MTK3001-Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Infinite Series

4.1 Sequences A sequence is simply a list of numbers. For example,

are all sequences. The numbers in a sequence are called term of the sequence. Finite : Infinite: Frequently, we list the term of sequence in brace * and + , so that we would write * rather than just +

When we define a sequence to be a list, we imply that the terms in the list are , that there is a first, a second, a third, a fourth, term in the sequence. This means that we can use the natural number to the terms of the sequence. It means that we can represent any sequence by writing for the first term, for the second term, for the third term, for the fourth term and so on; the th term, or general term, is written as . For the sequence , for example, we have

For many of the sequences that we encounter, there is a simple rule that relates example, we see that

to

. In the above

And, in general, that

The sequence * that runs through fnh 2011

+ can therefore be written more compactly as * unless otherwise stated.

+, with the understanding

MTK3001-Chapter 4 When we know the rule for the general th term of a sequence, we can use it to specify the sequence in a slightly different way from before, giving both the first few terms and the th. We hardly need this for our sequence , since it pattern is so obvious, but we could if needed specify it in more detail in the form

The observation that depends on the index also gives us another way of defining a sequence : as a whose domain is the set of positive integers. For example, we could write the sequence * + as the function ( ) Example 4.1: Write down the first five terms of the sequence * +

Example 4.2: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Rewrite the following sequences, giving both the first seven terms and general th term.

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 The term ( )

You should note the use of the expression ( ) in the 3rd example, especially if you havent seen it before. You will encounter this expression ( and the similar expression ( ) ) very frequently in this chapter on sequence and series. They provide simple but very useful ways of . This is because ( so that the values of ( ) are ) {

as

takes the values

Similarly, the values of (

) are

respectively. 4.1.1 Graphs of sequences

The graph of the sequence { } can be thought as the graph of the function do not confuse this graph with the graph of { , where , for in : they are different because }

Example 4.3: 1. * 2. { 3. *( 4. { } ) ( + +

Graph the following sequences

) }

Solution :

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 With these graphs, and as a preliminary to the next section, let us consider the following somewhat vague question: How do the above sequences behave as gets larger and larger? The following observations seem to summarize their behavior adequately. 1. The terms in the sequence * limiting value. 2. The terms in the sequence { 3. The terms in the sequence *( any one limiting value.. 4. The terms in the sequence { value of 1. 4.2 Convergence of sequences Suppose that we examine some sequence * +, and that we find that the values stabilise at or around some particular limiting value as gets larger and larger. Rephrasing this, suppose that we find that as increases, get close to , and that the larger becomes, the closer gets to . If this happens, then we say that the sequence as increases is , and we write either converges to the limit , or that the limit of ) ( + increase indefinitely, or without bound they have no } also increase but towards a limiting value of 1. + oscillate between -1 and 1, without settling down to ) } oscillate too, but they also tend towards a limiting

If the values of diverges, or that

do not stabilize at any one value, then we say that the sequence * does not exist.

Example 4.4: Determine whether the following sequences converge or diverge. 1. 2. 3. Solution: ( ) ( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.3 Methods We have seen above how to find limits in some fairly simple examples. However, most examples in practice are more complicated than those, so we need to be more systematic in our approach. In this section, we introduce some general ideas which will greatly increase the number of limits we will able to deal with. 4.3.1 Using lHopitals rule as approaches a finite limit

LHopitals rule applies to the limit of a function of a real variable or , when the limit yields a so-called

With sequences, we are dealing with limits as the variable approaches infinity, rather than as a variable approaches a limit, but it turns out that we can still make use of lHopitals rule. This idea is simply this: If the limiting process yields one of the indeterminate forms as increases, replace by , apply lHopitals rule to the resulting function of , and use the answer it gives. Example 4.5: Determine whether the sequence Solution: We can see immediately that converges or diverges. yield the indeterminate form .

We attempt to use lHopitals rule, by replacing by everywhere, and calculating the limit of the resulting function of as . Differentiating top and bottom separately and applying the rule, we have

and we conclude that 4.3.2 Absolute values +,

=0.

For any sequence *

| Example 4.6: Consider

( )

. We have | |

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 and hence | Therefore, by the result above, (

( )

also. That is, the sequence {

} converges to 0. . Look again what

But note very carefully that the method is you have learned in function and limit. 4.3.3 Properties Of Convergent Sequences

Let * + and * + be sequences, and let Then we have the following properties: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 4.3.4 ( ( ( ) ( ) ) )

and

, and let

Squeeze law

This law says : if the terms of a sequence * + are squeezed between the terms of two other sequences * + and * + and if * + and * + both converge then * + also converges to . More formally:

Example 4.7: Consider {

( )

}. We know that ( )

For all . Therefore, fnh 2011

MTK3001-Chapter 4 ( )

Also,

Therefore,

( )

by the squeeze law.

