Limit superior ($\mathrm{limsup}$)

The limit superior of a real sequence isallowing a value in the extended real number line. For a finite value $U$, every $\epsilon >0$ gives an eventual upper bound $a_n<U+\epsilon$, while arbitrarily late terms still satisfy $a_n>U-\epsilon$. The second condition concerns recurrence at arbitrarily large indices, not the fraction of indices where a large value occurs.

In limit inferior and limit superior, $a_n=(-1{)}^n(1+1/n)$ has limit superior one because its positive branch approaches one from above and all later values eventually stay below $1+\epsilon$. Changing any finite number of terms leaves the limit superior unchanged: once the tail of a sequence begins beyond those positions, all its suprema are the same as before. The sparse peaks can determine a limit superior example shows that even a set of peak indices with zero natural density can decide the upper long-run edge.

Define a sequence by $a_n=1$ when $n$ is a power of two, including $1=2^0$, and $a_n=0$ otherwise. Every tail of a sequence contains both a later power of two and a later nonpower. Therefore $\mathrm{liminf}{a}_n=0$ and $\mathrm{limsup}{a}_n=1$, and the sequence does not converge. Its peak indices become increasingly sparse, yet never stop appearing.

Through index $N\ge 1$, the number of peaks is $1+\lfloor {\log }_{2}N\rfloor$, so their fraction isThe set of powers of two has natural density zero. The same fraction is the Cesàro mean of the first $N$ terms, which tends to zero even though the limit superior stays one. At $N=1024$, eleven peaks give mean $11/1024\approx 0.0107422$. An average and a long-run upper edge answer different questions about the same sequence.