Questions tagged [power-series]

Questions about the properties of functions of the form $\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}a_n (x-c)^n$, where the $a_n$ are real or complex numbers, and $x$ is real or complex.

A series of the form $$\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} a_n (x-c)^n$$ is called a power series, and can be used to expand functions. The center $c$ is often $0$ and the radius of convergence $R$ is given by $R = \left(\limsup\limits_{n\to\infty}\sqrt[n]{|a_n|}\right)^{-1}$.

Power series for some common functions are: \begin{align} \frac{1}{1-x}&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty x^n\quad(|x|\lt1)\\\ \ln(1+x)&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nx^{n+1}}{n+1}\quad(|x|\leq 1, x\neq -1)\\\ \arctan(x)&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{(-1)^nx^{2n+1}}{2n+1}\quad(|x|\leq 1,x\neq \pm i)\\\ \tan(x)&=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{|B_{2n}|(4^n-1)4^n }{(2n)!}x^{2n-1}\quad(|x|< \pi/2)\\\ \sin(x)&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{(-1)^n x^{2n+1}}{(2n+1)!}\\\ \cos(x)&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{(-1)^n x^{2n}}{(2n)!}\\\ e^x &= \sum_{n=0}^\infty\frac{x^n}{n!}\\\ \end{align}

If convergence is not an issue or if you are working over a different domain than $\mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{C}$, consider using the tag instead.

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How to take every third element in a series?

$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{n^2} = \frac{1}{1^2} + \frac{1}{2^2} + \frac{1}{3^2} + \cdots = 1.644934$ or $\frac{\pi^2}{6}$ What if we take every 3rd term and add them up? A = $ \frac{1}{3^2} + \frac{1}{6^2} + \frac{1}{9^2} + \cdots = ??$ How to…
User3910
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Radius of convergence

I'm trying to understand how to handle power series who use floor or ceiling functions in their general term. For example, the power series $\displaystyle{\sum_{k \geq 1} \left\lfloor \frac{2^k}{(k+1)^2}\right\rfloor}x^k$ is supposed to have a…
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Characterize those power series that converge uniformly on ($-\infty$, $\infty$).

My question: Characterize those power series $\sum_{k=0}^\infty a_{k}(x-c)^{k}$ that converge uniformly on ($-\infty, \,\infty$). What does it mean to characterize a power series? Let {$a_{k}$} be a sequence of coefficients for a power series. By…
Garrett
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Inverse Function for a Taylor Series?

I am relatively new to infinite series and have a question about the Lagrange Inversion Theorem. Can you use it to dervive Taylor series of inverse functions? For example, knowing the Taylor series for $e^x$ can I obtain the Taylor series for $\ln…
user463792
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What is the expression for the sum of this series?

What is the sum of the series $$f(x)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac {x^{n+2}}{n(n+2)}$$ in terms of $x$, where $-1 \le x \le 1$? I can clean it up by differentiating:$$f'(x)=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac {x^{n+1}}n$$but I'm not sure where to go from here.
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Sum of reciprocals of square roots

Again, shattered by this question on series, I did have no clue how to begin. Sequences limits are approached through absolute values of the $n$-th term and the assumed limit being smaller than a given delta. And this for a given $N$. I don't see…
Ignace
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Find the radius of convergence of the power series $J_{o}(x)= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^nx^{2n}}{2^{2n}(n!)^2}$

Find the radius of convergence of the power series $$J_{o}(x)= \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^nx^{2n}}{2^{2n}(n!)^2}$$ Should I separate this into the product of two limits, namely $\frac{(-1)^n}{(n!)^2}$ and $\frac{x^{2n}}{2^{2n}}$ so that the first…
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Domain of convergence of power series-2

Here is the series: $$ \sum_{n=2}^\infty(-1)^n\frac{(x-3)^n}{(\sqrt[n]{n}-1)n} $$ What is the interval of convergence? I tried using root test and ratio test but finding the limit from thereon is quite difficult. From root test:…
John
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Is there a result on the behaviour of power series with positive integer coefficients on their boundary?

I have a power series whose coefficients are all positive integers and whose radius of convergence $r$ is $<1$ and I wish to prove that it has a pole at $r$, or at least an infinite radial limit. Is there a general result that could help in this…
Evpok
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Power series square root for negative x

I was searching for information about the power series representation for $\sqrt x$ valid for complex numbers so I found and 'hacked' this equation here: http://www.maeckes.nl/Reeksen/kwadraatwortel%20GB.html to make it work with complex numbers. It…
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How can a power series with n in the denominator converge?

Example 1 from this review of power series and the ratio test is: $\sum\limits_{n = 0}^\infty {\frac{{{{\left( { - 3} \right)}^n}}}{{n\,{7^{n + 1}}}}{{\left( {x - 5} \right)}^n}}$ It converges by the ratio test. But isn't the first term of this…
Max
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Show that the convergence radius of $\sum\limits_{n=1}^{\infty}a_nx^n$ equals $1$.

Problem Suppose that $a_n \geq 0$; $A_n=a_1+a_2+\cdots+a_n$; $\lim\limits_{n \to \infty}A_n=+\infty$; $\lim\limits_{n \to \infty}\dfrac{a_n}{A_n}=0.$ Show that the convergence radius of $\sum\limits_{n=1}^{\infty}a_nx^n$ equals $1$. Proof Let the…
mengdie1982
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find a function that fits this power series

I tried to find an expression that fits the power following serie but didn't succeed, it looks almost like the derivative of arcsin, but ...no, it's not: $$f(x)=\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n(2n)!}{n!}$$ Of course $-1
kalish
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Series Expansion of $\frac{1}{1-e^{int}}$

Is there a better way to deal with the series expansion, in particular? I'm interested in attempting to use the series expansion to estimate the value, which I will eventually combine with more complicated expressions. So, to begin, I calculated…
Matt Groff
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Show that $\alpha(x+y) = \alpha(x)α(y) + \beta(x)\gamma(y) + \beta(y)\gamma(x)$ for every $x, y \in\mathbb R$.

$$\alpha(x) =\sum_{j=0}^\infty \frac{x^{3j}}{(3j)!}$$ $$\beta(x) = \sum_{j=0}^\infty \frac{x^{3j+2}}{(3j+2)!}$$ $$\gamma(x) = \sum_{j=0}^\infty \frac{x^{3j+1}}{(3j+1)!}$$ Show that $\alpha(x+y) = \alpha(x)α(y) + \beta(x)\gamma(y) +…
user407151
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