4.4 Series Can we add the terms * + together to obtain a meaningful, finite value? We will now introduce the terminology and notation necessary to analyse the question. An infinite series is an expression of the form The numbers are called the terms of the series. Since all our series will have an infinite number of terms, we will omit the word infinite from now on, and just refer to series. Consider the sum This is a sum, of terms, and we know that such a sum makes sense, and can be calculated numerically if we know the specific values of . But what about the infinite sum -we dont know what this means, or whether it means anything, or how to calculate it if it does mean something: . So our basic problem is: Can we make sense of the idea? We will see that the ans wer is: sometimes yes, and sometimes no. 4.4.1 Partial sums Given the infinite series , we write down the sequence of finite sums

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

The numbers

Are called the partial sums of the finite series, and *

is the th partial sum. The sequence +

Of these numbers is called the sequence of partial sums. As increases, the partial sum

Includes more and more terms of the series. Thus if if

tends toward a limit

as

, that is,

Then it is reasonable to view this limit our definition of an infinite sum. Example 4.8:

as the sum of

the terms in the series. This gives us

Determine whether the series ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( Converges or diverges. If it converges, find the sum.

Solution: We need to find, if possible, a closed form expression for exists. We have ( fnh 2011 ) ( ) ( ) ( , and then to see if

MTK3001-Chapter 4

(This is an example of a telescoping sum-you will have seen such sums before-in which a large summation of terms, with careful grouping, collapses to give a simple answer.) To determine if the series converges or diverges, we calculate the sum, if it exists). We have ( And therefore ( ) (which also will give us

) converges, and has a sum of 1/3.

So far we have determined whether or not a series converges by carefully examining , the sequence of partial sums. However, in practice, it is relatively rare that the th partial sum can be written in a sufficiently simple form for us to be able to do this. For most series, convergence ir divergence has to be determined indirectly, using convergence tests, some of which we will discuss later. These tests do not generally give us an exact value for the sum, but once convergence is established, the sum of a series can generally be approximated to any desired degree of accuracy by summing sufficiently many terms, or by other means. 4.5 Special Series It is important to understand thoroughly the convergence properties of certain commonly occurring classes of series. In this section, we will examine two very important such classes, the geometric series and the -series. As the chapter proceeds, we will see that these two classes provide the basis for analyzing the behavior of many other more complex series. 4.5.1 Geometric series

A geometric series is one of the form

Where

and

are some fixed real numbers. For example

Is a geometric series with

and ( )

and ( ) ( ) ( )

Is a geometric series with fnh 2011

and

MTK3001-Chapter 4 The fundamental facts about the convergence of geometric series are the following: The general geometric series

converges if | |

and diverges if | |

If the series converges, then the sum is

Example 4.9: Find whether the following two geometric series converge or diverge, and find their sums if they converge: 1. 2.

Solution:

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Example 4.10: Show that the following are geometric series, and discuss their convergence 1. 2.

Solution:

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.5.2 -series

A series of the form For any fixed real number If we take the special case , is called a -series. we get which is known as the harmonic series. The fundamental fact about convergence of -series is the following: A -series converges if Thus, the harmonic series converges, because Example 4.11: Write down , and decide whether the following -series converge or diverge. 1. 2. 3. 4. Solution: and diverges if

diverges because

, while the series

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.6 Properties of Convergent Series Let 1. 2. and be convergent series, and let ( ) . Then

converges, and ) converges, and

We could also add the following rule to the list (it actually follows from (1)): If diverges and , the also diverges.

Example 4.12: Determine whether the following series converge or diverge. If the series converge, find their sum, if possible.

1.
2. Solution:

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.7 The th- term test The th- Term test is a simple test for the divergence of a series. The good aspect of the tests simplicity is that is usually easy to apply; the bad aspect is that there are many cases where it gives us no information at all! The test says the following: We normally use the th term test in the following way: asked to analyse the convergence of a specific series , we look first not at the series , but at the sequence * +. We attempt to find the limit of the sequence ( this is usually an easier problem than that of handling the series). If we are able to show either that does not exist, or that does exist but has a non-zero value, then we conclude immediately from the th Term Test that the series diverges- and this solves the entire problem for us. What if we find that the answer is that . That is,

the th-Term test has not helped at all with the original problem! We then need to apply other methods (which will probably be harde to apply, but will be more likely to yield definite information). We will turn to study of such methods shortly. 4.8 Tests for Convergence Our discussion so far has not gone deep enough to allow us to analyse the convergence of any but a few quite special classes of series (though these classes are important, and must be understood well for success in applying other methods). To th-Term Test, these tests will in some cases yield inconclusive results, but they are still very useful. We will break up our set of convergence tests into two groups: Tests for series of terms, such as

Test for test for negative, such as

with terms of either sign. An important special case here is a that is, series whose terms are alternately positive and

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.9 Series of Positive Terms In this section, we will introduce three tests which apply to series of positive terms. 4.9.1 Guessing the answer

