A sequence is a convergent sequence with limit if
The index may depend on , but must work for every later term.
Fix . Choose such that for , and put
This is a fixed finite number. For , the triangle inequality gives
Choose sufficiently large that as well. The error is then less than , proving
Taking successive arithmetic averages preserves the limit. This is the Cesaro theorem for convergent sequences: any troublesome initial terms contribute only a fixed numerator divided by .
A sequence converges to when for every there is such that for all . A series converges to a finite when its partial sums converge to .
If the series converges, then , so its terms tend to zero. The converse is false: the harmonic series has terms tending to zero but diverges.
For the arithmetic averages, suppose . Fix and choose so for . The finite initial contribution is fixed, and
For sufficiently large , , proving
This is the Cesaro theorem for convergent sequences. Its hypothesis concerns a convergent sequence; the corresponding series need not be a convergent series.
The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality gives , so . Hence has no finite limit.
For the example, take . Every term is positive and different from , and
The bounding geometric series converges, so the comparison test for series proves that the partial sums converge.
In general, if converges, the necessary condition for a convergent series gives . Since ,
Apply the Cesaro theorem for convergent sequences to these summands:
Equivalently, . The series of the differences may converge while the series of the positive sums still diverges linearly.