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Ratio Test
In mathematics, the ratio test is a test (or "criterion") for the convergence of a series :\sum_^\infty a_n, where each term is a real or complex number and is nonzero when is large. The test was first published by Jean le Rond d'Alembert and is sometimes known as d'Alembert's ratio test or as the Cauchy ratio test. The test The usual form of the test makes use of the limit The ratio test states that: * if ''L'' 1 then the series diverges; * if ''L'' = 1 or the limit fails to exist, then the test is inconclusive, because there exist both convergent and divergent series that satisfy this case. It is possible to make the ratio test applicable to certain cases where the limit ''L'' fails to exist, if limit superior and limit inferior are used. The test criteria can also be refined so that the test is sometimes conclusive even when ''L'' = 1. More specifically, let :R = \lim\sup \left, \frac\ :r = \lim\inf \left, \frac\. Then the ratio test states that: * if ''R'' 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting poin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Geometric Series
In mathematics, a geometric series is the sum of an infinite number of terms that have a constant ratio between successive terms. For example, the series :\frac \,+\, \frac \,+\, \frac \,+\, \frac \,+\, \cdots is geometric, because each successive term can be obtained by multiplying the previous term by 1/2. In general, a geometric series is written as a + ar + ar^2 + ar^3 + ..., where a is the coefficient of each term and r is the common ratio between adjacent terms. The geometric series had an important role in the early development of calculus, is used throughout mathematics, and can serve as an introduction to frequently used mathematical tools such as the Taylor series, the complex Fourier series, and the matrix exponential. The name geometric series indicates each term is the geometric mean of its two neighboring terms, similar to how the name arithmetic series indicates each term is the arithmetic mean of its two neighboring terms. The sequence of geometric series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Root Test
In mathematics, the root test is a criterion for the convergence (a convergence test) of an infinite series. It depends on the quantity :\limsup_\sqrt where a_n are the terms of the series, and states that the series converges absolutely if this quantity is less than one, but diverges if it is greater than one. It is particularly useful in connection with power series. Root test explanation The root test was developed first by Augustin-Louis Cauchy who published it in his textbook Cours d'analyse (1821). Thus, it is sometimes known as the Cauchy root test or Cauchy's radical test. For a series :\sum_^\infty a_n. the root test uses the number :C = \limsup_\sqrt where "lim sup" denotes the limit superior, possibly ∞+. Note that if :\lim_\sqrt converges then it equals ''C'' and may be used in the root test instead. The root test states that: * if ''C'' 1 then the series diverges, * if ''C'' = 1 and the limit approaches strictly from above then the series diverg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Direct Comparison Test
In mathematics, the comparison test, sometimes called the direct comparison test to distinguish it from similar related tests (especially the limit comparison test), provides a way of deducing the convergence or divergence of an infinite series or an improper integral. In both cases, the test works by comparing the given series or integral to one whose convergence properties are known. For series In calculus, the comparison test for series typically consists of a pair of statements about infinite series with non-negative ( real-valued) terms: * If the infinite series \sum b_n converges and 0 \le a_n \le b_n for all sufficiently large ''n'' (that is, for all n>N for some fixed value ''N''), then the infinite series \sum a_n also converges. * If the infinite series \sum b_n diverges and 0 \le b_n \le a_n for all sufficiently large ''n'', then the infinite series \sum a_n also diverges. Note that the series having larger terms is sometimes said to ''dominate'' (or ''eventually ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Telescoping Series
In mathematics, a telescoping series is a series whose general term t_n can be written as t_n=a_n-a_, i.e. the difference of two consecutive terms of a sequence (a_n). As a consequence the partial sums only consists of two terms of (a_n) after cancellation. The cancellation technique, with part of each term cancelling with part of the next term, is known as the method of differences. For example, the series :\sum_^\infty\frac (the series of reciprocals of pronic numbers) simplifies as :\begin \sum_^\infty \frac & = \sum_^\infty \left( \frac - \frac \right) \\ & = \lim_ \sum_^N \left( \frac - \frac \right) \\ & = \lim_ \left\lbrack \right\rbrack \\ & = \lim_ \left\lbrack \right\rbrack \\ & = \lim_ \left\lbrack \right\rbrack = 1. \end An early statement of the formula for the sum or partial sums of a telescoping series can be found in a 1644 work by Evangelista Torricelli, ''De dimensione parabolae''. In general Telescoping sums are finite sums in which pair ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Taylor Series
In mathematics, the Taylor series or Taylor expansion of a function is an infinite sum of terms that are expressed in terms of the function's derivatives at a single point. For most common functions, the function and the sum of its Taylor series are equal near this point. Taylor series are named after Brook Taylor, who introduced them in 1715. A Taylor series is also called a Maclaurin series, when 0 is the point where the derivatives are considered, after Colin Maclaurin, who made extensive use of this special case of Taylor series in the mid-18th century. The partial sum formed by the first terms of a Taylor series is a polynomial of degree that is called the th Taylor polynomial of the function. Taylor polynomials are approximations of a function, which become generally better as increases. Taylor's theorem gives quantitative estimates on the error introduced by the use of such approximations. If the Taylor series of a function is convergent, its sum is the limit of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Approximation
