Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 1 4E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Convergence at implies that the terms form a bounded sequence: for some . If and , thenComparison with the convergent geometric series proves absolute convergence. The case is vacuous.
The radius of convergence is the number such that a power series converges absolutely for and diverges for , with boundary behavior considered separately.
TakeThen is the convergent alternating harmonic series, whereas is the divergent harmonic series. Thus converges at a point of modulus one and diverges at another point of modulus one. It follows that
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ia Paper 1 4D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The radius of convergence of the power series isIf , choose with . Since , those terms are bounded, say . Thereforeand comparison with a geometric series proves absolute convergence. If , convergence would imply absolute convergence at every smaller modulus by the same argument, contradicting the definition of .
If , convergence of implies absolute convergence of whenever . Letting approach the radius of the -series shows that .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 304 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume and take . The free Gaussian integral gives , and the normalized free Gaussian measure has covariance . Expanding only the interaction exponential gives the asymptotic expansionIn this zero-dimensional scalar field theory, the path integral has become an ordinary integral, but its combinatorics are precisely those of sextic scalar field theory.
The free generating functional is . Differentiating it proves Wick theorem: odd moments vanish, while each even moment is the sum over pairings of its factors. Each Wick contraction contributes , soThus the Feynman rules are a quantum field theory propagator for each internal line and a factor for each six-valent interaction vertex. The factorials and remove vertex and half-edge labels; the remaining weight is , where is the Feynman-diagram symmetry factor, the order of the automorphism group of the resulting diagram, including its half-edge symmetries. A tadpole diagram has an additional interchange symmetry of the two ends of its loop.
There is one empty Vacuum Feynman diagram, contributing . At one interaction vertex, the six half-edges form three loops. Its Feynman-diagram symmetry factor is , so its contribution is .
At two interaction vertices let count the lines joining them. Each interaction vertex has self-loops, so can only be . These four possibilities exhaust all Vacuum Feynman diagrams at this order. Their Feynman-diagram symmetry factors areHere the leading exchanges the two interaction vertices, permutes the joining lines, and the remaining factors permute and reverse the self-loops. The graph is disconnected and must be included in ; only a connected generating functional would discard it.
All Vacuum Feynman diagrams with at most two interaction vertices
. The empty diagram, the one-interaction vertex diagram, and the four two-interaction vertex diagrams, with their Feynman-diagram symmetry factors. Details.This is an asymptotic expansion, rather than a convergent perturbation series: the coefficient of contains and grows too rapidly for a nonzero radius of convergence. For any fixed truncation order, the Taylor expansion remainder bound for on , followed by the finite Gaussian moment integral, proves the stated remainder estimate. For negative real the original integral diverges.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ia Paper 1 4F i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
LetThe set contains zero. If and , then by comparison. Moreover, if the original power series diverges at , no can lie in , because absolute convergence at would imply absolute convergence at . Thus is finite and nonnegative.
If , choose with ; comparison gives absolute convergence at . If and the series converged at , then its terms would be bounded. For any with ,so the geometric series comparison would put in , contradicting the definition of . This proves the radius of convergence property.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ia Paper 1 12F a i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let . The Cauchy-Hadamard theorem, proved by applying the root test, gives a radius of convergencewith the usual conventions. For , choose eventually bounding , which gives absolute convergence by comparison with a geometric series. For , infinitely many terms have th root greater than one, so the terms fail to tend to zero and the series diverges.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 1 3G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
The Taylor series of the complex sine isTherefore, for ,and the right side defines a holomorphic function at with value . Thus the apparent singularity is a removable singularity.
The resulting power series isThe ratio test shows convergence for every , so its radius of convergence is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 2 11F d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For and rational , every admits withConsequentlyBy the Cauchy-Hadamard theorem, the Taylor series of at has radius of convergence zero.
Suppose some Taylor series represented throughout a neighborhood of a point . That neighborhood contains a rational . A function represented locally by a convergent power series is a real analytic function, and re-expanding that series about gives the Taylor series of at a positive radius of convergence. This contradicts the preceding conclusion. Thus agrees with no Taylor series on a neighborhood of any point; it is a nowhere-analytic generic smooth function.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 2 35B iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The exact energies and mixing coefficients containAs a function of complex , its nearest branch points to the origin occur when its argument vanishes:Their distance from the expansion point determines the radius of convergence. ThereforeThe real-axis perturbation series converges for .
