Questions tagged [sequences-and-series]

For questions concerning sequences and series. Typical questions concern, but are not limited to: identifying sequences, identifying terms, recurrence relations, $\epsilon-N$ proofs of convergence, convergence tests, finding closed forms for sums. For questions on finite sums, use the (summation) tag instead.

Sequences and series are often considered as a main part of part of calculus, in addition to limits, continuity, differentiation and integration.

A sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed. There are special types of sequences, such as arithmetic sequences (or arithmetic progressions), where the next term is a constant more than the previous; harmonic progressions, which is formed by taking the reciprocal of each term of an arithmetic progression; logarithmic progression, which is formed from a series whose progression getting smaller; and geometric progressions, where the next term is a constant multiplied by the previous term.

A sequence can be given by a direct formula (e.g. $a_n = 2^n + 3$), or by a recurrence relation. In a recurrence relation, the relation between the next term and the earlier terms is given. An example is the recurrence relation $F_{n+2}=F_{n+1}+F_n, n \geq 0.$ Together with the initial terms $F_0=0$ and $F_1=1$, this recurrence relation defines the famous Fibonacci sequence.

A series is formed by summing a sequence. A typical question is: When the number of summed terms goes to infinity, does the sum approach a finite limit? In other words, is it convergent? Several tests, such as the ratio test, the root test, the limit comparison test, the integral test, etc. can help to answer these questions.

Important note. Questions about guessing the next number in a sequence, with no explicit mathematical context, will usually be quickly closed. Consider posting these questions at Puzzling Stack Exchange instead.

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Strange remark in a solution: Recursion, definite integral and a duplication formula?

I was doing some problems in Arthur Engel's "Problem-Solving Strategies" when I came across this problem in the Induction section: Find a closed formula for the sequence $a_1 = 1,$ $$a_{n+1} = \frac{1}{16}(4a_n + 1 + \sqrt{24a_n + 1}).$$ Now the…
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Is there Any Study on the Sum of $e^{-\sqrt{n}t}$?

I've been messing around with some things after looking at Jacobi Theta Functions and I happened to stumble upon these unexpectedly (at least to me) nice Laurent expansion and integral representation of a curious…
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Proving a Lambert series identity from Ramanujan's Collected Papers

While studying Ramanujan's Collected Papers I came across an identity $$q(1 + q + q^{3} + q^{6} + \cdots)^{8} = \frac{1^{3}q}{1 - q^{2}} + \frac{2^{3}q^{2}}{1 - q^{4}} + \frac{3^{3}q^{3}}{1 - q^{6}} + \cdots$$ which I am unable to establish…
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Sequence of natural numbers

Numbers $1,2,...,n$ are written in sequence. It's allowed to exchange any two elements. Is it possible to return to the starting position after an odd number of movements? I know that is necessarily an even number of movements but I can't explain…
lele
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Why does this sequence happen like this?

The other day I sent my girlfriend this text <3 she sent me back <3<3<3 not to be one upped I responded with <3<3<3<3<3<3<3 this got very silly very quickly. After our "<3" battle was over I got to thinking about the pattern we were forming. Since…
AdamP
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Limit in a sequence

I know that $\lim\sqrt[n]{a}=1$(where $a > 0$ is a real number). I know also that $\lim{\frac{1}{n}}=0$. But, can you explain me why $\lim\sqrt[n]{2 + \frac{1}{n}}= 1$ ?
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Convergence of $1+\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{3}+\frac{1\cdot 3}{2\cdot 4}\frac{1}{5}+\frac{1\cdot 3\cdot 5}{2\cdot 4\cdot 6}\frac{1}{7}+\cdots$

Is it possible to test the convergence of $1+\dfrac{1}{2}\dfrac{1}{3}+\dfrac{1\cdot 3}{2\cdot 4}\dfrac{1}{5}+\dfrac{1\cdot 3\cdot 5}{2\cdot 4\cdot 6}\dfrac{1}{7}+\cdots$ by Gauss test? If I remove the first term I can see…
Sriti Mallick
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Does it make sense to talk about the concatenation of infinite series?

Does a series of numbers defined as the concatenation of two or more infinite series, for example all the positive integers followed by all the negative integers, make mathematical sense? I came up with this problem while writing an implementation…
Russell
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If $\sum a_n $ is a positive series that diverges, does $\sum \frac{a_n}{1+a_n}$ diverge?

Let $ \{a_n\}_{n=1}^\infty $ be a sequence such that $\displaystyle \sum a_n $ that is divergent to $+\infty$. What can be said about the convergence of $\displaystyle \sum \frac{a_n}{1 + a_n} $? Any hints, thoughts or leads would be greatly…
vondip
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Bijection which preserves convergent series

Does there exist a bijection $f: \mathbf{N} \to \mathbf{N}$ such that $$ \forall A \subseteq \mathbf{N}, \quad \sum_{n \in A}\frac{1}{n}<\infty \Longleftrightarrow \sum_{n \in A}\frac{1}{\sqrt{f(n)}}<\infty\,\,? $$
Paolo Leonetti
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Strange Sum of numbers $1$ to $100$

I came across this problem the other day. It is as follows: The strange sum is as follows. Starting at the any term in a set, when the next term is added to the 'tally', the second term is subtracted from the first if the result is nonnegative,…
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Closed form for $(a_n)$ such that $a_{n+2} = \frac{a_{n+1}a_n}{6a_n - 9a_{n+1}}$ with $a_1=1$, $a_2=9$

$$a_1 = 1; a_2 = 9; a_{n+2} = \frac{a_{n+1}a_n}{6a_n - 9a_{n+1}}$$ I need to find non-recurring formula for $a_n$. Is there any good way to do this? The only one comes to mind is to guess the formula and then prove it using mathematical induction.…
Mishael
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Does $ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{n+1}}{n^{|\sin(n)|}} $ converge?

I am trying to determine whether the series $ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{n+1}}{n^{|\sin(n)|}} $ converges or not. The difficulty is in that every now and then $\sin(n)$ will be very close to zero making the corresponding term in the series…
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Evaluating $\frac 9 {10}\cdot\frac {99} {100}\cdot\frac {999} {1000}\cdots$

$\displaystyle\frac 9 {10}\cdot\frac {99} {100}\cdot\frac {999} {1000}\cdots=?$ Usually, product of infinite many numbers which are less than 1, is 0. But How about this time? Thank you.
JSCB
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