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For the power series ${\sum }_{n\ge 0}{a}_n(z-c{)}^n$, the Cauchy-Hadamard theorem giveswith $R=\infty$ when the limit superior is zero, and $R=0$ when it is infinite. Away from the centre, the root test explains the formula: the limit superior of the term roots at displacement $z-c$ is $|z-c|/R$, interpreted as zero for $R=\infty$ and infinite for $R=0$. Values below one give absolute convergence; values above one imply that the terms fail to tend to zero. A value of one leaves the boundary question open. At the centre the series converges regardless of $R$.

For $a_{2n}=1$ and $a_{2n+1}=0$, the coefficient roots alternate between one and zero, so their ordinary limit does not exist. Their limit superior is nevertheless one, giving $R=1$ for ${\sum }_{n\ge 0}{z}^{2n}=1/(1-z^2)$ inside the unit disk. A ratio of consecutive coefficients would be undefined at the zero coefficients; the root-limsup formula handles the gap directly.

In the first part of his 1892 study of functions given by Taylor series, Jacques Hadamard introduced an upper-limit formulation for sequences and used coefficient roots to determine the radius of convergence. Sections 4–6 separate finite positive, zero, and infinite root-growth cases; the later parts study singularities and continuation. See Hadamard, Essai sur l'étude des fonctions données par leur développement de Taylor, Journal de mathématiques pures et appliquées, fourth series 8 (1892), pp. 107–109. This original text explains the coefficient-growth question without implying that the study of power series began there.

Augustin-Louis Cauchy's importance lies in the interaction of foundations, methods and applications. He made the justification of limits, series and integrals a programme for teaching and research; developed complex analysis into a source of powerful general methods; and contributed to permutation groups, geometry and continuum mechanics. His work is best assessed through particular achievements and their limitations, rather than by treating every theorem now bearing his name as a modern statement he already possessed. His engineering training and subsequent mathematical career also make a rigid separation of pure and applied work historically unhelpful.^[ref]

The Cours d'analyse by Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1821) makes convergence a condition requiring argument. A series is studied through its partial sums; a limit describes a variable approaching a fixed value; an infinitesimal is a variable tending to zero, rather than simply a mysterious fixed quantity smaller than every positive number. The introduction explicitly challenges unrestricted transfers of rules from finite expressions to infinite ones. This is not an abandonment of calculation: it seeks to identify when calculations are valid.^[ref]

For example, the Cauchy criterion for series asks whether tails can all be made small:This is a modern formulation of the convergence requirement, with the completeness of the real numbers understood. Merely requiring $a_n\to 0$ is weaker. In the harmonic series, grouping the terms from $2^j+1$ to $2^{j+1}$ gives a block of at least $1/2$, so its tails cannot satisfy the criterion. In contrast, the root test compares a tail with a geometric series: if $\mathrm{limsup}|a_n{|}^{1/n}<q<1$, then eventually $|a_n|\le q^n$, which proves absolute convergence. Such arguments explain the usefulness of convergence tests instead of reducing Augustin-Louis Cauchy's contribution to a vocabulary of definitions.

His Résumé des leçons sur le calcul infinitésimal by Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1823) extends the programme to differentiation and integration. For a continuous function on a compact interval, an integral can be approached through sums of values times subinterval lengths. A modern justification uses uniform continuity: for a partition of mesh at most $\delta$, two choices of sample points give sums differing by at most $(b-a){\omega }_f(\delta )$, where the modulus of continuity ${\omega }_f(\delta )$ tends to zero. Refinement then establishes the common limit. This reconstruction makes clear why control of error, rather than a geometrical picture of area alone, is decisive. It does not attribute the later full Riemann integral theory for discontinuous functions to the 1823 text.^[ref]

The achievement has limits. The 1821 Sum theorem of Cauchy asserts continuity of sums of convergent series of continuous functions in terms that, under a pointwise reading, are insufficient. The original proof treats the tail as negligible without establishing the uniform control needed near the point concerned. A modern diagnostic is $f_n(x)=x^n$ on $[0,1]$: every $f_n$ is continuous, but its pointwise limit is zero for $x<1$ and one at $1$. Thus a proof must distinguish pointwise convergence from uniform convergence. Augustin-Louis Cauchy's use of variable and infinitesimal language deserves historical interpretation, but it does not license silently importing modern hypotheses into his printed theorem.^[ref]

