Example 1 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Since the cosine term in the denominator doesnt get too large we can assume that the series terms will behave like,

which, as a series, will diverge. So, from this we can guess that the series will probably diverge and so well need to find a smaller series that will also diverge. Recall that from the comparison test with improper integrals that we determined that we can make a fraction smaller by either making the numerator smaller or the denominator larger. In this case the two terms in the denominator are both positive. So, if we drop the cosine term we will in fact be making the denominator larger since we will no longer be subtracting off a positive quantity. Therefore,

Then, since

diverges (its harmonic or the p-series test) by the Comparison Test our original series must also diverge. Example 2 Determine if the following series converges or diverges.

Solution In this case the +2 and the +5 dont really add anything to the series and so the series terms should behave pretty much like

which will converge as a series. Therefore, we can guess that the original series will converge and we will need to find a larger series which also converges.

This means that well either have to make the numerator larger or the denominator smaller. We can make the denominator smaller by dropping the +5. Doing this gives,

At this point, notice that we cant drop the +2 from the numerator since this would make the term smaller and thats not what we want. However, this is actually all the further that we need to go. Lets take a look at the following series.

As shown, we can write the series as a sum of two series and both of these series are convergent by the p-series test. Therefore, since each of these series are convergent we know that the sum,

is also a convergent series. Recall that the sum of two convergent series will also be convergent. Now, since the terms of this series are larger than the terms of the original series we know that the original series must also be convergent by the Comparison Test. The comparison test is a nice test that allows us to do problems that either we couldnt have done with the integral test or at the best would have been very difficult to do with the integral test. That doesnt mean that it doesnt have problems of its own. Consider the following series.

This is not much different from the first series that we looked at. The original series converged because the 3n gets very large very fast and will be significantly larger than

the n. Therefore, the n doesnt really affect the convergence of the series in that case. The fact that we are now subtracting the n off now instead of adding the non really shouldnt change the convergence. We can say this because the 3n gets very large very fast and the fact that were subtracting n off wont really change the size of this term for all sufficiently large value of n. So, we would expect this series to converge. However, the comparison test wont work with this series. To use the comparison test on this series we would need to find a larger series that we could easily determine the convergence of. In this case we cant do what we did with the original series. If we drop the n we will make the denominator larger (since the n was subtracted off) and so the fraction will get smaller and just like when we looked at the comparison test for improper integrals knowing that the smaller of two series converges does not mean that the larger of the two will also converge. So, we will need something else to do help us determine the convergence of this series. The following variant of the comparison test will allow us to determine the convergence of this series. Limit Comparison Test Suppose that we have two series for all n. Define, and with

If c is positive (i.e. ) and is finite (i.e. both series converge or both series diverge. The proof of this test is at the end of this section.

) then either

Note that it doesnt really matter which series term is in the numerator for this test, we could just have easily defined c as,

and we would get the same results. To see why this is, consider the following two definitions.

Start with the first definition and rewrite it as follows, then take the limit.

In other words, if c is positive and finite then so is and if is positive and finite then so is c. Likewise if then and if then . Both definitions will give the same results from the test so dont worry about which series terms should be in the numerator and which should be in the denominator. Choose this to make the limit easy to compute. Also, this really is a comparison test in some ways. If c is positive and finite this is saying that both of the series terms will behave in generally the same fashion and so we can expect the series themselves to also behave in a similar fashion. If or we cant say this and so the test fails to give any information. The limit in this test will often be written as,

since often both terms will be fractions and this will make the limit easier to deal with. Lets see how this test works. Example 3 Determine if the following series converges or diverges.

Solution To use the limit comparison test we need to find a second series that we can determine the convergence of easily and has what we assume is the same convergence as the given series. On top of that we will need to choose the new series in such a way as to give us an easy limit to compute for c. Weve already guessed that this series converges and since its vaguely geometric lets use

as the second series. We know that this series converges and there is a chance that since both series have the 3n in it the limit wont be too bad.

Heres the limit.

Now, well need to use LHospitals Rule on the second term in order to actually evaluate this limit.

So, c is positive and finite so by the Comparison Test both series must converge since

converges. Example 4 Determine if the following series converges or diverges.

Solution Fractions involving only polynomials or polynomials under radicals will behave in the same way as the largest power of n will behave in the limit. So, the terms in this series should behave as,

and as a series this will diverge by the p-series test. In fact, this would make a nice choice for our second series in the limit comparison test so lets use it.

