SECTION 11.

4 THE COMPARISON TESTS |||| 705

11.4 THE COMPARISON TESTS

In the comparison tests the idea is to compare a given series with a series that is known to
be convergent or divergent. For instance, the series

⬁
1
1 兺
n苷1 2n ⫹ 1

reminds us of the series 冘⬁n苷1 1兾2 n, which is a geometric series with a 苷 12 and r 苷 12 and
is therefore convergent. Because the series (1) is so similar to a convergent series, we have
the feeling that it too must be convergent. Indeed, it is. The inequality

1 1
⬍ n
2 ⫹1
n
2

shows that our given series (1) has smaller terms than those of the geometric series and
therefore all its partial sums are also smaller than 1 (the sum of the geometric series). This
means that its partial sums form a bounded increasing sequence, which is convergent. It
also follows that the sum of the series is less than the sum of the geometric series:
⬁
1
兺
n苷1 2n ⫹ 1
⬍1

Similar reasoning can be used to prove the following test, which applies only to series
whose terms are positive. The first part says that if we have a series whose terms are
smaller than those of a known convergent series, then our series is also convergent. The
second part says that if we start with a series whose terms are larger than those of a known
divergent series, then it too is divergent.

THE COMPARISON TEST Suppose that 冘 a n and 冘 bn are series with positive terms.
(i) If 冘 bn is convergent and a n 艋 bn for all n, then 冘 a n is also convergent.
(ii) If 冘 bn is divergent and a n 艌 bn for all n, then 冘 a n is also divergent.

N It is important to keep in mind the distinction PROOF n n ⬁

between a sequence and a series. A sequence is
a list of numbers, whereas a series is a sum.
(i) Let sn 苷 兺a
i苷1
i tn 苷 兺b
i苷1
i t苷 兺b
n苷1
n

With every series 冘 a n there are associated two

sequences: the sequence 兵a n 其 of terms and the Since both series have positive terms, the sequences 兵sn 其 and 兵tn 其 are increasing
sequence 兵sn 其 of partial sums. 共sn⫹1 苷 sn ⫹ a n⫹1 艌 sn 兲. Also tn l t, so tn 艋 t for all n. Since a i 艋 bi , we have sn 艋 tn .
Thus sn 艋 t for all n. This means that 兵sn 其 is increasing and bounded above and therefore
converges by the Monotonic Sequence Theorem. Thus 冘 a n converges.
(ii) If 冘 bn is divergent, then tn l ⬁ (since 兵tn 其 is increasing). But a i 艌 bi so sn 艌 tn .
Thus sn l ⬁. Therefore 冘 a n diverges. M

In using the Comparison Test we must, of course, have some known series 冘 bn for
the purpose of comparison. Most of the time we use one of these series:
Standard Series for Use N A p -series [冘 1兾n p converges if p ⬎ 1 and diverges if p 艋 1; see (11.3.1)]
with the Comparison Test
N A geometric series [冘 ar n⫺1 converges if r ⬍ 1 and diverges if r 艌 1;
ⱍ ⱍ ⱍ ⱍ
see (11.2.4)]
706 |||| CHAPTER 11 INFINITE SEQUENCES AND SERIES

⬁
5
V EXAMPLE 1 Determine whether the series 兺
n苷1 2n 2 ⫹ 4n ⫹ 3
converges or diverges.

SOLUTION For large n the dominant term in the denominator is 2n 2 so we compare the
given series with the series 冘 5兾共2n 2 兲. Observe that

5 5
⬍ 2
2n 2 ⫹ 4n ⫹ 3 2n

because the left side has a bigger denominator. (In the notation of the Comparison Test,
a n is the left side and bn is the right side.) We know that
⬁ ⬁
5 5 1
兺
n苷1 2n 2 苷
2
兺
n苷1 n2

is convergent because it’s a constant times a p-series with p 苷 2 ⬎ 1. Therefore

⬁
5
兺
n苷1 2n 2 ⫹ 4n ⫹ 3
is convergent by part (i) of the Comparison Test. M

NOTE 1 Although the condition a n 艋 bn or a n 艌 bn in the Comparison Test is given for

all n, we need verify only that it holds for n 艌 N, where N is some fixed integer, because
the convergence of a series is not affected by a finite number of terms. This is illustrated
in the next example.
⬁
ln n
V EXAMPLE 2 Test the series 兺
n苷1 n
for convergence or divergence.

SOLUTION This series was tested (using the Integral Test) in Example 4 in Section 11.3,
but it is also possible to test it by comparing it with the harmonic series. Observe that
ln n ⬎ 1 for n 艌 3 and so
ln n 1
⬎ n艌3
n n

We know that 冘 1兾n is divergent ( p-series with p 苷 1). Thus the given series is divergent
by the Comparison Test. M

NOTE 2 The terms of the series being tested must be smaller than those of a convergent
series or larger than those of a divergent series. If the terms are larger than the terms of a
convergent series or smaller than those of a divergent series, then the Comparison Test
doesn’t apply. Consider, for instance, the series
⬁
1
兺
n苷1 2 ⫺1
n

The inequality
1 1
⬎ n
2n ⫺ 1 2

is useless as far as the Comparison Test is concerned because 冘 bn 苷 冘 ( 12 ) is convergent

n

and a n ⬎ bn . Nonetheless, we have the feeling that 冘 1兾共2 n ⫺ 1兲 ought to be convergent

because it is very similar to the convergent geometric series 冘 ( 12 ) . In such cases the fol-
n

lowing test can be used.