Our first two tests will require us to make an initial intelligent at whether our series converges or diverges. Once we have made this initial guess, we apply the tests to try to prove that we are right. Its useful, therefore, for us to discuss first how we can go about guessing efficiently, and with a good chance of correctness. Is a guess acceptable? You, might think that guesswork is incompatible with mathematical argument, so is a guess acceptable? The answer is: On its own, no! But the point is that once we have made our guess, we go on to apply a test to the guess. If the test succeeds, then the fact that we guessed no longer matters. If the test fails, then we made a bad guess, or we didnt use the right test, and we need to try again! How, then, do we guess successfully? In the long run, the only recipe for success is to see lots of worked examples, and to try working many yourself. But below are three informal guidelines to get started. Bear in mind that most such rules are not infallible: you must expect that some of your guesses will turn out to be bad ones, although the hope is that your good guesses will increase with practice. Rule 1. If the term following the sigma-sign is multiplied by a constant factor, the constant can be moved out to the left of the sigma-sign, and the series analysed without it. For example, The rule says that Then, since diverges. In fact, this first rule gives us more than a mere at the answer-it gives us aresult to be correct-because we saw in our discussion of the properties of convergent series in Section 4.6 that converges if and only if converges

diverges (its the harmonic series), we guess that also

Rule 2. Terms which are small in value can be disregarded when they are added to ones which are large in value. fnh 2011

MTK3001-Chapter 4 For examples, We would guess that Since 1 is small compared with converges, and when is of any significant size. Then, since ), we guess that this to be certain).

converges (it is geometric series with

will probably converge as well (though we still to

Simirlarly, we would guess that since 30 is small compared with we guess that also Again, we guess that Then, ( ) when is large. Then, since ______________

____________.

Rule 3. If polynomial terms in appear, then all but the highest power of in each one can usually be ignored. (Note that this is more or less a special case of Rule 2, but it occurs so often that its worth stating it on its own.) Here are some examples to illustrate. We would guess that Then, since

______________ we guess that also

____________.

Likewise, we guess that

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Then, this series is ______________ What about

4.9.2 Let

The Comparison Ratio test be a series of positive terms,

be a known convergent series of

positive terms, a, and let 1) If 2) If then or if

be a known divergent series of positive terms. converges, provided that is finite. then diverges.

How do we use the Comparison Ratio test? i) ii) Guess at the behavior of the given series --that is , guess whether diverges. Apply the Comparison ratio test to attempt to prove the guess is correct. converges or

But how do we obtain the known series that is required to apply the testa convergent series if we guessed convergence, an a divergent series if we guessed divergence? The answer is that the process of guessing in Step (i) should already have suggested a suitable series or : if our guess took the form then the series Step (ii). seems to behave like the known series is almost certainly the series or that we need for

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Example: We return to an earlier example, where we guessed that

which is a known divergent series. As the comment above suggest, the harmonic series should serve as the required known divergent series in the Comparison ratio test.

Thus, we let

and

, and apply (2) of the test: we have

Therefore,

diverges, by the Comparison Ratio Test. :

Note that, as we said earlier, the fact that we made a guess along the way the successful application of the test stands on its own. Example: We also guessed earlier that Which is ______________________ Thus,

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Exercise: Guess the behavior of the following series, and then use the Comparison ratio Test to attempt to determine whether they converge or diverge.

1. 2. 3.
( |

( )( ( )| ) )( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.9.3 Let The Comparison test be a series of positive terms,

be a known convergent series of

positive terms, a, and let 1) If 2) If for each for each and and

be a known divergent series of positive terms. converges, then diverges, then converges. diverges.

To apply the test, we still need to guess the behavior of the series as earlier, and our guess should provide the series or required to apply the test. It is generally good to use this test the Comparison Ratio Test failed. The greatest difficulty once we have made our guess is in showing that the require inequality holds. An approach that is often helpful is to try to prove that (which gives ) or (which gives ). Example: We guessed earlier that the series Which is a convergent Now | ( )| | ( )|

-series. We will apply the Comparison test to confirm this guess.

for all , so that | ( )|

Now, taking | ( )|

In the comparison test, we find that since

____________, so does_________________.

Exercise: Use the Comparison Test to determine whether the following series converge or diverge. 1. 2.

( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.9.4 DAlemberts Ratio test

Our third testis quite different in character from the earlier tests: it doesnt require us to make a guess about the behavior of our series, and it doesnt require the use of any known convergent or divergent series. Instead, it compares the terms of the given series with each other. Let be a series of positive terms, and let

assuming that the limit exists. (if the limit does not exist, then we cannot apply the test). The test is as follows: 1) If 2) If 3) If the series converges the series diverges , the ratio test fails, and the series may converge or it may diverge. here we have

Example: Consider

( And so,

[ [

( (

) )

] ]

Therefore, this series is ____________________, by dAlemberts ratio test. A couple of observations about the test are worth noting. This test is often useful when This test will fail whenever involves has the form (as in the example above) or th powers.

Exercise: use dAlemberts ratio Test, if possible, to determine whether the following series converge or diverge. 1.

