The alternating series test says that if decreases to , then
converges. Taking proves convergence of the given series.
It is not absolute convergence, because the series of absolute values is the p-series
which diverges since . Thus the original series has conditional convergence.
For an explicit divergent rearrangement of a series, take unused positive terms, which are the even-indexed terms, until the partial sum exceeds , then take the first unused negative term. Next take positive terms until the sum exceeds , then the next unused negative term, and continue. Both the positive and negative subseries have infinite total magnitude, so this procedure uses every term. The negative term inserted at stage tends to zero, while the preceding partial sum exceeds ; consequently these rearranged partial sums tend to . This is a divergent series with exactly the prescribed terms.
Assume first that the original nonnegative series converges to . Its partial sums increase to . Write for the partial sums of the rearrangement of a series. Since is an injection, the indices are distinct, so
Thus is an increasing bounded sequence, and the bounded monotone sequence theorem gives .
For any fixed , surjectivity of gives
For , nonnegativity implies . Taking limits of sequences first in and then in gives . Hence .
Conversely, is a bijection, and the original series is the rearrangement of a series of defined by . The same argument proves its convergence whenever converges. Both series converge together, and their sums are equal.
Start with all of and , namely , whose sum is . For in order, append copies of the triple
This uses all occurrences of and all occurrences of , exactly once. Together with the initial terms, every original occurrence is used, establishing a rearrangement of a series. Its beginning is
Each triple has sum zero. At its intermediate terms the partial sum is at most above . This bound tends to zero, so the whole series, rather than just the subsequence of sums at completed triples, has sum .
Place the single term in first. For in order, append copies of the pair
This uses all of and all of exactly once, so it is an explicit rearrangement of a series. Its beginning is
Every completed pair leaves the partial sum at . Within a level- pair the partial sum differs from by at most . As this tends to zero, proving that the rearranged series has sum .