\(\newcommand{\N}{\mathbb{N}} \newcommand{\R}{\mathbb{R}} \newcommand{\Z}{\mathbb{Z}} \newcommand{\P}{\mathcal P} \newcommand{\brac}[1]{\left(#1\right)} \newcommand{\matrixx}[1]{\begin{bmatrix}#1\end{bmatrix}} \newcommand{\vmatrixx}[1]{\begin{vmatrix}#1\end{vmatrix}} \newcommand{\limn}{\lim_{n\to\infty}} \newcommand{\nul}{\mathop{\mathrm{Nul}}} \newcommand{\col}{\mathop{\mathrm{Col}}} \newcommand{\rank}{\mathop{\mathrm{Rank}}} \newcommand{\dis}{\displaystyle} \newcommand{\spann}{\mathop{\mathrm{span}}} \newcommand{\range}{\mathop{\mathrm{range}}} \newcommand{\inner}[1]{\langle #1 \rangle} \newcommand{\innerr}[1]{\left\langle #1 \right\rangle} \newcommand{\qed}{\quad \blacksquare} \newcommand{\sumn}{\sum_{n=0}^\infty} \newcommand{\sumk}{\sum_{k=0}^\infty} \newcommand{\abs}[1]{\left|#1\right|} \renewcommand{\vec}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} \) Math1014 Tutorial (Spring 12-13): Conditional and Absolute Convergence

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Conditional and Absolute Convergence

In the discussion on convergence of series I forgot to mention the following two important concepts:
Definition.
(i) A series $\sum_{n=1}^\infty a_n$ is said to converge absolutely if $\sum_{n=1}^\infty |a_n|$ converges.
(ii) A series is said to converge conditionally if $\sum_{n=1}^\infty a_n$ converges but $\sum_{n=1}^\infty |a_n|$ diverges.
In tutorial we have mentioned that if $\sum a_n$ converges absolutely, then $\sum a_n$ converges. By alternating series test there are many series converge conditionally. For example \[
 \sum_{k=1}^\infty (-1)^k \frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}
\] converges by alternating series test, but \[
  \sum_{k=1}^\infty \left|(-1)^k \frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}\right |= \sum_{k=1}^\infty  \frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}
\] diverges by integral test, so $ \sum_{k=1}^\infty (-1)^k \frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}$ converges conditionally.

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