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

2. 3.

Solution:

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Summary Assignment

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.10 General Series

So far we have only discussed convergence tests for series of positive terms. We will now discuss general series, series containing terms of either sign. By far the most important class of general series is the class of alternating series, in which the terms strictly alternate in sign. Examples of alternating series are: ( ( ( ) ) )

Alternating series arise very often in practice, and we will shortly introduce a convergence test specifically for such series. But first, we will see what can be said about general series. 4.10.1 Absolute Convergence A general series is said to be absolutely convergent if the series | | converges. Putting this informally: if we have a series of terms of either sign, we consider the new series | | got by making all the terms positive, then we say that the original series is absolutely convergent. For example, the series ( )

Is absolutely convergent, because the new series obtained by making all the terms positive that is, ( | ----converges because _______________ Exercise : Determine whether these series are absolutely convergence 1. 2. 3. fnh 2011 ) |

(
( )

MTK3001-Chapter 4 Solution:

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.10.2 Using absolute convergence We began this section by discussing the convergence of a series , where the terms were of either sign, and we instead introduced a different series, namely | | , into the discussion, and analysed its convergence. Why? How does this help us to obtain information about the series that we were originally interested in? The answer lies in the following important fact: If is absolutely convergent, then is also convergent (in the ordinary sense).

That isand this is how we apply the fact in practiceif we examine the new series | |, with positive terms, and can show that it converges, then it follows that the original series , with terms of either sign, also converges. Thus, of the three worked examples above, we can conclude immediately that in the first and second cases the original series

-----_____________

What about cases like the third example, where we found that

| | __________? The answer is that we have obtained no new information about the original series . That is, the original series may converge or may divergeand we will have to use some othe kind of argument to tell which. (The Alternating Series Test, which we will introduce shortly, is the remaining candidate test in this situation.)

4.10.3 The Ratio Test for absolute convergence

The following version of dAlemberts Ratio Test is useful for investigating absolute convergence. Let
be a general series, and let

| if the limit exists. If If If

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converges absolutely, and therefore converges. or , then diverges. , then the test gives no information about .

, then

MTK3001-Chapter 4

As with the ratio test for series of positive terms, this test is often good to use when contains factor , or th powers, but can be expected to fail when has the form

Example : Anlyse the convergence of the following series. 1. 2. Solution: 1. The term contains | And so | [ ( [ ( | ) ) ] ] , so we try the Ratio Test: we have | | | ( )
( ( ) )

Therefore, ordinary sense. 2. Try it yourself

converges absolutely, and, in particular, converges in the

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

Exercise: Are the following series absolutely convergent or not? 1. 2.

( ( ) ) ( )

4.10.4 The Alternating Series Test Refer back to examined the new series | | ( )

And found that it diverged, and we concluded that this gave us no help in determining whether the original series
( )

converges.

The alternating series test frequently enables us to resolve the question of convergence in such cases. It is as follows. If 1. 2. 3. | satisfies each of the following three conditions, then is an alternating series, and | | converges:

4.10.5 Practical tips Checking condition (1) is normally straightforwardit is normally obvious on inspection whether or not a given series is alternating. Condition (2) presents a problem that we have already studied: that of finding the limit of a sequence, so in principle, we know how to deal with it. Checking condition (3)that is, determining whether | | | | for all is usually the hardest of the three conditions to handle, and requires a few comments. Depending on the form of the term at least the following two methods can be tried:
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MTK3001-Chapter 4

| | Proving that | Converting | | into a each occurrence of sufficiently large. (We example.)

| ; function ( ) of the real number , by replacing ( ) by , and showing that , at least for are not concerned about negative values of , for

All three conditions are needed It is tempting to think that it is unnecessary check to both (2) and (3) when applying the Alternating Series Test, because the conditions see, rather similar. But all three conditions are necessary : if any one fails, then the test fails. Note that if the series does not satisfy condition (2), that is, if does not exist, or if , then the series diverges by the th-Term Test. Example: Apply the Alternating Series Test to Solution: 1. The series clearly alternates. 2.
( )

(you should check this if it is not clear). | | | |.

3. We finally to shoe that | Method 1: | | |

)( ( (

( )( )(

) ) ) )( )) | | |.

( For . Thereore, | | | |

) ((

, which implies that |

( )

Hence, by the Alternating Series Test,

converges.

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

Method 2: Replacing each occurance of in | | by , we obtain the function ( ) ( ). Then, we find ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ( for ) , and so |
( )

. Therefore, ( ) is decreasing for . Therefore, by the Alternating Series Test,

|, for

converges.

Exercise: Apply the Alternating Series Test to the following series.

1. 2. 3.

( (

) ) ( )

Solution:

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

4.10.6 Conditional convergence Let

be an alternating series. We say that converges and | | diverges.
( )

is conditionally convergent if

Consider again ,

. We show that

( )

diverges and that converges.

( )

Therefore, ,

is conditionally convergent.