So, c is positive and finite and so both limits will diverge since

diverges. Ratio Test Suppose we have the series . Define,

Then,

1. if the series is absolutely convergent (and hence convergent). 2. if the series is divergent. 3. if the series may be divergent, conditionally convergent, or absolutely convergent. A proof of this test is at the end of the section. Notice that in the case of the ratio test is pretty much worthless and we would need to resort to a different test to determine the convergence of the series. Also, the absolute value bars in the definition of L are absolutely required. If they are not there it will be possible for us to get the incorrect answer. Lets take a look at some examples. Example 1 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution With this first example lets be a little careful and make sure that we have everything down correctly. Here are the series terms an.

Recall that to compute an+1 all that we need to do is substitute n+1 for all the ns in an.

Now, to define L we will use,

since this will be a little easier when dealing with fractions as weve got here. So,

So, will converge.

and so by the Ratio Test the series converges absolutely and hence

As seen in the previous example there is usually a lot of canceling that will happen in these. Make sure that you do this canceling. If you dont do this kind of canceling it can make the limit fairly difficult. Example 2 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Now that weve worked one in detail we wont go into quite the detail with the rest of these. Here is the limit.

In order to do this limit we will need to eliminate the factorials. We simply cant do the limit with the factorials in it. To eliminate the factorials we will recall from our discussion on factorials above that we can always strip out terms from a factorial. If we do that with the numerator (in this case because its the larger of the two) we get,

at which point we can cancel the n! for the numerator an denominator to get,

So, by the Ratio Test this series diverges. Example 3 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution In this case be careful in dealing with the factorials.

So, by the Ratio Test this series converges absolutely and so converges. Example 4 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Do not mistake this for a geometric series. The n in the denominator means that this isnt a geometric series. So, lets compute the limit.

Therefore, by the Ratio Test this series is divergent. In the previous example the absolute value bars were required to get the correct answer. If we hadnt used them we would have gotten would have implied a convergent series! which

Now, lets take a look at a couple of examples to see what happens when we get . Recall that the ratio test will not tell us anything about the convergence of these series. In both of these examples we will first verify that we get and then use other tests to determine the convergence. Example 5 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Lets first get L.

So, as implied earlier we get which means the ratio test is no good for determining the convergence of this series. We will need to resort to another test for this series. This series is an alternating series and so lets check the two conditions from that test.

The two conditions are met and so by the Alternating Series Test this series is convergent. Well leave it to you to verify this series is also absolutely convergent. Example 6 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Heres the limit.

Again, the ratio test tells us nothing here. We can however, quickly use the divergence test on this. In fact that probably should have been our first choice on this one anyway.

By the Divergence Test this series is divergent.

So, as we saw in the previous two examples if we get the series can be either convergent or divergent.

from the ratio test

There is one more thing that we should note about the ratio test before we move onto the next section. The last series was a polynomial divided by a polynomial and we saw that we got from the ratio test. This will always happen with rational expression involving only polynomials or polynomials under radicals. So, in the future it isnt even worth it to try the ratio test on these kinds of problems since we now know that we will get . Also, in the second to last example we saw an example of an alternating series in which the positive term was a rational expression involving polynomials and again we will always get in these cases. Lets close the section out with a proof of the Ratio Test. Proof of Ratio Test First note that we can assume without loss of generality that the series will start at as weve done for all our series test proofs. Lets start off the proof here by assuming that that and well need to show

is absolutely convergent. To do this lets first note that because there is some number r such that .

Now, recall that,

and because we also have chosen r such that if we will have,

there is some N such that

Next, consider the following,

So, for we have Just why is this important? Well we can now look at the following series.

This is a geometric series and because convergent series. Also because test the series

we in fact know that it is a by the Comparison

is convergent. However since,

we know that

is also convergent since the first term on the right is a finite is absolutely convergent. and well need to show that

sum of finite terms and hence finite. Therefore Next, we need to assume that is divergent. Recalling that,

and because we will have,

we know that there must be some N such that if

However, if

for all

then we know that,

because the terms are getting larger and guaranteed to not be negative. This in turn means that,

Therefore, by the Divergence Test

is divergent.

Finally, we need to assume that and show that we could get a series that has any of the three possibilities. To do this we just need a series for each case. Well leave the details of checking to you but all three of the following series have and each one exhibits one of the possibilities.

