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Section 10.15 : Power Series and Functions

3. Write the following function as a power series and give the interval of convergence.

f(x)=3x2523x

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Start Solution

First, in order to use the formula from this section we know that we need the numerator to be a one. That is easy enough to “fix” up as follows,

f(x)=3x21523x Show Step 2

Next, we know we need the denominator to be in the form 1p and again that is easy enough, in this case, to rewrite the denominator by factoring a 5 out of the denominator as follows,

f(x)=3x2511253x Show Step 3

At this point we can use the formula from the notes to write this as a power series. Doing this gives,

f(x)=3x2511253x=3x25n=0(253x)nprovided|253x|<1 Show Step 4

Now, recall the basic “rules” for the form of the series answer. We don’t want anything out in front of the series and we want a single x with a single exponent on it.

These are easy enough rules to take care of. All we need to do is move whatever is in front of the series to the inside of the series and use basic exponent rules to take care of the x “rule”. Doing all this gives,

f(x)=3x25n=0(253x)n=n=035x2(25)n(x13)n=n=035(25)nx13n+2provided|253x|<1 Show Step 5

To get the interval of convergence all we need to do is do a little work on the “provided” portion of the result from the last step to get,

|253x|<125|x|13<1|x|13<52|x|<12581258<x<1258

Note that we don’t need to check the endpoints of this interval since we already know that we only get convergence with the strict inequalities and we will get divergence for everything else.

Show Step 6

The answers for this problem are then,

Power Series : 3x2523x=n=035(25)nx13n+2Interval : 1258<x<1258