Exercise : Determine whether the following series converge absolutely, converge conditionally or diverge.
1. 2. 3.

( ( (

) ) )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.11 Power Series

Weve spent quite a bit of time talking about series now and with only a couple of exceptions weve spent most of that time talking about how to determine if a series will converge or not. Its now time to start looking at some specific kinds of series and well eventually reach the point where we can talk about a couple of application of series. In this section we are going to start talking about power series. A power series about a, or just power series, is any series that can be written in the form, ( )

where a and cn are numbers. The cns are often called the coefficients of the series. The first thing to notice about a power series is that it is a function of x. That is different from any other kind of series that weve looked at to this point. In all the prior sections weve only allowed numbers in the series and now we are allowing variables to be in the series as well. This will not change how things work however. Everything that we know about series still holds. In the discussion of power series convergence is still a major question that well be dealing with. The difference is that the convergence of the series will now depend upon the value of x that we put into the series. A power series may converge for some values of x and not for other values of x. Before we get too far into power series there is some terminology that we need to get out of the way. First, as we will see in our examples, we will be able to show that there is a number R so that | | the power series will converge for, | and will diverge for | . This number is called the radius of convergence for the series. Note that the series may or may not converge if | | . What happens at these points will not change the radius of convergence.

Secondly, the interval of all xs, including the end points if need be, for which the power series converges is called the interval of convergence of the series. These two concepts are fairly closely tied together. If we know that the radius of convergence of a power series is R then we have the following.

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

The interval of convergence must then contain the interval since we know that the power series will converge for these values. We also know that the interval of convergence cant contain xs in the ranges and since we know the power series diverges for these value of x. Therefore, to completely identify the interval of convergence all that we have to do is determine if the power series will converge for or . If the power series converges for one or both of these values then well need to include those in the interval of convergence. Before getting into some examples lets take a quick look at the convergence of a power series for the case of . In this case the power series becomes, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

and so the power series converges. Note that we had to strip out the first term since it was the only non-zero term in the series. It is important to note that no matter what else is happening in the power series we are guaranteed to get convergence for . The series may not converge for any other value of x, but it will always converge for . Lets work some examples. Well put quite a bit of detail into the first example and then not put quite as much detail in the remaining examples.

Example 1 Determine the radius of convergence and interval of convergence for the following power series. ( ) ( )

Solution Okay, we know that this power series will converge for , but thats it at this point. To determine the remainder of the xs for which well get convergence we can use any of the tests that weve discussed to this point. After application of the test that we choose to work with we will arrive at condition(s) on x that we can use to determine which values of x for which the power series will converge and which values of x for which the power series will diverge. From this we can get the radius of convergence and most of the interval of convergence (with the possible exception of the endpoints.

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 With all that said, the best tests to use here are almost always the ratio or root test. Most of the power series that well be looking at are set up for one or the other. In this case well use the ratio test. ( |( )(
)

)(

) ( ) ( )( )

)(

) |

Before going any farther with the limit lets notice that since x is not dependent on the limit and so it can be factored out of the limit. Notice as well that in doing this we'll need to keep the absolute value bars on it since we need to make sure everything stays positive and x could well be a value that will make things negative. The limit is then, | | | |

So, the ratio test tells us that if

the series will converge, if

the series will diverge, and if

we dont know what will happen. So, we have, | | | | | | | |

Well deal with the case in a bit. Notice that we now have the radius of convergence for this power series. These are exactly the conditions required for the radius of convergence. The radius of convergence for this power series is .

Now, lets get the interval of convergence. Well get most (if not all) of the interval by solving the first inequality from above.

So, most of the interval of validity is given by . All we need to do is determine if the power series will converge or diverge at the endpoints of this interval. Note that these values of x will correspond to the value of x that will give fnh 2011 .

MTK3001-Chapter 4 The way to determine convergence at these points is to simply plug them into the original power series and see if the series converges or diverges using any test necessary.

In this case the series is, ( ) ( ) ( ) ) ( ) ( ) ) ( )

) (

This series is divergent by the Divergence Test since In this case the series is, ( ) ( ) ( )

This series is also divergent by the Divergence Test since

doesnt exist.

So, in this case the power series will not converge for either endpoint. The interval of convergence is then,

Exercise: 1. Determine the radius of convergence and interval of convergence for the following power series. ( )

2. Determine the radius of convergence and interval of convergence for the following power series. ( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.11.1 Power Series and function We opened the last section by saying that we were going to start thinking about applications of series and then promptly spent the section talking about convergence again. Its now time to actually start with the applications of series. With this section we will start talking about how to represent functions with power series. The natural question of why we might want to do this will be answered in a couple of sections once we actually learn how to do this. Lets start off with one that we already know how to do, although when we first ran across this series we didnt think of it as a power series nor did we acknowledge that it represented a function. Recall that the geometric series is | |

Dont forget as well that if | | Now, if we take and

the series diverges. this becomes, | | ( )

Turning this around we can see that we can represent the function ( ) with the power series | | ( ) ( )

This provision is important. We can clearly plug any number other than however, we will only get a convergent power series if | | hold if | |

into the function,

. This means the equality in (1) will only

. For any other value of x the equality wont hold. Note as well that we can also use this and the interval of

to acknowledge that the radius of convergence of this power series is convergence is | | fnh 2011 .