In complex analysis, the Mémoire sur les intégrales définies, prises entre des limites imaginaires by Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1825) exemplifies a new productive setting for integration. A contour integral depends on a path in the complex plane; deforming that path and accounting for isolated singularities can evaluate otherwise difficult definite integrals. In modern form, Cauchy's integral theorem applies to a holomorphic function on a suitable domain and Cauchy integral formula states, for a circle enclosing $z$ and lying with its interior in that domain,The importance is structural: local values and derivatives are determined by data on a surrounding path. Historical proofs and hypotheses should be distinguished from later general forms of the theorem.^[ref]

A short modern consequence measures the power of this method. For an entire function bounded by $M$, the derivative version of Cauchy integral formula on a circle of radius $R$ gives $|f^{\prime }(z)|\le M/R$. Since $R$ is arbitrary, $f^{\prime }=0$, proving Liouville's theorem. If a nonconstant polynomial $P$ had no root, then $1/P$ would be an entire function, bounded outside a large disc by the leading term and inside the disc by compactness. Liouville's theorem would force it to be constant, a contradiction. This proves the fundamental theorem of algebra. The chain is an assessment of the reach of the methods, not a claim that Augustin-Louis Cauchy alone originated every named result.

Augustin-Louis Cauchy's algebra concerns concrete permutations as well as analytical formulas. His 1845 investigations developed the theory of substitutions; Cauchy theorem for groups says that a prime number dividing a finite group order occurs as an element order. One can appreciate its generality from a modern argument: rotate the coordinates of the tuples $(g_1,\dots ,g_p)$ satisfying $g_1\cdots g_p=e$. Rotation preserves this condition, since $g_2\cdots g_p{g}_1=g_1^{-1}(g_1\cdots g_p)g_1=e$. There are $|G{|}^{p-1}$ such tuples; nonfixed rotation orbits have $p$ elements, and fixed tuples correspond to $g^p=e$. When $p\mid |G|$, the number of fixed tuples is divisible by $p$, so besides $e$ there is an element of element order $p$. This is explanatory mathematics, not Augustin-Louis Cauchy's original proof. The dating itself needs care: Peter Michael Neumann's archival argument places the major burst of work in 1845 despite an 1844 date traditionally attached to a volume.^[ref]

Finally, Augustin-Louis Cauchy's work on elasticity shows the strength of making a local mathematical object out of physical interactions. Instead of describing only a force perpendicular to a surface, one studies the traction on a plane through a point, with its direction dependent on the plane's unit normal. In modern notation the relation is $\mathbf{t}(\mathbf{n})=\mathbf{\sigma }\mathbf{n}$, where the Cauchy stress tensor contains the necessary directional information. Together with balance of linear momentum, this yields equations for the internal motion of a body. The modern tensor notation is later explanatory language; the conceptual contribution is the reduction of the forces on arbitrary internal planes to a finite collection of local components.^[ref]

Augustin-Louis Cauchy's lasting contribution was a powerful research programme, not a finished foundation. His insistence on justified passage to a limit reshaped analysis, while complex integration, substitutions and local stresses opened methods whose value extended beyond their first applications. The inadequacy of a pointwise convergence hypothesis, the need to state domains in complex analysis, and the later construction of the real numbers show that nineteenth-century rigour remained a collective and revisable achievement. These qualifications strengthen an assessment of his influence by identifying what later mathematicians could extend and repair.

For $z\ne 0$,If $R|z|<1$, choose $q$ strictly between that limit and $1$. Eventually $|a_n{z}^n|\le q^n$, proving absolute convergence by the geometric series comparison. If $R|z|>1$, choose $q>1$ below the limit; eventually $|a_n{z}^n|\ge q^n$, so the terms do not tend to zero and the series diverges. The point $z=0$ is harmless. This proves the root test in the needed case and gives

Work in a nonzero complex unital Banach algebra $B$, with identity $1$. Write $R(x)=\{\lambda \in \mathbb{C}:\lambda 1-x\text{ is invertible}\}$ for the resolvent set, $\sigma (x)=\mathbb{C}\setminus R(x)$ for the spectrum of an element, and $Q(\lambda )=(\lambda 1-x{)}^{-1}$ for its Banach algebra resolvent. Distinguishing the set from the inverse-valued function avoids a notational ambiguity.