An approximation is anything that is intentionally similar but not exactly equal to something else. Etymology and usage The word ''approximation'' is derived from Latin ''approximatus'', from ''proximus'' meaning ''very near'' and the prefix ''ad-'' (''ad-'' before ''p'' becomes ap- by assimilation) meaning ''to''. Words like ''approximate'', ''approximately'' and ''approximation'' are used especially in technical or scientific contexts. In everyday English, words such as ''roughly'' or ''around'' are used with a similar meaning. It is often found abbreviated as ''approx.'' The term can be applied to various properties (e.g., value, quantity, image, description) that are nearly, but not exactly correct; similar, but not exactly the same (e.g., the approximate time was 10 o'clock). Although approximation is most often applied to numbers, it is also frequently applied to such things as mathematical functions, shapes, and physical laws. In science, approximation can refer to u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Ernst Kummer
Ernst Eduard Kummer (29 January 1810 – 14 May 1893) was a German mathematician. Skilled in applied mathematics, Kummer trained German army officers in ballistics; afterwards, he taught for 10 years in a '' gymnasium'', the German equivalent of high school, where he inspired the mathematical career of Leopold Kronecker. Life Kummer was born in Sorau, Brandenburg (then part of Prussia). He was awarded a PhD from the University of Halle in 1831 for writing a prize-winning mathematical essay (''De cosinuum et sinuum potestatibus secundum cosinus et sinus arcuum multiplicium evolvendis''), which was eventually published a year later. In 1840, Kummer married Ottilie Mendelssohn, daughter of Nathan Mendelssohn and Henriette Itzig. Ottilie was a cousin of Felix Mendelssohn and his sister Rebecca Mendelssohn Bartholdy, the wife of the mathematician Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet. His second wife (whom he married soon after the death of Ottilie in 1848), Bertha Cauer, was a matern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes referred to as the ''Princeps mathematicorum'' () and "the greatest mathematician since antiquity", Gauss had an exceptional influence in many fields of mathematics and science, and he is ranked among history's most influential mathematicians. Also available at Retrieved 23 February 2014. Comprehensive biographical article. Biography Early years Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was born on 30 April 1777 in Brunswick (Braunschweig), in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (now part of Lower Saxony, Germany), to poor, working-class parents. His mother was illiterate and never recorded the date of his birth, remembering only that he had been born on a Wednesday, eight days before the Feast of the Ascension (which occurs 39 days after Easter). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Birth–death Process
The birth–death process (or birth-and-death process) is a special case of continuous-time Markov process where the state transitions are of only two types: "births", which increase the state variable by one and "deaths", which decrease the state by one. The model's name comes from a common application, the use of such models to represent the current size of a population where the transitions are literal births and deaths. Birth–death processes have many applications in demography, queueing theory, performance engineering, epidemiology, biology and other areas. They may be used, for example, to study the evolution of bacteria, the number of people with a disease within a population, or the number of customers in line at the supermarket. When a birth occurs, the process goes from state ''n'' to ''n'' + 1. When a death occurs, the process goes from state ''n'' to state ''n'' − 1. The process is specified by birth rates \_ and death rates \_. Recu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Natural Logarithm
The natural logarithm of a number is its logarithm to the base of the mathematical constant , which is an irrational and transcendental number approximately equal to . The natural logarithm of is generally written as , , or sometimes, if the base is implicit, simply . Parentheses are sometimes added for clarity, giving , , or . This is done particularly when the argument to the logarithm is not a single symbol, so as to prevent ambiguity. The natural logarithm of is the power to which would have to be raised to equal . For example, is , because . The natural logarithm of itself, , is , because , while the natural logarithm of is , since . The natural logarithm can be defined for any positive real number as the area under the curve from to (with the area being negative when ). The simplicity of this definition, which is matched in many other formulas involving the natural logarithm, leads to the term "natural". The definition of the natural logarithm can the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Iteration
Iteration is the repetition of a process in order to generate a (possibly unbounded) sequence of outcomes. Each repetition of the process is a single iteration, and the outcome of each iteration is then the starting point of the next iteration. In mathematics and computer science, iteration (along with the related technique of recursion) is a standard element of algorithms. Mathematics In mathematics, iteration may refer to the process of iterating a function, i.e. applying a function repeatedly, using the output from one iteration as the input to the next. Iteration of apparently simple functions can produce complex behaviors and difficult problems – for examples, see the Collatz conjecture and juggler sequences. Another use of iteration in mathematics is in iterative methods which are used to produce approximate numerical solutions to certain mathematical problems. Newton's method is an example of an iterative method. Manual calculation of a number's square root is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |