Calculus 2 : Convergence and Divergence

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Calculus 2

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Example Questions

Example Question #2951 : Calculus Ii

Determine the convergence of the series using the Comparison Test.

Possible Answers:

Series converges

Series diverges

Cannot be determined

Correct answer:

Series diverges

Explanation:

We compare this series to the series 

Because 

  for   

it follows that

  for   

This implies

Because the series on the right has a degree of  equal to  in the denominator,

the series on the right diverges

making

 

diverge as well.

Example Question #2952 : Calculus Ii

Does the series converge or diverge? If it does converge, then what value does it converge to?

Possible Answers:

Diverges

Converges to 1

Converges to

Converges to

Converges to

Correct answer:

Converges to 1

Explanation:

To show this series converges, we use direct comparison with

,

which converges by the p-series test with .

Thus we must show that

.

Cross multiplying the previous section and multiplying by , we obtain .

Since this holds for all we can conclude that 

.

Summing from  to , and noting that 

for all , we obtain the following inequality:

.

Therefore the series 

converges by direct comparison.

Now to find the value, we note that 

,

so that

.

Now let 

be a sequence of partial sums.

Then we have 

Therefore

.

Taking the limit as , we obtain the following:

Therefore we have

.

Example Question #2951 : Calculus Ii

Does the series converge?

Possible Answers:

Yes

Cannot be determined

No

Correct answer:

No

Explanation:

Notice that for

This implies that

for

Which then  implies

Since the right-hand side is the harmonic series, we have

and thus the series does NOT converge.

Example Question #2952 : Calculus Ii

Determine whether the series converges, absolutely, conditionally or in an interval.

 

Possible Answers:

Converges in an interval

Converges absolutely

Does not converge at all

Converges conditionally

Correct answer:

Converges absolutely

Explanation:

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Example Question #2953 : Calculus Ii

Determine whether the series converges

Possible Answers:

Converges absolutely

Converges conditionally

Does not converge at all

Converges in an interval

Correct answer:

Converges absolutely

Explanation:

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Example Question #2956 : Calculus Ii

Test for convergence

Possible Answers:

Converges conditionally

Cannot be determined

Converges in an interval

Converges absolutely

Diverges

Correct answer:

Converges absolutely

Explanation:

Step 1: Recall the convergence rule of the power series:

According to the convergence rule of the power series....

 converges as long as 

 Step 2: Compare the exponent:

Since , it is greater than . Hence the series converges.

Step 3: Conclusion of the convergence rule

Now, notice that the series isn't an alternating series, so it doesn't matter whether we check for absolute or conditional convergence.

Example Question #2954 : Calculus Ii

Test for convergence

Possible Answers:

Converges Conditionally

Diverges

Converges absolutely

Converges in an interval

Can't be determined

Correct answer:

Converges absolutely

Explanation:

Step 1: Try and look for another function that is similar to the original function:

 looks like 

Step 2: We will now Use the Limit Comparison test

Since the limit calculated, is not equal to 0, the given series converges by limit comparison test

Example Question #22 : Comparing Series

Does the following series converge or diverge?

Possible Answers:

Diverge

Conditionally converge

Absolutely converge

The series either absolutely converges, conditionally converges, or diverges.

Correct answer:

Absolutely converge

Explanation:

The best way to answer this question would be by comparing the series to another series,, that greatly resembles the behavior of the original series, . The behavior is determined by the terms of the numerator and the denominator that approach infinity at the quickest rate. In this case:

When this series is simplifies, it simplifies to a series that converges because of the p-test where .

With two series and the confirmed convergence of one of those series, the limit comparison test can be applied to test for the convergence or divergence of the original series. The limit comparison test states that two series will converge or diverge together if:

Specifically:

 

This limit equals one because of the fact that:

  if the coefficients come from the same power. 

Because the limit is larger than zero,  and  will converge or diverge together. Since it was already established that  converges, the original seies, , converges by the limit comparison test.

 

 

Example Question #2955 : Calculus Ii

Determine if the following series converges or diverges:

Possible Answers:

Series diverges

Series converges

Correct answer:

Series converges

Explanation:

 for all ;     is a sum of geometric sequence with base 1/3.

Therefore, said sum converges.

 

Then, by comparison test,    also converges.

Example Question #2956 : Calculus Ii

What can be said about the convergence of the series ?

Possible Answers:

Inconclusive 

Diverges 

Converges

Correct answer:

Converges

Explanation:

Since  for all n>0, and  converges as a P-Series, we may conclude that  must also converge by the comparison test.

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