Root Test This is the last test for series convergence that were going to be looking at. As with the Ratio Test this test will also tell whether a series is absolutely convergent or not rather than simple convergence. Root Test Suppose that we have the series . Define,

Then, 1. if the series is absolutely convergent (and hence convergent). 2. if the series is divergent. 3. if the series may be divergent, conditionally convergent, or absolutely convergent. A proof of this test is at the end of the section. As with the ratio test, if we get the root test will tell us nothing and well need to use another test to determine the convergence of the series. Also note that if in the Ratio Test then the Root Test will also give . We will also need the following fact in some of these problems. Fact

Lets take a look at a couple of examples. Example 1 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution There really isnt much to these problems other than computing the limit and then using the root test. Here is the limit for this problem.

So, by the Root Test this series is divergent. Example 2 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Again, there isnt too much to this series.

Therefore, by the Root Test this series converges absolutely and hence converges. Note that we had to keep the absolute value bars on the fraction until wed taken the limit to get the sign correct. Example 3 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Heres the limit for this series.

After using the fact from above we can see that the Root Test tells us that this series is divergent. Proof of Root Test First note that we can assume without loss of generality that the series will start at as weve done for all our series test proofs. Also note that this proof is very similiar to the proof of the Ratio Test. Lets start off the proof here by assuming that that and well need to show

is absolutely convergent. To do this lets first note that because there is some number r such that .

Now, recall that,

and because we also have chosen r such that if we will have,

there is some N such that

Now the series

is a geometric series and because convergent series. Also because Comparison test the series

we in fact know that it is a by the

is convergent. However since,

we know that

is also convergent since the first term on the right is a is absolutely

finite sum of finite terms and hence finite. Therefore convergent. Next, we need to assume that is divergent. Recalling that,

and well need to show that

and because we will have,

we know that there must be some N such that if

However, if

for all

then we know that,

This in turn means that,

Therefore, by the Divergence Test

is divergent.

Finally, we need to assume that and show that we could get a series that has any of the three possibilities. To do this we just need a series for each case. Well leave the details of checking to you but all three of the following series have and each one exhibits one of the possibilities.

Alternating Series Test Suppose that we have a series or all n. Then if, 1. 2. the series and, is a decreasing sequence is convergent. and either where for

Example 1 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution First, identify the bn for the test.

Now, all that we need to do is run through the two conditions in the test.

Both conditions are met and so by the Alternating Series Test the series must converge. The series from the previous example is sometimes called the Alternating Harmonic Series. Also, the could be or any other form of alternating sign and wed still call it an Alternating Harmonic Series. In the previous example it was easy to see that the series terms decreased since increasing n only increased the denominator for the term and hence made the term smaller. In general however we will need to resort to Calculus I techniques to prove the series terms decrease. Well see an example of this in a bit. Example 2 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution First, identify the bn for the test.

Lets check the conditions.

So, the first condition isnt met and so there is no reason to check the second. Since this condition isnt met well need to use another test to check convergence. In these cases where the first condition isnt met it is usually best to use the divergence test.

This limit doesnt exist and so by the Divergence Test this series diverges. Example 3 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution Notice that in this case the exponent on the -1 isnt n or n+1. That wont change how the test works however so we wont worry about that. In this case we have,

so lets check the conditions. The first is easy enough to check.

The second condition requires some work however. It is not immediately clear that these terms will decrease. Increasing n to n+1 will increase both the numerator and the denominator. Increasing the numerator says the term should also increase while increasing the denominator says that the term should decrease. Since its not clear which of these will win out we will need to resort to Calculus I techniques to show that the terms decrease. Lets start with the following function and its derivative.

Now, there are three critical points for this function, , , and . The first is outside the bound of our series so we wont need to worry about that one. Using the test points,

and so we can see that the function in increasing on on . Therefore, since the bn are also increasing on

and decreasing we know as well that and decreasing on .

The bn are then eventually decreasing and so the second condition is met. Both conditions are met and so by the Alternating Series Test the series must be converging. As the previous example has shown, we sometimes need to do a fair amount of work to show that the terms are decreasing. Do not just make the assumption that the terms will be decreasing and let it go at that. Lets do one more example just to make a point. Example 4 Determine if the following series is convergent or divergent.

Solution The point of this problem is really just to acknowledge that it is in fact an alternating series. To see this we need to acknowledge that, and so the series is really,

Checking the two condition gives,

The two conditions of the test are met and so by the Alternating Series Test the series is convergent.