EXPONENTIAL & LOGARITHMIC SERIES

Exponential Series
Definition (The number e):
n
 1
 The limiting value of  1   when n tends to infinity is denoted by e.
 n
n
 1 1 1 1 1
i.e., e  lim  1    1      .........
n  n 1! 2! 3! 4!
= 2.71 (Nearly)
Properties of e:
1 1
 (1) e lies between 2.7 and 2.8. i.e., 2.7 < e < 2.8 (since  n1 for n  2 ).
n! 2
(2) The value of e correct to 10 places of decimals is 2.7182818284.
(3) e is an irrational (incommensurable) number.
(4) e is the base of natural logarithm (Napier logarithm)
i.e., lnx  loge x and log10 e is known as Napierian constant.
log10 e  0.43429448 , lnx  2.303log10 x .
 1 
 since ln x  log10 x.loge 10 and loge 10   2.30258509 
 log10 e 
Expansion of exponential series:
x x2 x3 xr
 For x R , ex  1     ......   ......
1! 2! 3! r!

xn
or ex   .
n 0 n!

xn 1
Tn1  General term in the expansion of e  and coefficient of xn in ex  .
x

n! n!
The above series known as exponential series and ex is called exponential function.
Exponential function is also denoted by exp. i.e., expA  eA ;  expx  ex .
Replacing x by x , we obtain
2 3
x x x xn
e x  1     ........  (1)n  ........
1! 2! 3! n!
xn (1)n
Tn1  General term in the expansion of e x  (1)n n
and coefficient of x in e x
 .
n! n!
Exponential function ax, where a > 0:
x
 ax  eloge a  exloge a
ax  e x ....(i), where   loge a
x x2 x3 xr
We have, e  1    ........   ........
x

1! 2! 3! r!
Replacing x by  x in this series,

x x 2x2 3x 3 r xr
e 1    .....   .....
1! 2! 3! r!
Exponential & Logarithmic Series Page No: 1
 Hence from (i),
loge a (loge a)2 2 (loge a)r xr
ax  1  x x  .....   .....
1! 2! r!
Some Standard Results from Exponential Series

1  1 
1
 (1)   
n 0 n! n0 (n  1)!
 
n0 (n  k)!
e


1 1 1 1
(2)  n!  1!  2!  3! ..........  e  1
n1

1 1 1 1
(3)  n!  2!  3!  4!  .........  e  2
n2

1 1 1 1
(4)  (n  1)!  1!  2!  3!  .........  e  1
n 0

1 1 1 1
(5)  (n  2)!  2!  3!  4!  .........  e  2
n 0

1 1 1 1
(6)  (n  1)!  2!  3!  4!  .........  e  2
n1

ex  e  x x2 x 4 x 6 
x2n
(7)  1     .......  
2 2! 4! 6! n 0 (2n)!

ex  e  x x3 x 5 
x2n1
(8)  x    .......  
2 3! 5! n 0 (2n  1)!

(ax) (ax)2 (ax)3 (ax)n

(9) e 1
ax
   ......   ......
1! 2! 3! n!
(ax)n an
 Tn1  General term in the expansion of e  and coefficient of x in e  .
ax n ax

n! n!

Logarithmic Series
Definition:
 An expansion for loge (1  x) as a series of powers of x which is valid only, when |x|  1 .
Expansion of logarithmic series:
 Expansion of loge (1  x); if |x| 1, then
x2 x 3 x 4
loge (1  x)  x    ........
2 3 4
Replacing x by x in the logarithmic series, we get
x2 x 3 x 4
loge (1  x)  x     ........
2 3 4
x2 x3 x 4
or loge (1  x)  x 
   ........
2 3 4
Some Important results from logarithmic series:
 x2 x 4 
 (1) (i) loge (1  x)  loge (1  x)  loge (1  x2 )  2    ........  ,(1  x  1)
2 4 

Page No: 2 Exponential & Logarithmic Series

  x3 x 5 
(ii) loge (1  x)  loge (1  x)  2 x    ........ 
 3 5 
1x   x x 
3 5
or loge  
 2 x    ........ 
1x   3 5 
(2) The series expansion of loge (1  x) may fail to be valid, if |x| is not less than 1. It can be
proved that the logarithmic series is valid for x =1. Putting x=1 in the logarithmic
series.
1 1 1 1 1
We get, loge 2  1       ....
2 3 4 5 6
1 1 1
    ....
1.2 3.4 5.6
(3) When x  1 , the logarithmic series does not have a sum. This is in conformity with
the fact that log(1 – 1) is not a finite quantity.

Difference between the exponential and logarithmic series:

x x2 x3
(1) In the exponential series e  1   
x
.......... all the terms carry positive signs
1! 2! 3!
x2 x 3 x 4
whereas in the logarithmic series loge (1  x)  x     ........ the terms are
2 3 4
alternatively positive and negative.
(2) In the exponential series the denominator of the terms involve factorial of natural numbers.
But in the logarithmic series the terms do not contain factorials.
(3) The exponential series is valid for all the values of x. The logarithmic series is valid, when
|x|< 1.

Point at the Glance


1 1 1 1 e  e1  1
   1     .........   .
n 0 (2n)! 2! 4! 6! 2 n1 (2n  2)!


1 1 1 1 e  e1 
1
 
n1 (2n  1)!
  
1! 3! 5!
 ......... 
2
 
n 0 (2n  1)!
.

 
n n
 
n 0 n!
 e  
n1 n!

 
n2 n2
 
n 0 n!
 2e  
n1 n!

 
n3 n3
 
n 0 n!
 5e  
n1 n!

 
n4 n4
 
n 0 n!
 15e  
n1 n!

Exponential & Logarithmic Series Page No: 3