A discovery-based
Introduction to Infinite Series

Warmup with Sequences

Suppose you flip a coin, and write "1" in the first decimal place if you get a Head and "0" if you get a Tail. Then you repeat this process indefinitely, moving one digit to the right each time. Suppose you get a Head, then a Tail, then a Tail, then a Head, then another Head,... Your sequence would then start as follows:
a1 = 0.1
a2 = 0.10
a3 = 0.100
a4 = 0.1001
a5 = 0.10011
 .   .
 .   .
Does this sequence converge or diverge? Prove your assertion.


Series and Savings

Suppose at the age of 15 you are able to save $10 per month. Starting at that age, each month you make a deposit of $10. How much money will you have when you are 20?

If you said 10*12*5=$600, you're either forgetting that you get paid interest, or you may want to change your financial institution! Suppose now that your money is invested in an account with the Associated Central Credit Union of Mathematics Undergraduate Learners And Technology Engineers (ACCUMULATE). How much would you have in your account at age 20 if there is an annual rate of 6% paid monthly?
Scratchwork:










What's wrong with the following calculation?
    "During the first year, I save up 10*12=$120. After interest,
    there is 120*(1.06)=$127.20 at the end of the second year, plus
    another $120 I've saved during the second year, so I'll have
    $247.20 after two years.

    "By the end of the third year, this will grow to $262.032 with the
    6% interest, plus the $120 I've saved during the third year, so
    I'll have $382.032 at the beginning of the 4th year.

    "By the end of the 4th year, this will grow to $404.95 from the
    interest, plus $120 saved during that year, giving me $524.95 at
    the beginning of my 5th year.

    "By the end of the 5th year, this grows to $556.48 from the
    interest, and adding the $120 I will have saved during the 5th
    year, I'll have $676.48"

What's wrong with this?_______________________________________________.

Why does doing things the right way seem daunting?____________________

___________________________________________________________________.

Now consider the expression

1 + r + r2 + r3 + ... + rn

Call this expression E. Multiply E by (1-r) and simplify.
What do you get? ____________________. Hence E = ____________________.

Suppose now that you started depositing $10 each month starting at age 15 and received 0.5% interest per month. When componded monthly, this will add up to more than 6% per year (hence the term "annual percentage yield"). How much more? Make a chart of how much money you have in your account at different times during your first few months.

Here t represents time in months, where t=0 represents the moment you make your first deposit, and r is the monthly interest multiplier of 1.005.

 -------------------------------
| t (in months) | Savings (in $)| Scratchwork:
|---------------|---------------|
|      0        | 10	        |
|               |	        |
|      1        | 10*r + 10     |
|               |	        |
|      2        | _____________ |
|               |	        |
|      3        | _____________ |
|               |	        |
 -------------------------------
Your savings at age 20 will total:____________________ (use your formula!)

When you're 20 years old, you are able to save $25 per month. Given the same ACCUMULATE interest rates, how much will you have when you're 25?









When you're 25 you're able to save $250 per month. how much will you have when you're 40? When you're 50? When you're 60?









Write down a general formula to help your friends and relatives make similar calculations. Suppose your friend gets a rate of return of r (where r>1) each month, and puts in $D each month for Y years. Suppose they also started with $M in their account at the beginning of the period. How much money will they have after Y years?









Geometric Series

Use your formula (above) for "E" and take the limit (as n approaches infinity) of this expression. What should the following expression equal?
1 + r + r2 + r3 + ... (forever)

What conditions must be true for r for this fomula to be valid? ____________________.

Otherwise, if _r________ then _____________.

(A) What do you think

(1/2) + (1/4) + (1/8) + (1/16) + (1/32) + ... (forever)

equals?______. Confirm this with the above formula:




What modification did you need to make?______________________________.

Can you also verify this formula with a picture?

(B) Use your formula to compute

(0.1) + (0.01) + (0.001) + (0.0001) + (0.00001) + ... (forever)

What equation do you get? ____________________________________________.

Now, multiply both sides of your equation by 9.

What have you proved?_____________________________________________.

What is (1/4) + (1/4)2 + (1/4)3 + ... ?
(This is another special series which (unlike most) can be verified with a picture as well).










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