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1C 11.

2 23

If we try to add the terms of an infinite sequence a n n1 we get an expression of the form

1 a1  a2  a3      an    

which is called an infinite series (or just a series) and is denoted, for short, by the symbol


n1
a n or a n

But does it make sense to talk about the sum of infinitely many terms?
It would be impossible to find a finite sum for the series

1  2  3  4  5    n  

because if we start adding the terms we get the cumulative sums 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, . . .
and, after the nth term, we get nn  12, which becomes very large as n increases.
However, if we start to add the terms of the series

1 1 1 1 1 1 1
        n  
2 4 8 16 32 64 2

we get 2 , 4 , 8 , 16 , 32 , 64 , . . . , 1  12 n, . . . . The table shows that as we add more and more
1 3 7 15 31 63
n Sum of first n terms
terms, these partial sums become closer and closer to 1. (See also Figure 11 in A Preview
1 0.50000000
of Calculus, page 7.) In fact, by adding sufficiently many terms of the series we can make
2 0.75000000
the partial sums as close as we like to 1. So it seems reasonable to say that the sum of this
3 0.87500000
infinite series is 1 and to write
4 0.93750000
5 0.96875000 
1 1 1 1 1 1
6 0.98437500 
n1 2 n 
2
  
4 8 16
   n    1
2
7 0.99218750
10 0.99902344 We use a similar idea to determine whether or not a general series (1) has a sum. We
15 0.99996948
consider the partial sums
20 0.99999905
25 0.99999997 s1  a 1

s2  a 1  a 2

s3  a 1  a 2  a 3

s4  a 1  a 2  a 3  a 4

and, in general,
n
sn  a 1  a 2  a 3      a n  a
i1
i
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1C 11.2 24

2 DEFINITION Given a series n1 a n  a 1  a 2  a 3     , let sn denote its

nth partial sum:
n
sn  a
i1
i  a1  a2      an

If the sequence sn  is convergent and lim n l  sn  s exists as a real number, then
the series  a n is called convergent and we write

a1  a2      an      s or a
n1
n s

The number s is called the sum of the series. Otherwise, the series is called divergent.

4 The geometric series



 ar
n1
n1
 a  ar  ar 2    

 
is convergent if r  1 and its sum is

a
 ar
n1
n1

1r r  1
 
If r 1, the geometric series is divergent.

V EXAMPLE 2 Find the sum of the geometric series

5   27    
10 20 40
3 9

SOLUTION The first term is a  5 and the common ratio is r  3 . Since r  3  1, the
2
  2

series is convergent by (4) and its sum is

10 20 40 5 5
5       5 3 M
1  ( 3 )
2
3 9 27 3
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1C 11.2 25


EXAMPLE 3 Is the series 2
n1
2n
3 1n convergent or divergent?

SOLUTION Let’s rewrite the nth term of the series in the form ar n1:
   
4n
2
n1
2n
3 1n   2  3
n1
2 n n1
 
n1 3 n1   4 ( 3 )
n1
4 n1

We recognize this series as a geometric series with a  4 and r  43 . Since r  1, the

series diverges by (4). M

V EXAMPLE 4 Write the number 2.317  2.3171717. . . as a ratio of integers.

SOLUTION
17 17 17
2.3171717. . .  2.3   5  7  
10 3 10 10

After the first term we have a geometric series with a  1710 3 and r  110 2.
Therefore
17 17
10 3
1000
2.317  2.3   2.3 
1 99
1 2
10 100
23 17 1147
   M
10 990 495
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1C 11.2 26


EXAMPLE 5 Find the sum of the series  x , where  x   1.
n0
n

SOLUTION Notice that this series starts with n  0 and so the first term is x 0  1. (With
series, we adopt the convention that x 0  1 even when x  0.) Thus


x
n0
n
 1  x  x2  x3  x4    

   
This is a geometric series with a  1 and r  x. Since r  x  1, it converges and
(4)
4) ves