The printed formula omits an essential modulus. Complex spectral values cannot be ordered to take the indicated supremum. Even for $x=-1$ in $B=\mathbb{C}$, the spectrum is $\{-1\}$ while the spectral radius is one. The correctly interpreted assertion, proved below, isAll required analytic facts about the Banach algebra resolvent will be derived from norm-convergent series and scalar complex analysis.

For $\Vert a\Vert <1$, the Neumann series ${\sum }_{n\ge 0}{a}^n$ converges in $B$ and is a two-sided inverse of $1-a$: multiplying its finite sums gives $1-a^{N+1}$ and passing to the limit gives $1$. Therefore for $|\lambda |>\Vert x\Vert$,The series converges locally uniformly on that exterior region and tends to zero in norm as $|\lambda |\to \infty$. This statement does not require the optional normalization $\Vert 1\Vert =1$; the zeroth term is $1/\lambda$, and the other terms have the usual geometric bound.

At any ${\lambda }_0\in R(x)$, factor ${\lambda }_{0}1-x+h1=({\lambda }_{0}1-x)(1+hQ({\lambda }_0))$. If $|h|\Vert Q({\lambda }_0)\Vert <1$, the Neumann series givesThus the resolvent set is open, $Q$ is norm-continuous there, and the series proves norm differentiability with $Q^{\prime }(\lambda )=-Q(\lambda {)}^2$. Repeated differentiation gives $Q^{(j)}(\lambda )=(-1{)}^{j}j!Q(\lambda {)}^{j+1}$. Direct subtraction of the inverse equations also yields the resolvent identityIn particular, every continuous linear functional $\varphi$ makes $\varphi (Q(\lambda ))$ a scalar holomorphic function; this has been proved, not assumed as an algebra-valued analytic theorem.

The spectrum of an element is closed, and is contained in $\{\lambda :|\lambda |\le \Vert x\Vert \}$ by the exterior series, so it is compact. It is nonempty. Otherwise $Q$ would be defined and norm-continuous on the entire plane, bounded on every fixed closed disk and tending to zero at infinity. Each $\varphi (Q)$ would be a bounded entire scalar function, hence identically zero by Liouville's theorem. Continuous complex linear functionals separate points of $B$, so $Q(\lambda )=0$, impossible for an inverse. This separation follows from the real Hahn-Banach theorem: a continuous real functional $h$ not vanishing on a given vector gives the complex linear functional $\varphi (v)=h(v)-ih(iv)$, which also does not vanish there. We have therefore proved thatis well-defined and finite.

Next establish the existence of the power-norm limit. If $x^m=0$ for some $m$, the limit is zero. Otherwise fix $m$ and write $n=qm+r$, $0\le r<m$. Submultiplicativity givesThe finitely many remainder factors have bounded size, and $q/n\to 1/m$. Hence ${\mathrm{limsup}}_n\Vert x^n{\Vert }^{1/n}\le \Vert x^m{\Vert }^{1/m}$ for every $m$. The opposite lower bound by the infimum is automatic, soFor $|\lambda |>r_0$, the root test proves convergence of $\sum x^n/{\lambda }^{n+1}$ even if $|\lambda |\le \Vert x\Vert$. Its finite sums telescope against $\lambda 1-x$, and their remainder tends to zero, so this sum is an inverse. Thus $s\le r_0$.

