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Two cases arise: The first case is theoretical: when you know all the coefficients then you take certain limits and find the precise radius of convergence.; The second case is practical: when you construct a power series solution of a difficult problem you typically will only know a finite number of terms in a power series, anywhere from a couple of terms to a hundred terms.
Consider the formal power series in one complex variable z of the form = = where ,.. Then the radius of convergence of f at the point a is given by = (| | /) where lim sup denotes the limit superior, the limit as n approaches infinity of the supremum of the sequence values after the nth position.
While most of the tests deal with the convergence of infinite series, they can also be used to show the convergence or divergence of infinite products. This can be achieved using following theorem: Let { a n } n = 1 ∞ {\displaystyle \left\{a_{n}\right\}_{n=1}^{\infty }} be a sequence of positive numbers.
For instance it is not true that if two power series = and = have the same radius of convergence, then = (+) also has this radius of convergence: if = and = + (), for instance, then both series have the same radius of convergence of 1, but the series = (+) = = has a radius of convergence of 3.
Probability generating functions are often employed for their succinct description of the sequence of probabilities Pr(X = i) in the probability mass function for a random variable X, and to make available the well-developed theory of power series with non-negative coefficients.
Convergence is not necessarily given in the general case, and certain criteria must be met for convergence to occur. Determination of convergence requires the comprehension of pointwise convergence, uniform convergence, absolute convergence, L p spaces, summability methods and the Cesàro mean.
Note that sometimes a series like this is called a power series "around p", because the radius of convergence is the radius R of the largest interval or disc centred at p such that the series will converge for all points z strictly in the interior (convergence on the boundary of the interval or disc generally has to be checked separately).
The utility of Abel's theorem is that it allows us to find the limit of a power series as its argument (that is, ) approaches from below, even in cases where the radius of convergence, , of the power series is equal to and we cannot be sure whether the limit should be finite or not.