to a
constant .
ii) Substituting in , we obtain a power series in powers of as follows:

The convergence result of a power series is given in the following theorem.

Theorem 1: Abel’s Theorem

If the power series
converges at a point , then it converges absolutely for all in the
disk .
Note: If the power series diverges at a point , then it
diverges for all in the disk .

Radius of Convergence and Circle of convergence of a power series

Consider the set of all points in the complex plane at which the power series
is convergent. Let be the radius of the circle with center at
that contains all the points at which the power series is
convergent. Then, the series is convergent for all for which and
divergent for all for which . The circle is called the
circle of convergence and the real number is called the radius of convergence
of the power series .
Note:
i) If the radius of convergence , then the power series is
convergent only at the point .
ii) If the radius of convergence , then the power series is
convergent for all .

Theorem 2: Formula to compute

Consider the power series and . Then the radius of

convergence of the power series is that is, .

Note:
i) We can compute the radius of convergence by using Cauchy’s root test as

ii) For real power series , where are real constants, the circle
of convergence reduces to the interval of convergence
on the real axis.

Example 1: Find the radius of convergence and circle of convergence of the

following power series:

i) ii) iii) iv)

Example 2: Show that the following power series is convergent in the given region

(i) (ii) (iii)

 an  z  z0 
n
Example 3: Find the radius of convergence of the series , where
n1

ii)
Theorem 3: Uniform convergence of a power series
The power series with non-zero radius of convergence is
uniformly convergent in the circle .

Let the power series converges to the function . Then we have

the following results:

Result 1: A power series represents an analytic function within its

circle of convergence.

Ex: The series represents the function which is analytic within its circle of
convergence .

Result 2: A power series can be integrated term by term within its

circle of convergence, that is,


C
f ( z ) dz    a  z  z  dz 
n 0
C
n 0
n

for every contour lying entirely within the circle of convergence.

Note: The radius of convergence of the integrated series is same as the radius of
convergence of the original power series.
Result 3: A power series can be differentiated term by term within
its circle of convergence, that is,

Note: The radius of convergence of the differentiated series is same as the radius
of convergence of the original power series.

Example 4: Using the results on term by term differentiation of a power series,

reduce the following power series with simpler coefficients. Hence or otherwise

n(n  1)
obtain the radius of convergence of the power series 
n2
2 n
( z  1) n2
Result 4: Suppose that two power series and have
the same radius of convergence of and converge to the same sum within the
circle convergence . Then these two series are identical.
Note: If and are two power series
with radii of convergence and respectively, then
i) the sum and difference of the series are defined as

ii) the product (or Cauchy product) of the series is defined as

   

 
 ar bnr   z  z0   cn  z  z0 
n n

n 0  r 0  n 0

The radius of convergence of the series and is


Example 5: Find the radius of convergence of the series   n  an  z n , where
n1
the constant is a real or complex.