MTK3001-Chapter 4 This idea of convergence is important here. We will be representing many functions as power series and it will be important to recognize that the representations will often only be valid for a range of xs and that there may be values of x that we can plug into the function that we cant plug into the power series representation. In this section we are going to concentrate on representing functions with power series where the functions can be related back to (2). In this way we will hopefully become familiar with some of the kinds of manipulations that we will sometimes need to do when working with power series. So, lets jump into a couple of examples. Example 1 Find a power series representation for the following function and determine its interval of convergence. ( ) Solution What we need to do here is to relate this function back to (2). This is actually easier than it might look. Recall that the x in (2) is simply a variable and can represent anything. So, a quick rewrite of ( ) gives, ( )

and so the

in ( ) holds the same place as the x in (2). Therefore, all we need to do is replace the

x in (3) and weve got a power series representation for ( ). ( ) ( ) provided | |

Notice that we replaced both the x in the power series and in the interval of convergence. All we need to do now is a little simplification. ( ) ( ) provided | | | |

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 So, in this case the interval of convergence is the same as the original power series. This usually wont happen. More often than not the new interval of convergence will be different from the original interval of convergence. Example 2 Find a power series representation for the following function and determine its interval of convergence. ( ) Solution This function is similar to the previous function. The difference is the numerator and at first glance that looks to be an important difference. Since (2) doesnt have an x in the numerator it appears that we cant relate this function back to that. However, now that weve worked the first example this one is actually very simple since we can use the result of the answer from that example. To see how to do this lets first rewrite the function a little. ( ) Now, from the first example weve already got a power series for the second term so lets use that to write the function as, ( ) ( ) provided | |

Notice that the presence of xs outside of the series will NOT affect its convergence and so the interval of convergence remains the same. The last step is to bring the coefficient into the series and well be done. When we do this make sure and combine the xs as well. We typically only want a single x in a power series. ( ) ( ) provided | |

As we saw in the previous example we can often use previous results to help us out. This is an important idea to remember as it can often greatly simplify our work. Example 3 Find a power series representation for the following function and determine its interval of convergence. ( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Solution So, again, weve got an x in the numerator. So, as with the last example lets factor that out and see what weve got left. ( ) If we had a power series representation for ( )

we could get a power series representation for ( ). So, lets find one. Well first notice that in order to use (4) well need the number in the denominator to be a one. Thats easy enough to get. ( )

Now all we need to do to get a power series representation is to replace the x in (3) with gives, ( ) ( ) | |

. Doing this

Now lets do a little simplification on the series. ( )

The interval of convergence for this series is, | | | | | |

Okay, this was the work for the power series representation for ( ) lets now find a power series representation for the original function. All we need to do for this is to multiply the power series representation for ( ) by x and well have it. fnh 2011

MTK3001-Chapter 4

( )

The interval of convergence doesnt change and so it will be | |

So, hopefully we now have an idea on how to find the power series representation for some functions. Admittedly all of the functions could be related back to (2) but its a start. We now need to look at some further manipulation of power series that we will need to do on occasion. We need to discuss differentiation and integration of power series. Lets start with differentiation of the power series, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

Now, we know that if we differentiate a finite sum of terms all we need to do is differentiate each of the terms and then add them back up. With infinite sums there are some subtleties involved that we need to be careful with, but are somewhat beyond the scope of this course. Nicely enough for us however, it is knwn that if the power series representation of ( ) has a radius of convergence of then the term by term differentiation of the power series will also have a radius ( )

of convergence of R and (more importantly) will in fact be the power series representation of provided we stay within the radius of convergence.

Again, we should make the point that if we arent dealing with a power series then we may or may not be able to differentiate each term of the series to get the derivative of the series. So, what all this means for is that,
( )

Note the initial value of this series. It has been changed from to . This is an acknowledgement of the fact that the derivative of the first term is zero and hence isnt in the fnh 2011

MTK3001-Chapter 4 derivative. Notice however, that since the n=0 term of the above series is also zero, we could start the series at class. if it was required for a particular problem. In general however, this wont be done in this

We can now find formulas for higher order derivatives as well now. ( ) ( ) ( )

( )

)(

) (

Once again, notice that the initial value of n changes with each differentiation in order to acknowledge that a term from the original series differentiated to zero. Lets now briefly talk about integration. Just as with the differentiation, when weve got an infinite series we need to be careful about just integration term by term. Much like with derivatives it turns out that as long as were working with power series we can just integrate the terms of the series to get the integral of the series itself. In other words, ( ) ( ( ( ) ) )

