Introduction to Finite and Infinite Series and Related Topics

Book excerpt: An introduction to the analysis of finite series, infinite series, finite products and infinite products and continued fractions with applications to selected subject areas. Infinite series, infinite products and continued fractions occur in many different subject areas of pure and applied mathematics and have a long history associated with their development. The mathematics contained within these pages can be used as a reference book on series and related topics. The material can be used to augment the mathematices found in traditional college level mathematics course and by itself is suitable for a one semester special course for presentation to either upper level undergraduates or beginning level graduate students majoring in science, engineering, chemistry, physics, or mathematics. Archimedes used infinite series to find the area under a parabolic curve. The method of exhaustion is where one constructs a series of triangles between the arc of a parabola and a straight line. A summation of the areas of the triangles produces an infinite series representing the total area between the parabolic curve and the x-axis.