Lewandowski 1

Sarah Lewandowski
Mr. Acre
AP Calculus
31 March 2014
Sequences and Series
There are numerous important concepts in calculus, one of which is the topic of
sequences and series. A strong understanding of sequences and series can lead to a better
understanding of other calculus and related topics. To fully grasp the concept of sequences and
series, however, a great deal must be explained.
A sequence is an ordered list of numbers. The terms in a sequence may have some
relationship or they could simply be arbitrary. For example, {-3,1,4,5,7,22} is a sequence in
which the terms are random and {1,2,4,8,16,32} is a sequence in which the terms have a
common ratio of 2 this is known as a geometric series. A sequence can be either infinite or
finite; if the sequence is infinite it will usually end in ... to show that it continues forever. A
finite sequence has a defined first and last term. A series is the sum of a sequence. For example,
the sum of the sequence {1,2,4,8,16,32} is equal to 1+2+4+8+16+32=63. A series can also be
infinite or finite. An infinite series will end in + ... to show that the terms are still being added.
Also, a whole series can be found as well as a partial series. The whole series is the sum of all
the terms in the sequence and the partial series is the sum of only a specified number of terms.
Important terms when dealing with sequences and series are convergence and divergence.
A sequence converges if its nth term approaches a limit L as n approaches infinity. So, if the
sequence approaches a certain limit, then it is said to converge. If the sequence does not have a
limit, or approach a specific value, then the sequence diverges. A series converges if and only if
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its sequence of partial sums converges, but this does not mean that every sequence that
converges will have a series that converges. One of the most common examples of this is the
harmonic sequence/series. The harmonic sequence (1/n) converges, but the harmonic series
diverges. The series diverges because the sum does not approach a value fast enough for the
series to converge. If the series is adding a large number each time, it is easy to see that the series
will diverge because the sum continually increases by a substantial amount. However, the
harmonic series is only adding small fractions each time, yet it diverges. There are a number of
tests to determine whether a series converges or diverges.
The ratio test is one of these tests for convergence. If the ratio derived from the ratio test
is less than 1, then the series converges, and if the ratio is greater than 1, the series diverges. If
the ratio is equal to 1, however, the test is inconclusive and a different test must be performed.
The ratio test can also show the radius of convergence, or the certain x-values for which the
series will converge. This can be shown through a sample problem. The function f is defined by
the power series f(x) = 1+(x+1)+(x+1)
2
+...+(x+1)
n
+...=

for all real numbers x for

which the series converges. To find the interval of convergence, the ratio test must be used.
Through the ratio test,

| =

| |, so when | |<1, the series

converges. Solve for x, and the open interval of convergence is -2<x<0. However, the endpoints
must also be tested, for they can also either converge or diverge. The endpoints of -2 and 0 must
be put into the original series to see if they diverge or converge. If x=-2, the series is (-2+1)
n
=
(-1)
n
. Through the nth term test, this series diverges because (-1)

0, so the interval does not
include -2. If x=0, the series is (0+1)
n
= 1
n
. Through the nth term test, this also diverges because
1

0, so the interval does not include 0. So, the interval of convergence for this series is (-2,0)
or -2<x<0.
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To find the interval of convergence of another sample series,

, the ratio test

must again be used. By the ratio test,

| =

| =
2x

|, which through LHopitals Rule is equal to 2x

|, and through
LHopitals Rule again is equal to 2x

||, and when the limit is applied, the ratio is 2x, so

-1<2x<1, so the open interval of convergence is -<x<, but the endpoints must still be tested.
If x = -, the series is

, and through the alternating series test, this converges

because

approaches zero as n approaches infinity, the terms are strictly decreasing, and the
terms are alternating. If x = the series is

. Through the limit comparison test

and comparing to 1/n, the endpoint of diverges, so the interval of convergence is - x < ,
or [-,).
Given the series

, it can be determined whether the series converges or

diverges using the limit comparison test. This is done by comparing the series to a series that is
known to converge or diverge by using

. In this case a
n
will be

and b
n
will be
1/n, so

and the limit is infinity. By the limit

comparison test, if the limit is infinity and b
n
diverges, then a
n
also diverges, and since 1/n
diverges, this series also diverges.
To determine whether the series

converges or diverges, the alternating

series test will be used because there is a

, which makes the series alternating. The three

conditions that must be met are that the terms must be alternating which they are the terms
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must be strictly decreasing it can be seen by plugging in values that they do indeed decrease
and

must be zero which it is. All of the conditions were met, so the series
converges.
To determine whether

converges or diverges, it might look as though

one should use the alternating series test; however, the alternating series test will prove
inconclusive because the terms are not strictly decreasing. So, instead, the geometric series test
can be used. This test states that if the absolute value of the common ratio r is greater than or
equal to 1, the series diverges. The common ratio in this case is 4/3, so the series diverges.
Another important idea when writing series is the Taylor series. The Taylor series can be
used for a function f if f has differentiable derivatives. The Taylor expansion about x = a can be
written as

and if a = 0, it
is a Maclaurin series and would be written nearly the same except each a becomes a zero which
would look like