1
5 x
n0
n

1x
M


1
EXAMPLE 6 Show that the series 
n1 nn  1
is convergent, and find its sum.

SOLUTION This is not a geometric series, so we go back to the definition of a convergent

series and compute the partial sums.
n
1 1 1 1 1
sn  
i1 ii  1

1ⴢ2

2ⴢ3

3ⴢ4
  
nn  1

We can simplify this expression if we use the partial fraction decomposition

1 1 1
 
ii  1 i i1
(see Section 7.4). Thus we have

sn  
n

i1
1
ii  1

n

i1
 1
i

1
i1

 1   1
2

1
2

1
3

1
3

1
4
    1
n

1
n1

1
1
n1

and so lim sn  lim

nl nl
 1
1
n1
101

Therefore the given series is convergent and


1

n1 nn  1
1 M
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1C 11.2 27

V EXAMPLE 7 Show that the harmonic series


1 1 1 1

n1 n
 1     
2 3 4
is divergent.
SOLUTION For this particular series it’s convenient to consider the partial sums s2 , s4 , s8 , s16 ,
s32 , . . . and show that they become large.
s1  1

s2  1  12

s4  1  2  ( 3  4 )  1  2  ( 4  4 )  1  2
1 1 1 1 1 1 2

s8  1  12  ( 13  14 )  ( 15  16  17  18 )
 1  12  ( 14  14 )  ( 18  18  18  18 )
122212
1 1 1 3

s16  1  12  ( 13  14 )  ( 15      18 )  ( 19      161 )
 1  12  ( 14  14 )  ( 18      18 )  ( 161      16 )
1

 1  12  12  12  12  1  42

1
sn 

a n 
0 n

FIGURE 3

Similarly, s32  1  52 , s64  1  62 , and in general

n
s2 n  1 
2

This shows that s2 n l  as n l  and so sn  is divergent. Therefore the harmonic

series diverges. M
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1.2 28


6 THEOREM If the series a
n1
n is convergent, then lim an  0.
nl

PROOF Let sn  a 1  a 2      a n . Then a n  sn  sn1. Since  a n is convergent, the

sequence sn  is convergent. Let lim n l  sn  s. Since n  1 l  as n l , we also
have lim n l  sn1  s. Therefore

lim a n  lim sn  sn1   lim sn  lim sn1

nl nl nl nl

ss0 M

NOTE 1 With any series  a n we associate two sequences: the sequence sn  of its par-
tial sums and the sequence a n  of its terms. If  a n is convergent, then the limit of the
sequence sn  is s (the sum of the series) and, as Theorem 6 asserts, the limit of the
sequence
seq a n  0.

| NOTE 2 The converse of Theorem 6 is not true in general. If lim n l  a n  0, we cannot

conclude that  a n is convergent. Observe that for the harmonic series  1n we have
a n  1n l 0 as n l , but we showed in Example 7 that  1n is divergent.

7 THE TEST FOR DIVERGENCE If lim a n does not exist or if lim a n  0, then the
nl nl

series a
n1
n is divergent.


n2
EXAMPLE 8 Show that the series 
n1 5n 2  4
diverges.

SOLUTION
n2 1 1
lim a n  lim  lim 2  0
nl nl 5n  4
2 n l  5  4n 5

So the series diverges by the Test for Divergence. M

NOTE 3 If we find that lim n l  a n  0, we know that  a n is divergent. If we find that

lim n l  a n  0, we know nothing about the convergence or divergence of  a n. Remem-
ber the warning in Note 2: If lim n l  a n  0, the series  a n might converge or it might
diverge.
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1.2 29

8 THEOREM If  a n and  bn are convergent series, then so are the series  ca n

(where c is a constant),  a n  bn , and  a n  bn , and
    
(i)  ca
n1
n c a
n1
n (ii)  a
n1
n  bn   a
n1
n  b
n1
n

  
(iii)  a
n1
n  bn   a
n1
n  b
n1
n

EXAMPLE 9 Find the sum of the series




n1
 3
nn  1
1
 n .
2

SOLUTION The series  12 n is a geometric series with a  2 and r  2 , so
1 1

 1
1

n1 2 n 
2

1  12
1

In Example 6 we found that


1

n1 nn  1
1

So, by Theorem 8, the given series is convergent and




n1
 3
nn  1
1
 n
2
3 


n1
1
nn  1

1
  n 3ⴢ114
n1 2
M
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$
2 30

NOTE 4 A finite number of terms doesn’t affect the convergence or divergence of a

series. For instance, suppose that we were able to show that the series

n

n4 n3  1

is convergent. Since
 
n 1 2 3 n

n1 n 1
3   
2 9 28
  3
n4 n 1

it follows that the entire series n1 nn 3  1 is convergent. Similarly, if it is known that
the series nN1 a n converges, then the full series
 N 

a
n1
n 
n1
a n  
nN1
an

is also convergent.