Thread: infinite series

Heys I'm having a few problems understanding a few worded questions and wonder if anyone may be able to help me.

1. Suppose that an infinite series has the property that, given any positive number, all but
finitely many terms of the series are positive and less than this number. Does it follow that
this series converges?

2. Can one ever obtain a convergent infinite series by interspersing the terms of two divergent
series?

3. Given any positive number, all but infinitely many partial sums of a certain infinite series aregreater than this number. Does it then follow that this series diverges?

4. Can one determine whether a given infinite series converges or diverges merely by computing
a suciently large number of partial sums?

5. Can one determine the sum|accurate to a given fixed number of decimal places|of a
convergent geometric series merely by computing a suciently large number of partial sums?

Thanks in advance

Well, this is a math forum, not an English forum, where people could help you with understanding questions in the form of plain English sentences.

First, it is not recommended to post more than two questions in one thread. Second, you need to describe more precisely what you don't understand.

Originally Posted by Dragonkiller

Heys I'm having a few problems understanding a few worded questions and wonder if anyone may be able to help me.

1. Suppose that an infinite series has the property that, given any positive number, all but
finitely many terms of the series are positive and less than this number. Does it follow that
this series converges?

2. Can one ever obtain a convergent infinite series by interspersing the terms of two divergent
series?

3. Given any positive number, all but infinitely many partial sums of a certain infinite series aregreater than this number. Does it then follow that this series diverges?

4. Can one determine whether a given infinite series converges or diverges merely by computing
a suciently large number of partial sums?

5. Can one determine the sum|accurate to a given fixed number of decimal places|of a
convergent geometric series merely by computing a suciently large number of partial sums?

Thanks in advance

2, yes it is possible to get a convergent series by interspersing terms of two divergent series.

, but we can also write



Each of these sums is divergent.

Originally Posted by Dragonkiller

Heys I'm having a few problems understanding a few worded questions and wonder if anyone may be able to help me.

1. Suppose that an infinite series has the property that, given any positive number, all but
finitely many terms of the series are positive and less than this number. Does it follow that
this series converges?

2. Can one ever obtain a convergent infinite series by interspersing the terms of two divergent
series?

3. Given any positive number, all but infinitely many partial sums of a certain infinite series aregreater than this number. Does it then follow that this series diverges?

4. Can one determine whether a given infinite series converges or diverges merely by computing
a suciently large number of partial sums?

5. Can one determine the sum|accurate to a given fixed number of decimal places|of a
convergent geometric series merely by computing a suciently large number of partial sums?

Thanks in advance

For 4, the answer is... Sort of...

Generally speaking, you would work out what expression you would get after you sum n terms, and then take the limit of this expression as n goes to infinity.

Originally Posted by Dragonkiller

4. Can one determine whether a given infinite series converges or diverges merely by computing a suciently large number of partial sums?

I understand this question in the following way. Can one determine if a series converges after numerically computing a finite number of partial sums?

Originally Posted by emakarov

I understand this question in the following way. Can one determine if a series converges after numerically computing a finite number of partial sums?

Yes, it all comes down to interpretation of the question, that's why I said "sort of", because doing this will give you an idea of what the limit will approach (if it does approach one).