The radius of convergence of a power series is the number such that the series has absolute convergence for and diverges for . Equivalently,Use , including at . The supremum may be . There is no general conclusion at : boundary convergence depends on the coefficients. If , only the centre is guaranteed; if , every finite lies inside the disk of convergence.
Use the ceiling function to choose positive integer coefficientsBecause , we have andFor , the comparison test for series with the geometric series givesFor , we instead have , so the terms do not tend to zero. Thus the power series has radius of convergence exactly .
All three examples below have positive integer coefficients, so they work under either convention for whether .
For , take . This is the geometric series: it converges for , and its terms fail to tend to zero for .
For , take , using the factorial and . For every fixed , the absolute values of successive terms have ratio . This eventually exceeds two, so the terms grow without bound and the series cannot converge. At it is finite, giving radius of convergence zero.
For , takeusing the floor function. The coefficients satisfyThe upper bound and the comparison test for series give absolute convergence when . The lower bound prevents the terms tending to zero when . Hence the radius of convergence is exactly .
Under the extra hypothesis that exists for every real , its power series has infinite radius of convergence. Termwise differentiation of a power series is therefore valid to every finite order. For ,At this is the expected value of the falling factorial of :In particular . The terms with vanish because their falling factorials contain a zero factor. These factorial moments are finite under the stated hypothesis.
Define the radius of convergence of the power series bywith when this set is unbounded. It is nonempty because the power series converges at zero.
If , the definition of supremum supplies a point of convergence with . The terms of a convergent series tend to zero and are bounded, say . ThereforeThe right-hand side has a convergent geometric series, since . The comparison test proves absolute convergence at .
If and the power series converged at , then would belong to the set whose supremum is , an immediate contradiction. ThusNo assertion about the boundary follows from this argument. If the first assertion is vacuous; if the second is vacuous.
Split the power series into even and odd indices:whenever the two series converge absolutely. If , the even part is a convergent geometric series, while the odd part is bounded termwise in absolute value by , also a convergent geometric series. Hence there is absolute convergence throughout .
If , the odd terms have absolute values . Their successive ratio tends to , so these terms grow eventually and do not tend to zero. The term test for divergence therefore forces divergence of the original power series. Consequently its radius of convergence is
For fixed , the ratio of successive absolute values isThe ratio test says that a series converges absolutely when this ratio has a limit of a sequence strictly below one. Thus this power series converges absolutely for every complex ; at zero the conclusion is immediate. Its radius of convergence is .
For a power series , its radius of convergence separates absolute convergence for from divergence for . One may define , allowing .
To justify convergence inside the radius, choose with . In particular for some , soThe comparison test with a geometric series proves absolute convergence. Conversely, convergence at a point of modulus makes bounded there and gives absolute convergence at all smaller moduli by the same estimate. Consequently a convergent point of modulus greater than would contradict the definition of .
For , the real domain of convergence is one of , , , or . At these are realized respectively byThe endpoint assertions follow from the harmonic series, alternating series test, and p-series. Replacing by realizes every finite positive radius. The degenerate domain occurs for , while the entire real line occurs for . Their radii are zero and infinity by the ratio test.
Differentiate the probability generating function inside its radius of convergence:Since these are and , respectively,
The generalized binomial series givesIn particular,The recurrence follows directly from the coefficient product. The power series has radius of convergence one and represents the real cube root for .
Substitute into the Taylor series for the exponential function:The general nonzero term is ; the power series coefficients of powers not divisible by three are zero. The radius of convergence is infinite.
Put . The local logarithmic series givesFor the infinite Taylor series, it is necessary to distinguish the real domain of the logarithm, , from its convergence interval about zero. Write . The complex zeros of are for integers , so the nearest logarithmic singularity to zero is at . The radius of convergence is therefore , giving convergence for and divergence for .
The two endpoints need separate checking. Factor off the nearest singularity:The quotient has a nonzero removable value at ; its other zeros are at with . Consequently it has a holomorphic logarithm on a zero-free disk larger than , which is a simply connected domain, and the Taylor series of converges absolutely at both real endpoints. At , the remaining series converges by the alternating series test. At , it is and diverges. Thus the full real convergence set isConvergence is absolute in the open interval and conditional at the left endpoint, where the sum equals . This endpoint distinction is an instance of isolating a logarithmic singularity to test a power-series endpoint.
