87 Altemating Series, Absolute and Conditional Convergence 655 Which of the serisin Bxercisos 39-44 converge. and which ven” Theory and Examples Give reasons for your answers “tf af nyt @ 4S. Neier the Ratio nor the mbvRoot Test belps with pseries. Try them oa 24 ‘nd show that both ests fail to provide information sb eo 46, Show that neither the Ratio Test nar the nth-Root Test yuovides information about the convergence of at Law (p costa) n/® nis apie momber WT Vie onteruise Dee > a, converge? Give wasons foe your answer Alternating Series, Absolute and Conditional Convergence A series in wich the terms are alternately positive and negative is an alternating Here are three examples: o tid 2hl= 54pm at pty gh tS @ A 2PR-A4S—6 he EEN Hn @ Series (1), called the alternating harmonic series, converges, at we will see in a moment, Series (2), a geometric series with ratio r= —1/2, converges to 2y[1-+ (1/2)] = ~4/2, Series (3) diverges because the nth term doesnot approach set. We prove the convergence of the alternating harmon series by applying the Alerting Sevies Test Theorem 8 ‘The Alternating Series Test (Leibniz’s Theorem) “The series say be ‘converges if all tice of the following. conditions are satisfied: 1, The u's are all positive. 2. wy 2 yyy forall n > .N, for some integer N, 3 tte 0.655. Chapter & Infinite Series 8.16 The partial sums of an alternating series thet satisfies the hypotheses of “Theoser 8 for Nw 1 straddle the limit from the beginaing, Proof If is an even integer, say n= 2m, then the sum of the frst terms is Se = (tn 2) (uy =a) be nyt to) ~ Gy 1a) — (oe — 3) 2 — (tana — Mad Ma The frst equality shows that sy. i tie sum of me nonnegative terms, since each term in parentheses is positive er zero, Hence saq.+2 > stm and the Sequence {6e) i om decreasing. The second equality shows that fay <4. Since [so] is nondeceeasing and bounded from above. it has a limit, say o fm is an oud integer, say. = 2m + 1, hen the sum of the fest tere Sam} Sim + tang: Simece ug —> O, Bim, toes = and, as m > 08, Seaet = Saat Mang + LOSE, Cy) Combining the results of (4) and (5) gives jim. sy = & (Section 8.1, Exercise 83). a EXAMPLE 1 The akernating harmonic series farts satisies the three requirements of Theorem 8 with N= 1; it therefore converges a [A grophical intepretation of the partial sams (Fig, 8.14} shows ow am altee- naling series converges to its limit £ when the three conditions of Theorem 8 are satisfied with N= 1. (Exercise 63 asks you to pieture the case N > 1.) Starting from the origin of the x-axis, we lay off the positive distance 5 =). To find the point ccrresponding to 6; = 1 ~ ms, We back up a distance equal to us. Since us S uy, We do not hack up any farther than she origin, We continue inthis seesaw fashion, backing up or gotng forward as the signs in the series demand. But for > N, each forward or hackward step is shorter than (ora mist the same size a8) the pecceding sicp, Beeause uy) < uy. Amd since the th term approaches 7510 as 1 inceeases, the size of step we take forward or backward gets smaller and small We oscillate serogs the Limit Land the amplinsle of aseillation approaches 2er0, The limit L lies between any two successive sums sy and fyyi and hence differs from 5, by an amount hess that anes8.7 Alternating Series, Absolute and Conditional Convergence 657 cause Weasel jg), comerges. “The geomenic series rtd t-545-Ggt ‘converges absolutely because the corresponding series of absolute values rtd lestgtgt