EXAMPLE 4 Find the sum of the series correct to three decimal places.

(By denition, .)
SOLUTION We rst observe that the series is convergent by the Alternating Series Test
because
(i)
(ii) so as
To get a feel for how many terms we need to use in our approximation, lets write out
the rst few terms of the series:
Notice that
and
By the Alternating Series Estimation Theorem we know that
This error of less than does not affect the third decimal place, so we have
correct to three decimal places. M
| The rule that the error (in using to approximate ) is smaller than the rst
neglected term is, in general, valid only for alternating series that satisfy the conditions
of the Alternating Series Estimation Theorem. The rule does not apply to other types of
series.
s s
n
NOTE
s 0.368
0.0002

s s
6

b
7 0.0002
s
6
1 1
1
2

1
6

1
24

1
120

1
720
0.368056
b
7

1
5040

1
5000
0.0002
1 1
1
2

1
6

1
24

1
120

1
720

1
5040

s
1
0!

1
1!

1
2!

1
3!

1
4!

1
5!

1
6!

1
7!

n l
1
n!
l0 0
1
n!

1
n
l0
1
n 1!

1
n! n 1

1
n!
0! 1

n0

1
n
n!
V
SECTION 11.5 ALTERNATING SERIES | | | | 713
N In Section 11.10 we will prove that
for all , so what we have
obtained in Example 4 is actually an approxi-
mation to the number . e
1
x e
x

n0 x
n
n!
9. 10.
12.
14.
15. 16.
18.
19. 20.

n1

n
5

n1
1
n

n
n
n!

n1
1
n
cos

n1
1
n
sin

17.

n1

sinn 2
n!

n1

cos n
n
34

n1
1
n1

ln n
n

n2
1
n

n
ln n
13.

n1
1
n1
e
1n
n

n1
1
n1
n
2
n
3
4
11.

n1
1
n
sn

1 2sn

n1
1
n

n
10
n
1. (a) What is an alternating series?
(b) Under what conditions does an alternating series converge?
(c) If these conditions are satised, what can you say about the
remainder after terms?
220 Test the series for convergence or divergence.
2.
4.
5. 6.
8.

n1
1
n

n
sn
3
2

n1
1
n
3n 1
2n 1
7.

n1


1
n1
lnn 4

n1

1
n1
2n 1
1
s2

1
s3

1
s4

1
s5

1
s6


4
7

4
8

4
9

4
10

4
11
3.

1
3

2
4

3
5

4
6

5
7

n
EXERCI SES 11.5
31. Is the 50th partial sum of the alternating series
an overestimate or an underestimate of the
total sum? Explain.
3234 For what values of is each series convergent?
33. 34.
35. Show that the series , where if is odd
and if is even, is divergent. Why does the Alter-
nating Series Test not apply?
36. Use the following steps to show that
Let and be the partial sums of the harmonic and alter-
nating harmonic series.
(a) Show that .
(b) From Exercise 40 in Section 11.3 we have
as
and therefore
as
Use these facts together with part (a) to show that
as . n l s2n l ln 2
n l h2n ln2n l
n l hn ln n l
s2n h2n hn
sn hn

n1

1
n1
n
ln 2
n bn 1n
2
n bn 1n 1
n1
bn

n2
1
n1

ln n
p
n

n1

1
n
n p

n1

1
n1
n
p
32.
p

n1 1
n1
n
s50
;
2122 Calculate the rst 10 partial sums of the series and graph
both the sequence of terms and the sequence of partial sums on
the same screen. Estimate the error in using the 10th partial sum
to approximate the total sum.
21. 22.
2326 Show that the series is convergent. How many terms of
the series do we need to add in order to nd the sum to the indi-
cated accuracy?
24.
25.
26.
2730 Approximate the sum of the series correct to four
decimal places.
27. 28.
29. 30.

n1

1
n
3
n
n!

n1

1
n1
n
2
10
n

n1

1
n
n
8
n

n1

1
n1
n
5
(

error

0.01)

n1
1
n1
ne
n
(

error

0.000005)

n0

1
n
10
n
n!
(

error

0.0001)

n1

1
n
n 5
n
(

error

0.00005)

n1

1
n1
n
6
23.

n1

1
n1
n
3

n1

1
n1
n
32
714 | | | | CHAPTER 11 INFINITE SEQUENCES AND SERIES
ABSOLUTE CONVERGENCE AND THE RATIO AND ROOT TESTS
Given any series , we can consider the corresponding series
whose terms are the absolute values of the terms of the original series.
DEFINITION A series is called absolutely convergent if the series of
absolute values is convergent.
Notice that if is a series with positive terms, then and so absolute con-
vergence is the same as convergence in this case.
EXAMPLE 1 The series

n1

1
n1
n
2
1
1
2
2

1
3
2

1
4
2

a
n

a
n
a
n

a
n

a
n
1

n1

a
n

a
1



a
2



a
3


a
n
11.6
N We have convergence tests for series with
positive terms and for alternating series. But
what if the signs of the terms switch back and
forth irregularly? We will see in Example 3 that
the idea of absolute convergence sometimes
helps in such cases.