Term-by-term differentiation and integration for power series
Suppose that the power series
converges on the interval
for some
Let
f be the function defined by the series
for
Then
f is differentiable on the interval
and we can find
by differentiating the series term-by-term:
for
Also, to find
we can integrate the series term-by-term. The resulting series converges on
and we have
for
The proof of this result is beyond the scope of the text and is omitted. Note that although
[link] guarantees the same radius of convergence when a power series is differentiated or integrated term-by-term, it says nothing about what happens at the endpoints. It is possible that the differentiated and integrated power series have different behavior at the endpoints than does the original series. We see this behavior in the next examples.
Differentiating power series
Use the power series representation
for
to find a power series representation for
on the interval
Determine whether the resulting series converges at the endpoints.
Use the result of part a. to evaluate the sum of the series
Since
is the derivative of
we can find a power series representation for
g by differentiating the power series for
f term-by-term. The result is
for
[link] does not guarantee anything about the behavior of this series at the endpoints. Testing the endpoints by using the divergence test, we find that the series diverges at both endpoints
Note that this is the same result found in
[link] .
For each of the following functions
f , find a power series representation for
f by integrating the power series for
and find its interval of convergence.
For
the derivative is
We know that
for
To find a power series for
we integrate the series term-by-term.
Since
is an antiderivative of
it remains to solve for the constant
C . Since
we have
Therefore, a power series representation for
is
for
[link] does not guarantee anything about the behavior of this power series at the endpoints. However, checking the endpoints, we find that at
the series is the alternating harmonic series, which converges. Also, at
the series is the harmonic series, which diverges. It is important to note that, even though this series converges at
[link] does not guarantee that the series actually converges to
In fact, the series does converge to
but showing this fact requires more advanced techniques. (Abel’s theorem, covered in more advanced texts, deals with this more technical point.) The interval of convergence is
The derivative of
is
We know that
for
To find a power series for
we integrate this series term-by-term.
Since
we have
Therefore, a power series representation for
is
for
Again,
[link] does not guarantee anything about the convergence of this series at the endpoints. However, checking the endpoints and using the alternating series test, we find that the series converges at
and
As discussed in part a., using Abel’s theorem, it can be shown that the series actually converges to
and
at
and
respectively. Thus, the interval of convergence is