For the reverse inequality, fix $R>s$ and first choose $T>\max (R,\Vert x\Vert )$. The exterior Neumann series converges uniformly on $|\lambda |=T$, so termwise vector integration givesOnly its $x^n{\lambda }^{-n-1}$ term contributes. The annulus between radii $R$ and $T$ is in the resolvent set. For every continuous complex linear $\varphi$, the scalar Cauchy integral theorem applied to ${\lambda }^n\varphi (Q(\lambda ))$ makes the two contour integrals equal. Continuous linear functionals commute with vector integration and separate points, so the vector integrals themselves agree. This proves the resolvent Cauchy coefficient formula without presupposing any Banach-algebra-valued analytic-function theorem:Let $M_R={\max }_{|\lambda |=R}\Vert Q(\lambda )\Vert$, finite by continuity. The contour-length estimate gives $\Vert x^n\Vert \le M_R{R}^{n+1}$. Taking $n$th roots gives $r_0\le R$, and letting $R\downarrow s$ gives $r_0\le s$, including $s=0$. Combined with the earlier inequality, this proves the spectral radius formula and the corrected printed identity.

Use a nonzero complex unital Banach algebra $B$ with submultiplicative norm, and write its unit as $e$. The complex scalar field is the usual convention in this spectral statement; for a real algebra one uses its complexification. We derive the needed analytic facts from norm-convergent series and scalar complex analysis.

If $\Vert a\Vert <1$, completeness makes the Neumann series ${\sum }_{j=0}^{\infty }{a}^j$ converge. Multiplying its finite partial sums by $e-a$ gives $e-a^{m+1}$, which tends to $e$. Hence its sum is the inverse of $e-a$. If $b$ is invertible, then $b+h=b(e+b^{-1}h)$ is invertible whenever $\Vert b^{-1}h\Vert <1$. This proves that the invertible elements form an open set and that inversion is locally norm-continuous.

Define the Banach algebra spectrum and the resolvent of an element byFor $|\lambda |>\Vert x\Vert$, the Neumann series givesThus $\sigma (x)$ is bounded by $\Vert x\Vert$ and is closed, because invertibility is open. Also $R(\lambda )\to 0$ in norm at infinity; for example its norm is at most $\Vert e\Vert /(|\lambda |-\Vert x\Vert )$, since $\Vert e\Vert \ge 1$ in a nonzero submultiplicative unital algebra. The standard normalization $\Vert e\Vert =1$ is not needed.

For points where the Banach algebra resolvent exists $\lambda ,\mu$, multiply out the inverses to get the resolvent identityFor ${\lambda }_0$ outside the Banach algebra spectrum, put $R_0=R({\lambda }_0)$. Locally,This series and its differentiated series converge uniformly on every smaller disk. It therefore proves $R$ is a Banach-space-valued holomorphic function, establishing complex differentiability in the Banach-space norm and gives $R^{\prime }=-R^2$, without assuming a Banach-algebra-valued analytic theorem. In particular every continuous complex linear functional $\varphi$ makes $\varphi (R(\lambda ))$ a scalar holomorphic function.

The Banach algebra spectrum is nonempty. Otherwise $R$ would be defined and analytic everywhere. Its local norm continuity and decay at infinity make it globally bounded. For every continuous linear functional $\varphi$, the scalar entire function $\varphi (R(\lambda ))$ is bounded and tends to zero at infinity, so it is identically zero: the scalar Cauchy estimate for its derivative on circles of radius $r$ is $M/r$, which tends to zero, and the limiting value then fixes its constant as zero. Such functionals separate points by the Hahn-Banach theorem. Explicitly a bounded real functional can be extended from the real span of any nonzero element using its norm, and complexifying it by $\varphi (v)=\ell (v)-i\ell (iv)$ gives a bounded complex linear functional nonzero on that element. Therefore $R$ itself would be zero, contradicting $(\lambda e-x)R=e$. We have proved the Banach algebra spectrum is a nonempty compact subset of the complex plane.

We next establish the spectral radius formula. The power norms are submultiplicative. If some $x^m=0$, their root norms are eventually zero. Otherwise, for any fixed $m$, write $n=qm+r$ with $0\le r<m$ to obtainTaking roots gives ${\mathrm{limsup}}_n\Vert x^n{\Vert }^{1/n}\le \Vert x^m{\Vert }^{1/m}$. Taking the infimum in $m$, and using that every root norm is at least that infimum, proves existence ofFor $|\lambda |>{\rho }_0$, the root test makes $\sum x^j/{\lambda }^{j+1}$ converge, even when $|\lambda |\le \Vert x\Vert$. The same telescoping multiplication proves it is a two-sided inverse. HenceFor the reverse bound fix $R>r_{\sigma }$. If $R_1>\max (R,\Vert x\Vert )$, integrate the uniformly convergent exterior series term by term on $|\lambda |=R_1$, obtainingThe same integral equals the one on $|\lambda |=R$: applying an arbitrary continuous linear functional reduces contour deformation through the Banach algebra spectrum-free annulus to the scalar Cauchy theorem, and separation of points restores equality in $B$. This proves the resolvent Cauchy coefficient formula rather than assuming vector-valued analytic calculus. Using the norm bound for the allowed vector integral givesTaking $n$th roots yields ${\rho }_0\le R$, and letting $R\downarrow r_{\sigma }$ finishes the proof:

