Lecture 10

1 Test for convergence ctd..

∞
P
Theorem 1.0.1 (Ratio test). Let an be a series of real numbers. Let
1

an+1 an+1
a = lim inf and A = lim sup .
n→∞ an n→∞ an

Then
∞
P
a) an converges absolutely if A < 1;
1
∞
P
b) |an | diverges if a > 1;
1

c) the test fails in all other cases.

Proof. a) If A < 1, choose B such thata A < B < 1. Then there exists an  > 0 such that B = A + 
and also N ∈ N such that an+1
an ≤ B for all n ≥ N. Further, for any k ∈ N,

k k
aN +k Y aN +i Y
= ≤ B = Bk.
aN aN +i−1
i=1 i=1

∞
Thus |aN +k | ≤ B k |aN |, k ∈ N. But |aN |B k < ∞ as B < 1. Thus by comparison test, the series
P
k=0
∞
P
an converges.
1
an+1
b) If a > 1, choose b such that 1 < b < a. There exits N ∈ N such that an ≥ b for all n ≥ N.
Further, for any k ∈ N,
k k
aN +k Y aN +i Y
= ≥ b = bk .
aN aN +i−1
i=1 i=1
∞
aN bk diverges. Thus, again, by the comparison test,
P
Thus |aN +k | ≥ |aN |, k ∈ N. But, as b > 1,
k=0
∞
P
the series an diverges.
1
P1 an+1 P1
c) Case1: a = A = 1 Consider the series . Here lim = 1. But diverges. For the
n n→∞ an n
P 1 an+1
series 2
, which converges, again lim = 1.
n n→∞P ann
Case 2: A > 1 If we consider the series 2 then A = 2 > 1 and the series diverges. If we take
1 2 1 1 1
s=1+2+ + + ( )2 + 2( )2 + ( )3 + ....
5 5 5 5 5

1
Then it is easy to see that the series converges as
1 1 1 1 1
s = 1 + ( ) + ( )3 + ..... + 2 + 2( ) + 2( )2 + 2( )3 + ...
5 5 5 5 5
But A = 2. Similarly one can construct examples when a < 1. ///

Examples 1.0.2.
∞ nn
P
a) Consider the series . Here
1 n!
n
(n + 1)n+1 n! 1 n
  
an+1 n+1
= = = 1+ → e,
an (n + 1)! nn n n

which is greater than 1. So a = A = e > 1. Thus the given series diverges.

∞ xn
P
b) Consider the series , x ∈ R. Here
0 n!

an+1 xn+1 n! x
= n
= → 0.
an (n + 1)! x n+1

Therefore a = A = 0 < 1. Thus, for all x ∈ R, the given series converges.

∞
P p
Theorem 1.0.3 (Root test). Let an be a series of real numbers. Let A = lim sup n |an |. Then
1 n→∞

a) the series converges absolutely if A < 1;

b) the series diverges if A > 1;

c) the test fails if A = 1.

p
Proof. a) If A < 1, choose B such that A < B < 1. Then there exists N ∈ N such that n |an | < B for
all n ≥ N. This implies |an | < B n for all n ≥ N. As B < 1, the series converges by comparison test.
p
b) If A > 1, there exists infinitely many n ∈ N such that n |an | > 1. But this implies that |an | > 1
P
for infinitely many values of n and hence aN 9 0, i.e., an diverges.
P1
c) Consider the series n . Here A = 1 and the series diverges. On the other hand, for the series
P 1
n2
, again A = 1, but the series converges. ///

Examples 1.0.4.
s
P∞ xn xn xn x
1) Consider the series , x ∈ R. Here an = . Therefore, n
= √
n
→ |x|. Thus the
1 n n n n
series converges for |x| < 1 and diverges for |x| > 1.
P∞ xn xn p x
n
2) Consider the series n
, x ∈ R. Here an = n
. Then, |an | = → 0. Thus the series
1 n n n
converges for any x ∈ R.

2
  n
 n is odd √
3) Consider the series
P
an , where an = 4n . Then lim sup n an = 21 . Therefore the
1
 n is even n→∞
2n
series converges.
P −n−(−1)n 1
4) The series 3 . Then it is not difficult to see that lim sup |an | n = 1/3. However ratio
test fails in this case.

Remark 1.1. We note that the root test is stronger than the ratio test. for example, take the series
P
an where
(
2−n n odd
an =
2 −n+2 n even

Then it is easy to see that

|an+1 |
lim sup = 2, but lim sup |an |1/n = 1/2.
|an |

So the root test implies that the series converges but ratio test is inconclusive.