In this chapter we’ll be taking a look at sequences and (infinite) series.  Actually this chapter will deal almost exclusively with series, however, we also need to understand some of the basics of sequences in order to properly deal with series.   We will therefore, spend a little time on sequences as well.

Series is one of those topics that many students simply don’t see the use in studying and to be honest many students will never see series outside of their calculus class.  However, series do play an important role in the field of ordinary differential equations and without series large portions of the field of partial differential equations would not be possible. 

In other words, series is an important topic even if you won’t ever see any of the applications.  Most of the applications are beyond the scope of most Calculus courses and tend to occur in classes that many students don’t take.  So, as you go through this material keep in mind that these do have applications even if we won’t really be covering many of them in this class.

Here is a list of topics in this chapter.

Sequences  We will start the chapter off with a brief discussion of sequences.  This section will focus on the basic terminology and convergence of sequences

More on Sequences  Here we will take a quick look about monotonic and bounded sequences.

Series  The Basics  In this section we will discuss some of the basics of infinite series.

Series  Convergence/Divergence  Most of this chapter will be about the convergence/divergence of a series so we will give the basic ideas and definitions in this section.

Series  Special Series  We will look at the Geometric Series, Telescoping Series, and Harmonic Series in this section.

Integral Test  Using the Integral Test to determine if a series converges or diverges.

Comparison Test/Limit Comparison Test  Using the Comparison Test and Limit Comparison Tests to determine if a series converges or diverges.

Alternating Series Test  Using the Alternating Series Test to determine if a series converges or diverges.

Absolute Convergence  A brief discussion on absolute convergence and how it differs from convergence.

Ratio Test  Using the Ratio Test to determine if a series converges or diverges.

Root Test  Using the Root Test to determine if a series converges or diverges.

Strategy for Series  A set of general guidelines to use when deciding which test to use.

Estimating the Value of a Series  Here we will look at estimating the value of an infinite series.

Power Series  An introduction to power series and some of the basic concepts.

Power Series and Functions  In this section we will start looking at how to find a power series representation of a function.

Taylor Series  Here we will discuss how to find the Taylor/Maclaurin Series for a function.

Applications of Series  In this section we will take a quick look at a couple of applications of series.

Binomial Series  A brief look at binomial series.