For the first example take the commutative algebra of dual numbers $B=\mathbb{C}[\epsilon ]/({\epsilon }^2)$ with norm $\Vert a+b\epsilon \Vert =|a|+|b|$. Completeness follows from finite dimension, and the product estimate makes the norm submultiplicative. For $x=\epsilon$, $x\ne 0$ but $x^2=0$, so $\rho (x)=0$. Directly, $\lambda e-\epsilon$ has inverse ${\lambda }^{-1}e+{\lambda }^{-2}\epsilon$ for $\lambda \ne 0$, and its Banach algebra spectrum is $\{0\}$. For the second example take $B=\mathbb{C}$ with its absolute-value norm and $x=1$. Its Banach algebra spectrum is $\{1\}$, giving $\rho (x)=\Vert x\Vert =1$.

Set $a_n=\Vert x^n\Vert$ and $D={\inf }_{n\ge 1}{a}_n^{1/n}$. If some $x^m=0$, all later powers vanish, their root norms tend to zero, and $D=0$. Otherwise fix $m\ge 1$ and write $n=qm+s$, $0\le s<m$. Submultiplicativity givesSince $q/n\to 1/m$, it follows that ${\mathrm{limsup}}_n{a}_n^{1/n}\le a_m^{1/m}$. Taking the infimum over $m$ and using $a_n^{1/n}\ge D$ provesThis establishes existence of the limit and its infimum characterization before identifying it with the spectral radius $r(x)={\max }_{\lambda \in \sigma (x)}|\lambda |$.

For $|\lambda |>D$, the root test makes ${\sum }_{n\ge 0}{x}^n/{\lambda }^{n+1}$ converge absolutely. Multiplication of partial sums shows that its limit is $(\lambda 1-x{)}^{-1}$. Thus $r(x)\le D$. For the reverse inequality, take any $\rho >r(x)$ and the circle $|\lambda |=\rho$. The resolvent of an element is holomorphic off the spectrum, andTo justify this identity, first use a radius larger than $\Vert x\Vert$ and integrate the uniformly convergent Neumann series term by term. Then deform to radius $\rho$: the intervening annulus has no spectral points. The Cauchy theorem for these Banach-valued integrals follows by applying bounded linear functionals and using their point separation. Consequently, with $M_{\rho }={\max }_{|\lambda |=\rho }\Vert (\lambda 1-x{)}^{-1}\Vert$,Taking root limits gives $D\le \rho$; let $\rho \downarrow r(x)$. Hence the full spectral radius formula is

For the product comparison, if $\lambda \ne 0$ and $R=(\lambda 1-xy{)}^{-1}$, direct multiplication on both sides verifiesIndeed $(\lambda 1-yx)y=y(\lambda 1-xy)$, and the remaining terms cancel against the inverse equation. Interchanging $x,y$ proves the converse. Thus the nonzero spectra of products in opposite orders agree, soThe possible difference at zero has no effect on the maximum modulus, including when that maximum is zero.

Zero really can differ. In $A=\mathcal{B}({\ell }^2({\mathbb{N}}_0))$, let $S$ be the unilateral shift operator, $S{e}_n=e_{n+1}$, and take $x=S^{\ast }$, $y=S$. Then $xy=1$, whereas $yx=1-P_0$, with $P_0$ the projection onto $e_0$. The latter is zero on $e_0$ and identity on its orthogonal complement, and these blocks also explicitly invert it away from zero and one. Hence

Finally, for $t>r(x)$ the root norms of $(x/t{)}^n$ tend to $r(x)/t<1$, so their norms eventually decay geometrically and the powers converge to zero. Conversely, if the powers converge to zero, choose $N$ with $\Vert (x/t{)}^N\Vert <1$. Homogeneity and the infimum formula implyso $t>r(x)$. The admissible positive $t$ are exactly $(r(x),\infty )$, proving the power-decay characterization of the spectral radiusThis includes quasinilpotent elements with radius zero; no positive endpoint must be attained.

