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Calculus Tutorials - Sequences


A sequence a_ncorresponds to infinite array or list of number of the form

a_1, a_2, a_3, ....


where a_1, a_2, a_3, ... are real numbers. For example, the sequence

a_n = 1/n



is represented by the list

1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, ....



because those are the values the expression a_n = 1/n takes when n takes the values 1, 2, 3, ...etc.



Convergence of sequences

One concept that is typically hard to grasp is the convergence of a sequence. The idea is very trivial though: A sequence a_m converges to a value a if the values of the sequence get closer and closer to a (in fact they get as close as we want) as n approaches to infinity.

For example: The sequence a_n  = 1/n is such that

a_n = 1/n right 0



because the value of 1/n becomes "as close to zero as we want" as n approaches to infinity.



Formal defintion of convergence: The sequence a_n right a as n right infty, or otherwise said lim{n right infty}{a_n} = a if

For all varepsilon >0, there exist n_0 such that n >= n_0 doubleright delim{|}{ a_n - a} {|}< varepsilon




This is saying that no matter how close you want the sequence from a, there is always a point in the sequence such that all the points further than that, are close enough to a. In other words the convergence of a sequence doesn't state that some number of the sequence get close enough to the limit a, but instead, it indicates that if we go far enough into the sequence, all the values of if will be close enough.

Algebra of Limits

Operating with limits is not as complicated once we know some them. In fact, there are simple rules that allow to compute more complicated limits based on simpler ones. These rules are shown below:

If lim{n right infty}{a_n} = a and lim{n right infty}{b_n} = b then we have:



(1) lim{n right infty}{a_n + b_n} = lim{n right infty}{a_n}+lim{n right infty}{b_n} = a + b

(2) lim{n right infty}{a_n b_n} = lim{n right infty}{a_n}*lim{n right infty}{b_n} = a b

(3) lim{n right infty}{a_n / b_n} = lim{n right infty}{a_n} / lim{n right infty}{b_n} = a /  b

(where property (3) holds as long as b <>0.)



Example: The limit

lim{n right infty}{n^2 / {n^2 + 1}}



is computed by first multiplying both numerator and denominator by 1/{n^2}, which means

lim{n right infty}{n^2 / {n^2 + 1}} = lim{n right infty}{ 1 / {1 + 1/{n^2}} } = 1/1 = 0



because lim{n right infty}{1 / {n^2}} = 0.






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