Summation method

A rule for assigning a value to some series through a specified limiting operation. It must say which series belong to its domain; different rules can have different domains. A regular summation method agrees with ordinary summation for every convergent series.

A summation method that includes every ordinarily convergent series and assigns it its ordinary sum. The Cesàro theorem for convergent sequences makes first-order Cesàro summation regular. Regularity alone does not justify every rearrangement or multiplication of a divergent series.

Cesàro summation assigns a value to a series when the arithmetic means of its partial sums approach a finite limit of a sequence. Here we use the first-order method, often written $(C,1)$. For a real or complex series beginning at index zero, defineIt is Cesàro summable to $L$ when ${\sigma }_N\to L$. The averaging is applied to the partial sums $s_n$, rather than to the original terms $a_n$. This distinction is essential: the terms can average to zero while their accumulated sum keeps growing. ^[ref]

For Grandi's series $1-1+1-1+\cdots$, the partial sums alternate between one and zero. The series is not a convergent series, but the two values occupy asymptotically equal proportions of the averaging window. In the declared index convention,so its first-order Cesàro sum is $1/2$. This names a particular summation method; it does not turn the oscillating partial sums into an ordinarily convergent sequence.

Why is this useful? An oscillating approximation can retain stable information when its cumulative average settles. Because the Cesàro theorem for convergent sequences preserves an existing limit of a sequence, this adds some new cases without changing the sum of any ordinarily convergent series. For Fourier series, averaging the Fourier partial sums gives a Fejér sum; the existing Fejér kernel and approximation articles explain its effect on reconstruction. Averaging does not guarantee success for every oscillating sequence, as the bounded partial sums need not be Cesàro summable example shows.

One historical motivation was the multiplication of series. In 1918, A. F. Andersen recalled Ernesto Cesàro's product theorem and cited his 1890 publication at the start of a study of products involving Cesàro summable series. This connects the theory with preserving useful operations on sums, as well as with assigning a value to an isolated example. His paper treats several orders of summability; the examples here use only $(C,1)$.^[ref]

In the average of partial sums $s_0,\dots ,s_N$, the term $a_k$ occurs exactly $N-k+1$ times. Reordering this finite sum gives the displayed identity. Early terms have weights closer to one, and the newest term has weight $1/(N+1)$. The triangular weight expresses the cumulative averaging rule; it is not a claim that one may freely rearrange an infinite series.

The series with terms $a_n=(-1{)}^n$, indexed from zero, named for Guido Grandi. Its even-indexed partial sums are one and its odd-indexed partial sums are zero, so it has no ordinary sum. First-order Cesàro summation gives $1/2$. Grouping adjacent pairs would obscure this distinction: the partial sums of the grouped expressions select only one of the original subsequences.

For the geometric series with terms $z^n$, $z\ne 1$, the partial sums are $(1-z^{n+1})/(1-z)$. Averaging the finite expressions givesIf $|z|\le 1$ and $z\ne 1$, the second term has absolute value at most $2/((N+1)|1-z{|}^2)$, and therefore tends to zero. On the unit circle, except at $z=1$, this yields a first-order Cesàro sum even though the terms do not tend to zero. For $z=1$, instead $s_n=n+1$ and ${\sigma }_N=(N+2)/2$, so there is no finite Cesàro sum.^[ref]

The finite limit of a sequence of averaged partial sums in the declared Cesàro summation convention, when that limit exists. It can exist when an ordinary sum does not, but every ordinarily convergent series has the same Cesàro sum as its ordinary sum.

Construct partial sums $s_n$ from alternating blocks of zero and one, with lengths $1,3,9,27,\dots$. Block $j$, beginning with $j=0$, has length $3^j$ and value zero when $j$ is even, one when $j$ is odd. Define a series by $a_0=s_0$ and $a_n=s_n-s_{n-1}$ for $n\ge 1$; the telescoping series identity recovers these chosen partial sums. They remain in $[0,1]$.

At the end of odd block $2m+1$, the Cesàro mean is exactly $3/4$. At the end of even block $2m$, it isThese two subsequences have different subsequential limits, so the series has no first-order Cesàro sum. A later block remains a substantial fraction of everything averaged so far. Boundedness alone therefore does not ensure a stable average.

For $a_n=(-1{)}^n(n+1)$, direct finite summation gives $s_{2m}=m+1$ and $s_{2m+1}=-(m+1)$. ConsequentlyThe distinct even and odd subsequential limits prevent first-order Cesàro summation. More averaging is a different method; a value assigned by another method is not a first-order Cesàro sum.