Infinite Series and its Convergence

Content taken from the Book “Thomas Calculus” By “George B Thomas”

Topic 10.2 of 13th edition of the book
 Infinite Series
An infinite series is the sum of an infinite sequence of numbers
a1 + a 2 + a 3 + . . . + a n + . . . = ∑ an

Questions
1. What is the value of the sum of this infinite series?
2. Can we actually add infinite number of terms one by one? No
3. How to calculate it.

The sum of the first n terms

sn = a1 + a2 + a3 + . . . + an
is an ordinary finite sum and can be calculated by normal addition.
It is called the nth partial sum.
As n gets larger, we expect the partial sums to get closer and closer to
a limiting value in the same sense that the terms of a sequence
approach a limit.
 Infinite Series
For example, to assign meaning to an expression like

We add the terms one at a time from the beginning and look for a pattern
in how these partial sums grow.

This sequence of partial sums converges to 2 because limn → ∞ (1 / 2n) = 0.

 Infinite Series
Given a sequence of numbers {an}, an expression of the form
a1 + a2 + a3 + … + an + … is an infinite series.
The number an is the nth term of the series.
A sequence {sn}, defined by
s1 = a1
s2 = a1 + a2
s3 = a1 + a2 + a3
:
sn = a1 + a2 + a3 +…….. + an
:
is the sequence of partial sums of the series, the number sn being
the nth partial sum.
If the sequence of partial sums converges to a limit L, we say that
the series converges and that its sum is L. We write
 Geometric Series and its Convergence
Geometric series are series of the form

in which a and r are fixed real numbers and a ≠ 0.

The ratio r can be positive or negative, as in

Convergence
 Proof of Convergence of Geometric Series
If r = 1, the nth partial sum of the geometric series is
sn = a + a.1 + a.12 + . . . + a.1n-1 = na,
and the series diverges because limn → ∞ (sn) = ±∞, depending
upon the sign of a.
If r=–1, the series diverges because the nth partial sums alternate
between a and 0.
If |r| ≠ 1, we can determine the convergence or divergence of the series
in the following way

 If |r| < 1, then rn → 0 as n → ∞ and sn → a/(1-r).

 If |r| > 1, then rn → ∞ and the series diverges.
EXAMPLE (A bouncing ball)
You drop a ball from “a” meters above a flat surface. Each time the ball hits the
surface after falling a distance “h”, it rebounds a distance “rh”, where r is positive
but less than 1. Find the total distance the ball travels up and down.

Further, find total distance if ball was dropped from a height of 6 mts and r = 2/3.
 The nth-Term Test for Divergence

Proof: The nth partial sum is sn = a1 + a2 + a3 + . . . + an

Also, sn-1 = a1 + a2 + a3 + . . . + an-1
Thus, an = sn – sn-1  L – L = 0 as n  ∞
Note Theorem above does not say that ∑ an converges if an → 0.
It is possible for a series to diverge when an → 0.
 Combining Series

Corollaries to above theorem

Adding or deleting finite terms do not change the convergence or divergence however it
can change the sum value of it.
 Reindexing the Series
As long as we preserve the order of its terms, we can re-index any
series without altering its convergence.
 Telescoping series
In mathematics, a telescoping series is a series whose partial sums
eventually only have a fixed number of terms after cancellation.
The cancellation technique, with part of each term cancelling with
part of the next term, is known as the method of differences.
For example, the series

Here,
Thus,

So,
 Find a formula for the nth partial sum of each series and use it to
find the series’ sum if the series converges.
Q.1.

Q.2.

Q.3.

Q.4. Drug dosage: A patient takes a 300 mg tablet for the control of high blood
pressure every morning at the same time. The concentration of the drug in the
patient’s system decays exponentially at a constant hourly rate of k = 0.12.
A. How many milligrams of the drug are in the patient’s system just before the
second tablet is taken? Just before the third tablet is taken?
B. In the long run, after taking the medication for at least six months, what
quantity of drug is in the patient’s body just before taking the next regularly
scheduled morning tablet?
Ans 4. Use the model: C  C0e kt where C0  300mg , k  0.12
Thus C  300e0.12t
A) Just before the second tablet, refers to the first day with t = 24 hours. Thus
0.12 24 
C1  300e  16.84mg
Because the drug remains in patients system, then just before the third tablet,
the tablet from first day continues to decay. Thus
0.12 48 0.12 24 
C2  300e  300e  17.79mg
B) From (A), the total amount in the long run in the patients system will be

C   300e 0.12 24 n 

n 1
This is a geometric series with a  300e0.12 24 & r  e0.12 24
300e0.12 24
Thus, 
C   300e 0.12 24 n   0.12 24 
 17.84mg
n 1 1  300e
 Next Lecture
Infinite Series and its Convergence
(Series that have nonnegative terms)