 SECTION 11.4 THE COMPARISON TESTS |||| 707

THE LIMIT COMPARISON TEST Suppose that 冘 a n and 冘 bn are series with positive
terms. If
an
N Exercises 40 and 41 deal with the lim 苷c
cases c 苷 0 and c 苷 ⬁. nl⬁ bn

where c is a finite number and c ⬎ 0, then either both series converge or both
diverge.

PROOF Let m and M be positive numbers such that m ⬍ c ⬍ M . Because a n 兾bn is close
to c for large n, there is an integer N such that

an
m⬍ ⬍M when n ⬎ N
bn

and so mbn ⬍ a n ⬍ Mbn when n ⬎ N

If 冘 bn converges, so does 冘 Mbn . Thus 冘 a n converges by part (i) of the Comparison

Test. If 冘 bn diverges, so does 冘 mbn and part (ii) of the Comparison Test shows that 冘 a n
diverges. M

⬁
1
EXAMPLE 3 Test the series 兺
n苷1 2 ⫺1
n for convergence or divergence.

SOLUTION We use the Limit Comparison Test with

1 1
an 苷 bn 苷
2n ⫺ 1 2n
and obtain

an 1兾共2 n ⫺ 1兲 2n 1
lim 苷 lim 苷 lim n 苷 lim 苷1⬎0
nl⬁ 2 ⫺ 1 n l ⬁ 1 ⫺ 1兾2 n
n
nl⬁ bn nl⬁ 1兾2

Since this limit exists and 冘 1兾2 n is a convergent geometric series, the given series con-
verges by the Limit Comparison Test. M

⬁
2n 2 ⫹ 3n
EXAMPLE 4 Determine whether the series 兺
n苷1 s5 ⫹ n 5
converges or diverges.

SOLUTION The dominant part of the numerator is 2n 2 and the dominant part of the denomi-
nator is sn 5 苷 n 5兾2. This suggests taking

2n 2 ⫹ 3n 2n 2 2
an 苷 bn 苷 5兾2 苷
s5 ⫹ n 5 n n 1兾2

an 2n 2 ⫹ 3n n 1兾2 2n 5兾2 ⫹ 3n 3兾2

lim 苷 lim ⴢ 苷 lim
nl⬁ bn n l ⬁ s5 ⫹ n 5 2 n l ⬁ 2s5 ⫹ n 5

3
2⫹
n 2⫹0

冑
苷 lim 苷 苷1
nl⬁ 5 2s0 ⫹ 1
2 ⫹1
n5
708 |||| CHAPTER 11 INFINITE SEQUENCES AND SERIES

Since 冘 bn 苷 2 冘 1兾n 1兾2 is divergent ( p-series with p 苷 12 ⬍ 1), the given series diverges
by the Limit Comparison Test. M

Notice that in testing many series we find a suitable comparison series 冘 bn by keeping
only the highest powers in the numerator and denominator.

ESTIMATING SUMS

If we have used the Comparison Test to show that a series 冘 a n converges by comparison
with a series 冘 bn, then we may be able to estimate the sum 冘 a n by comparing remainders.
As in Section 11.3, we consider the remainder

Rn 苷 s ⫺ sn 苷 a n⫹1 ⫹ a n⫹2 ⫹ ⭈ ⭈ ⭈

For the comparison series 冘 bn we consider the corresponding remainder

Tn 苷 t ⫺ tn 苷 bn⫹1 ⫹ bn⫹2 ⫹ ⭈ ⭈ ⭈

Since a n 艋 bn for all n, we have Rn 艋 Tn . If 冘 bn is a p-series, we can estimate its remain-

der Tn as in Section 11.3. If 冘 bn is a geometric series, then Tn is the sum of a geometric
series and we can sum it exactly (see Exercises 35 and 36). In either case we know that Rn
is smaller than Tn .

V EXAMPLE 5 Use the sum of the first 100 terms to approximate the sum of the series
冘 1兾共n 3 ⫹ 1兲. Estimate the error involved in this approximation.
SOLUTION Since
1 1
⬍ 3
n3 ⫹ 1 n

the given series is convergent by the Comparison Test. The remainder Tn for the compari-
son series 冘 1兾n 3 was estimated in Example 5 in Section 11.3 using the Remainder Esti-
mate for the Integral Test. There we found that

⬁ 1 1
Tn 艋 y dx 苷
n x3 2n 2

Therefore the remainder Rn for the given series satisfies

1
Rn 艋 Tn 艋
2n 2

With n 苷 100 we have

1
R100 艋 苷 0.00005
2共100兲2

Using a programmable calculator or a computer, we find that

⬁ 100
1 1
兺
n苷1 n ⫹1
3 ⬇ 兺
n苷1 n ⫹ 1
3 ⬇ 0.6864538

with error less than 0.00005. M