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The series = + = + + is known as the alternating harmonic series. It is conditionally convergent by the alternating series test , but not absolutely convergent . Its sum is the natural logarithm of 2 .
In mathematical analysis, the alternating series test proves that an alternating series is convergent when its terms decrease monotonically in absolute value and approach zero in the limit. The test was devised by Gottfried Leibniz and is sometimes known as Leibniz's test , Leibniz's rule , or the Leibniz criterion .
An infinite series of any rational function of can be reduced to a finite series of polygamma functions, by use of partial fraction decomposition, [8] as explained here. This fact can also be applied to finite series of rational functions, allowing the result to be computed in constant time even when the series contains a large number of terms.
Like any series, an alternating series is a convergent series if and only if the sequence of partial sums of the series converges to a limit. The alternating series test guarantees that an alternating series is convergent if the terms a n converge to 0 monotonically, but this condition is not necessary for convergence.
if L > 1 the series converges (this includes the case L = ∞) if L < 1 the series diverges; and if L = 1 the test is inconclusive. An alternative formulation of this test is as follows. Let { a n} be a series of real numbers. Then if b > 1 and K (a natural number) exist such that
In mathematics, Dirichlet's test is a method of testing for the convergence of a series that is especially useful for proving conditional convergence. It is named after its author Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet , and was published posthumously in the Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées in 1862.
If a series is convergent but not absolutely convergent, it is called conditionally convergent. An example of a conditionally convergent series is the alternating harmonic series. Many standard tests for divergence and convergence, most notably including the ratio test and the root test, demonstrate absolute convergence.
The ratio test and the root test are both based on comparison with a geometric series, and as such they work in similar situations. In fact, if the ratio test works (meaning that the limit exists and is not equal to 1) then so does the root test; the converse, however, is not true.