Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/paper-1/6/c/solution

Write a nonterminating parity series as , where or . Its recurrence relation is
The ratio test applied to its nonzero successive terms has limiting absolute ratio . Hence the series converges absolutely for and diverges for , with
At , the limiting ratio is one, so the basic ratio test alone is inconclusive. Retain the next term of the ratio instead:
For large the ratio is positive. Taking logarithms and summing gives ; the remainders have a finite sum. Thus eventually. Comparison with the convergent p-series proves absolute convergence at both endpoints as well:
The radius of convergence one is the distance from the expansion point to the nearest singular points of a differential equation, . Convergence of function values at those points does not make the solutions analytic there; endpoint derivatives can diverge. The terminating Chebyshev polynomial is an exception with infinite radius of convergence. For example, at the other solution is , whose endpoint values are finite while its first derivative diverges.

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