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.

8489 questions
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Radius of convergence of a series which shows convergence for x>-a.

We need to find the radius of convergence of $\sum_{i=1}^n a_n$ where $a_n$=$(-4)^n*(x+2)^(2n)$/$n(n+1)$ . By ratio test the series converges for |x+2|<1/4 i.e. -9/4
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Is there a way to meaningfully express $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^{n+1}(x-1)^n}{n^k}$ for $k\neq 1$?

For the following series: $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{\left(-1\right)^{\left(n+1\right)}\left(x-1\right)^{n}}{n^{k}}$$ other than $k=1$, is there any way to express this series as a function for other values of $k$?
Ryan
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$P(x)$ converges iff $Q(x)$ converges. Does this imply that both have the same radius of convergence? where $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ are power series

Let $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ be two power series and $P(x)$ converges iff $Q(x)$ converges. Does this imply that both have the same radius of convergence?
Lucas
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question about series, geometric sum

the questions is: Determine the series: a) express 1/x in terms of (x+1)^k guidance: use t=x+1 and geometric sum and term derivative Have never really seen these types of questions before and couldnt find anything in my mathbook
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Differentiating $e^x$ power series

I'm trying to understand the following question Give a new derivation of the formula $$ \frac {\mathrm d}{\mathrm dx} e^x = e^x $$ by differentiating the power series $$ 1 + x + \frac{x^2}2 + \frac{x^3}{3!} + \frac{x^4}{4!} + \cdots +…
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Power series and range of convergence

Given that $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}a_nx^n$ is a power series that its range of convergence is $[-7,7]$, I need to determine if the following statements is true: The power series $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}na_nx^{n-1}$ converges at $[-7,7]$. I found that the…
Daniel
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Radius of convergence of series whose nth term coefficient is nth prime

What is the radius of convergence of $\sum_{n= 1 }^{n=\infty}a_n x^n$ ? Where $a_n $ is the nth prime. I know it can not be bigger than one because at $x =1$ series is just sum of all primes which is divergent. I also tried nth prime bounds but not…
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Evaluating $\sum\limits_{i=\lceil \frac{n}{2}\rceil}^\infty\binom{2i}{n}\frac{1}{2^i}$

Let $a_n = \sum\limits_{i=\lceil \frac{n}{2}\rceil}^\infty\binom{2i}{n}\frac{1}{2^i}$. Prove that $a_{n+1} = 2a_n + a_{n-1}$. I have tried considering the derivatives of $\frac{1}{1-x^2}=1+x^2+x^4+...$, and although this may work, it certainly does…
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Power series problems

How can I find the power series expansion of following functions. I don't have any idea, these seem intimidating. Please help how to proceed. $(x+\sqrt{1+x^2})^a$ $\sqrt{\frac{1-\sqrt{1-x}}{x}}$
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Can I find a power series expansion of this function without a Taylor series?

I was asked to find the power series expansion of $f(x) = \frac{x}{\sqrt{x^2+4}}$ about $x = 0$. Is there a way to do a power expansion without finding the Taylor series? Deriving this function multiple times seems extremely tedious.
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Invert a power series

I am trying to invert (?) a power series. Let $$y(x) = \sum_{k \geq 1} a_k x^k$$ I need to find the coefficients $b_k$ such that $$x(y) = \sum_{k \geq 1} b_k y^k$$ For example, I have the following power series (assuming convergence) $$x(z) =…
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show that $a^{3}+b^{3}+c^{3}-3 a b c=1$

$$ \begin{aligned} \text { If } \quad a &=1+\frac{x^{3}}{3 !}+\frac{x^{6}}{6 !}+\ldots \\ & b=x+\frac{x^{4}}{4 !}+\frac{x^{7}}{7 !}+\ldots \\ & c=\frac{x^{2}}{2 !}+\frac{x^{5}}{5 !}+\frac{x^{8}}{8 !}+\ldots \end{aligned} $$ then show that…
user791682
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Power series expansion of an expresion

I hope you can help me with a problem where I'm stuck. I need to expand $\frac{k!}{(1-st)^{k+1}}$ into $\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(n+k)!}{n!}(st)^n$ and I don't know where to start. Thank's you in advance.
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Stepping through a power series, I would like to keep the sum of terms the same with different step sizes

I have a simple series used to set trading quantities: f(i) = a*b^i We've been using it to make quantity steps, for example: 20*4^0 = 20 20*4^1 = 80 20*4^2 = 320 etc a useful value for us is the sum of all terms for a specific exponent. for…
Thomas
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From what properties of a power series can I conclude monotonic coefficients?

Given a power series formula, how can I conclude that the coefficients are monotonically decreasing? It would be equally good to conclude that the coefficients are all nonnegative.