Notice that we pick up a constant of integration, C, that is outside the series here. Lets summarize the differentiation and integration ideas before moving on to an example or two. Fact

If ( )

( ( )

) has a radius of convergence of ( ) ( )

then, ( )

both of these also have a radius of convergence of R. fnh 2011

MTK3001-Chapter 4 Now, lets see how we can use these facts to generate some more power series representations of functions. Example 4 Find a power series representation for the following function and determine its interval of convergence. ( ) Solution To do this problem lets notice that ( )

Then since weve got a power series representation for

all that well need to do is differentiate that power series to get a power series representation for ( ). ( )

( (

) )

Then since the original power series had a radius of convergence of g(x), will also have a radius of convergence of .

the derivative, and hence

Example 5 Find a power series representation for the following function and determine its interval of convergence. ( ) Solution In this case we need to notice that fnh 2011 ( )

MTK3001-Chapter 4

and the recall that we have a power series representation for

Remember we found a representation for this in Example 3. So, ( )

) since that

We can find the constant of integration, C, by plugging in a value of x. A good choice is will make the series easy to evaluate. ( ( ) So, the final answer is, ( ) ( ) )

Note that it is okay to have the constant sitting outside of the series like this. In fact, there is no way to bring it into the series so dont get excited about it.

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 4.12 Taylor Series

In the previous section we started looking at writing down a power series representation of a function. The problem with the approach in that section is that everything came down to needing to be able to relate the function in some way to

and while there are many functions out there that can be related to this function there are many more that simply cant be related to this. So, without taking anything away from the process we looked at in the previous section, we need to do is come up with a more general method for writing a power series representation for a function. So, for the time being, lets make two assumptions. First, lets assume that the function ( ) does in fact have a power series representation about ,

( )

Next, we will need to assume that the function, ( ), has derivatives of every order and that we can in fact find them all. Now that weve assumed that a power series representation exists we need to determine what the coefficients, cn, are. This is easier than it might at first appear to be. Lets first just evaluate everything at . This gives, ( ) So, all the terms except the first are zero and we now know what c0 is. Unfortunately, there isnt any other value of x that we can plug into the function that will allow us to quickly find any of the other coefficients. However, if we take the derivative of the function (and its power series) then plug in we get, ( ) ( ) and we now know c1. Lets continue with this idea and find the second derivative. ( ) ( ) ( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 ( ) ( ) So, it looks like, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

Using the third derivative gives, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( )

Using the fourth derivative gives,

( )

( ) ( )

( )( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) ( )( )

( )( )( ) (

Hopefully by this time youve seen the pattern here. It looks like, in general, weve got the following formula for the coefficients.
( )

( )

This even works for

if you recall that

and define

( )

( )

( ). exists the Taylor Series

So, provided a power series representation for the function ( ) about for ( ) about Taylor Series
( )

is,

( )

( )

( )

) ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( )(

If we use for ( ) or,

, so we talking about the Taylor Series about

, we call the series a Maclaurin Series

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Maclaurin Series

( )

( )

( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( )( )

Before working any examples of Taylor Series we first need to address the assumption that a Taylor Series will in fact exist for a given function. Lets start out with some notation and definitions that well need. To determine a condition that must be true in order for a Taylor series to exist for a function lets first define the nth degree Taylor polynomial of ( ) as,
()

( )

( )

Note that this really is a polynomial of degree at most n! If we were to write out the sum without the summation notation this would clearly be an nth degree polynomial. Well see a nice application of Taylor polynomials in the next section. Notice as well that for the full Taylor Series,
( )

( )

the nth degree Taylor polynomial is just the partial sum for the series. Next, the remainder is defined to be, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) and the nth degree Taylor

So, the remainder is really just the error between the function polynomial for a given n. With this definition note that we can then write the function as, ( ) We now have the following Theorem. ( ) ( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Theorem Suppose that ( ) ( ) ( ) . Then if, ( )

for |

, then,
( )

( )

( )

on |

( ) In general showing that is a somewhat difficult process and so we will be assuming that this can be done for some R in all of the examples that well be looking at. Now lets look at some examples. Example 1 Find the Taylor Series for Solution This is actually one of the easier Taylor Series that well be asked to compute. To find the Taylor Series for a function we will need to determine a general formula for where this is easy to do right from the start. To get a formula for
( ) ( )

( )

about

( ). This is one of the few functions

( ) all we need to do is recognize that,

( )

( )

and so,
( )

( ) about is

Therefore, the Taylor series for ( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

Example 2 Find the Taylor Series for Solution

( )

about

There are two ways to do this problem. Both are fairly simple, however one of them requires significantly less work. Well work both solutions since the longer one has some nice ideas that well see in other examples. Solution 1 As with the first example well need to get a formula for ( ) ( ). However, unlike the first one weve got a little more work to do. Lets first take some derivatives and evaluate them at x=0.

( ) ( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( )

( ) ( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

)
( )

After a couple of computations we were able to get general formulas for both often wont be able to get a general formula for
( )

( ) and

( )

( ). We

( ) so dont get too excited about getting that

( )

formula. Also, as we will see it wont always be easy to get a general formula for

( ).

So, in this case weve got general formulas so all we need to do is plug these into the Taylor Series formula and be done with the problem. ( )

Solution 2 The previous solution wasnt too bad and we often have to do things in that manner. However, in this fnh 2011

MTK3001-Chapter 4 case there is a much shorter solution method. In the previous section we used series that weve already found to help us find a new series. Lets do the same thing with this one. We already know a Taylor Series for about instead of just an . and in this case the only difference is weve got a in the exponent

So, all we need to do is replace the x in the Taylor Series that we found in the first example with ( ) ( )

This is a much shorter method of arriving at the same answer so dont forget about using previously computed series where possible (and allowed of course).

Example 3 Find the Taylor Series for Solution

( )

about

For this example we will take advantage of the fact that we already have a Taylor Series for

about

. In this example, unlike the previous example, doing this directly would be significantly longer and more difficult.

( ( ) )

To this point weve only looked at Taylor Series about

(also known as Maclaurin Series) so lets

take a look at a Taylor Series that isnt about . Also, well pick on the exponential function one more time since it makes some of the work easier. This will be the final Taylor Series for exponentials in this section. Example 4 Find the Taylor Series for ( ) about .

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Solution Finding a general formula for

( ) ( )

( )

) is fairly simple.
( )

( )

The Taylor Series is then, ( ) ( )

Okay, we now need to work some examples that dont involve the exponential function since these will tend to require a little more work. Example 5 Find the Taylor Series for ( ) Solution First well need to take some derivatives of the function and evaluate them at
( ) ( ) ( )

( ) about

( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( )

( ) ( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( ) ( )

( )

( )

( )

( ) ( )

( )

( )

In this example, unlike the previous ones, there is not an easy formula for either then general derivative or the evaluation of the derivative. However, there is a clear pattern to the evaluations. So, lets plug what weve got into the Taylor series and see what we get,

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MTK3001-Chapter 4
( )

( ) ( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )

So, we only pick up terms with even powers on the xs. This doesnt really help us to get a general formula for the Taylor Series. However, lets drop the zeroes and renumber the terms as follows to see what we can get. ( ) By renumbering the terms as we did we can actually come up with a general formula for the Taylor Series and here it is, ( ) ( ( ) )

This idea of renumbering the series terms as we did in the previous example isnt used all that often, but occasionally is very useful. There is one more series where we need to do it so lets take a look at that so we can get one more example down of renumbering series terms.

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Example 6 Find the Taylor Series for ( ) Solution As with the last example well start off in the same manner.
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( ) about

( ) ( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( )

( ) ( ) ( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( )

( ) ( ) ( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

So, we get a similar pattern for this one. Lets plug the numbers into the Taylor Series.
( )

( )

( )

In this case we only get terms that have an odd exponent on x and as with the last problem once we ignore the zero terms there is a clear pattern and formula. So renumbering the terms as we did in the previous example we get the following Taylor Series. ( ) ( ( ) )

We really need to work another example or two in which isnt about Example 7 Find the Taylor Series for ( ) ( ) about .

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MTK3001-Chapter 4 Solution Here are the first few derivatives and the evaluations.
( )

( )
( )

( ) ( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( )

( )

( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

( )

Note that while we got a general formula here it doesnt work for so dont worry about it when it does.

. This will happen on occasion

In order to plug this into the Taylor Series formula well need to strip out the
( )

term first.

( ) ( ) ( )

( )

( ( (

) ) ) ( )

( )

( ) )

( )

Notice that we simplified the factorials in this case. You should always simplify them if there are more fnh 2011

MTK3001-Chapter 4 than one and its possible to simplify them. Also, do not get excited about the term sitting in front of the series. Sometimes we need to do that when we cant get a general formula that will hold for all values of n.

Example 8 Find the Taylor Series for Solution

( )

about

Again, here are the derivatives and evaluations.

Notice that all the negatives signs will cancel out in the evaluation. Also, this formula will work for all n, unlike the previous example. Here is the Taylor Series for this function.
( )

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

)(

Now, lets work one of the easier examples in this section. The problem for most students is that it may not appear to be that easy (or maybe it will appear to be too easy) at first glance.

Example 9 Find the Taylor Series for ( ) Solution Here are the derivatives for this problem.

about

This Taylor series will terminate after . This will always happen when we are finding the Taylor Series of a polynomial. Here is the Taylor Series for this one.

When finding the Taylor Series of a polynomial we dont do any simplification of the right hand side. We leave it like it is. In fact, if we were to multiply everything out we just get back to the original polynomial!

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MTK3001-Chapter 4

While its not apparent that writing the Taylor Series for a polynomial is useful there are times where this needs to be done. The problem is that they are beyond the scope of this course and so arent covered here. For example, there is one application to series in the field of Differential Equations where this needs to be done on occasion.

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