. Both series are

nearly the same and are derived from the same idea, but the Maclaurin series is a specific form of
the Taylor series in which a = 0.
As an example of this, try to derive a Taylor series for f(x) = cos(x) about x = /2. Three
terms will be done as an example. The derivative of cos(x) must then be taken twice, so
f(x)=cos(x), f(x)=-sin(x), and f(x)=-cos(x). Since a=/2, a must be plugged into each of these
derivatives. f(a)=cos(/2)=0, f(a)=-sin(/2)=-1, and f(a)=-cos(/2)=0. The final Taylor series
is (

.
An example of the Maclaurin series can be shown by expanding f(x)=(x+4)
-3
to three
terms. f(x)=(x+4)
-3
, f(x)= -3(x+4)
-4
, and f(x)=12(x+4)
-5
. Because it is a Maclaurin series, a=0.
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f(a)=(0+4)
-3
=0.015625, f(a)= -3(0+4)
-4
-0.011719, and f(a)=12(0+4)
-5
0.011719. So, the
final Maclaurin series is

.
The function f is defined by the power series f(x) = 1+(x+1)+(x+1)
2
+...+(x+1)
n
+...
=

for all real numbers x for which the series converges. The sum of the series can
be found by noticing that the series is a geometric series with common ratio (x+1). The sum of a
geometric series that converges can be found by using the formula a/(1-r) where a is the first
term and r is the common ratio. The sum of the series is

.
Continuing with the previous problem, let g be the function defined by g(x)=

.
Find the value of g(-0.5), if it exists, or explain why g(-0.5) cannot be determined. Because of the
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, g(x)=f(x) so the sum that was found can be plugged in for
f(t). Then the integral would be

= -ln(-0.5)-(-ln(-1))=ln(2) 0.693.
Again continuing with the above problem, let h be the function h(x)=f(x
2
-1). Find the
first three nonzero terms and the general term of the Taylor series for h about x=0. Find the value
of h(0.5). To find the first three nonzero terms and general term of f(x
2
1), x
2
1 must be
plugged into f(x) for x. Therefore, h(x)= 1 + (x
2
1+1) + (x
2
1+1)
2
which simplified is 1+ x
2
+
x
4
+ + x
2n
, and x
2n
is the general term. To find h(0.5), 0.5 can be plugged in to the sum
formula because the Taylor series is geometric with a common ratio of x
2
, so h(0.5)=1/(1-(0.5)
2
)
= 4/3.
Series can be used in approximating the values of functions. One can compute the error
by subtracting the partial sum of a series at a specific x-value from the actual value of the
function at that x-value. With the function e
x
and an x-value of 0.1, the error can be found by
subtracting the partial sum from e
0.1
. The partial sum for e
x
can be found by using the closed
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form formula

.
So, the actual error is found with e
0.1
-

, which is e
0.1
minus
the fifth partial sum of e
x
. The fifth partial sum is equal to

=1.1051708 and e
0.1
=1.1051709180756, so the error is 1.1051709180756 1.1051708 8.474
10
-8
.
The Lagrange method is another error method. The Lagrange error gives a number that is
greater than the actual error so as to act as a bound on the actual error. What is found is the
remainder, which is the next term in the series after whichever partial sum is being done. The
Lagrange remainder is

|, where c is the x-value or a-value of the series, a

is the value about which the series is found, and n+1 represents that the next term after the partial
sum is being used. As an example for this, e
x
can be used. The Lagrange remainder can be found
for the fifth partial sum of e
x
when x=0.1. The derivative of e
x
is e
x
so that is used as the
derivative when finding the next term. The Maclaurin series is being used so the a-value is 0 so
the Lagrange remainder is

. Since the actual error is8.474

10
-8
, the Lagrange error is indeed bigger than the error, so it provides a bound for the error.
The third method that can be used for estimating errors is the alternating series next term
error. The error method can only be used with convergent alternating series and states that the
error of a convergent alternating series is less than the absolute value of the first omitted term of
the series, or the term after the term until which the partial sum is being taken. If the third partial
sum is being used, and the index starts at zero, then the third term will be used because it is next
after the third partial sum. As an example, the fourth partial sum of the series

would be

= -0.799. By the alternating series method, the error will be less than
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the next term in the series; therefore the error will be less than 1/5
2
because the fifth term is the
next term in the series.
Sequences and series have many uses and many ideas which need to be understood to
understand them properly. Convergence and divergence, Taylor and Maclaurin series, and error
calculations are just some of these ideas. A better understanding of these topics and especially of
sequences and series will hopefully lead to a better understanding of Calculus and math for the
AP exam.