The equal rooted counts imply that the self-avoiding walk generating function is $Z_G(x)={\sum }_{n\ge 0}{\sigma }_n{x}^n$. The Cauchy-Hadamard theorem identifies the radius of a power series $\sum a_n{x}^n$ as the reciprocal of $\mathrm{limsup}|a_n{|}^{1/n}$. ConsequentlyEquivalently, the root test gives convergence when $x\mu <1$ and divergence when $x\mu >1$. At the positive boundary $x={\mu }^{-1}$, the preceding infimum formula gives ${\sigma }_n{\mu }^{-n}\ge 1$, so this particular series diverges there as well.

Give each nearest-neighbor edge of the cubic lattice an independent Bernoulli distribution state, open with probability $p$. The resulting product measure is denoted ${\mathbb{P}}_p$. In this bond percolation model, $C(0)$ is the percolation cluster of the origin, andThe uniform-label monotone coupling of Bernoulli percolation shows that ${\theta }_d$ is increasing.

Let $c_n(d)$ count $n$-step self-avoiding walks starting at the origin, with $c_0(d)=1$. Splitting a walk after $n$ steps, and discarding the avoidance constraint between the two pieces, gives $c_{n+m}(d)\le c_n(d)c_m(d)$. The Fekete lemma therefore gives the connective constantThe locally finite graph structure means that an infinite percolation cluster at the origin supplies an open self-avoiding walk of every length. Each specified walk has $n$ distinct edges and is open with probability $p^n$. The union bound givesFor $p\mu (d)<1$ the right side tends to zero. Hence the connective-constant lower bound for percolation is $p_c(d)\ge \mu (d{)}^{-1}$.

For the upper bound first work on the square lattice. A finite open percolation cluster has an outer boundary containing a simple closed graph cycle of dual edges, all crossing closed primal edges. Such a dual bond percolation circuit separates that cluster from infinity. Write $N_{\ell }$ for the number of simple dual circuits of length $\ell$ surrounding the origin. Each circuit meets the positive horizontal ray at distance at most $\ell$: its bounding box contains the origin and its diameter is bounded by its length. Choose such an intersection as an anchor and orient the circuit. Removing its last edge leaves a rooted self-avoiding walk of length $\ell -1$ in the translated square lattice. Consequently, for an absolute constant $K$,The exact constant and this possible overcount do not matter. If $(1-p)\mu (2)<1$, the root test givesA summable circuit count alone need not give a total sum below one. To use its tail correctly, let $B_R=[-R,R{]}^2\cap {\mathbb{Z}}^2$ and condition every edge internal to $B_R$ to be open. This finite event has positive probability. A closed dual circuit surrounding all of $B_R$ crosses no internal edge of $B_R$, and so its closed-edge probability remains $(1-p{)}^{\ell }$ under this conditioning. Its length tends to infinity with $R$. Choose $R$ so large that the union bound for all such circuits is below one. With positive conditional probability, none occurs.

On that event, $C(0)$ contains $B_R$ and cannot be finite: a finite cluster containing $B_R$ would have an enclosing closed dual circuit. Thus ${\theta }_2(p)>0$ whenever $p>1-\mu (2{)}^{-1}$. This is the connective-constant Peierls bound, proved by excluding short circuits through the open-box conditioning. An embedded coordinate plane in the cubic lattice has exactly the same bond percolation law as the square lattice, so $p_c(d)\le p_c(2)$. Together,There are $2d$ choices for the first step of a self-avoiding walk and at most $2d-1$ thereafter, because immediate reversal is forbidden. Hence $c_n(d)\le 2d(2d-1{)}^{n-1}$ and $\mu (d)\le 2d-1$. In particular $\mu (2)\le 3$. Substituting with the correct directions of the inequalities gives