Questions tagged [alternating-expression]

For questions related to alternating expression (or series). It is a sequence, whose terms change sign (i.e. if a term $a_n$ is positive then $a_{n+1}$ is negative and vice versa).

Basically, alternating sequence is a sequence, whose term change sign (i.e. if a term $a_n$ is positive then $a_{n+1}$ is negative and vice versa).

It is an infinite series of the form $\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }(-1)^{n}a_{n}$ or $\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }(-1)^{n+1}a_{n}$ with $a_n > 0$ for all $n$.

The signs of the general terms alternate between positive and negative. Like any series, an alternating series converges if and only if the associated sequence of partial sums converges.

For more, check out this link.

83 questions
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Alternating sum of reciprocals of binomial coefficients

I'm looking for a simple proof of the identity $$ \sum_{k=0}^n \frac{(-1)^k}{\binom{n}{k}} = \frac{n+1}{n+2} (1+(-1)^n) $$ relying only on elementary properties of binomial coefficients. I obtained this by starting with the integral…
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Alternating sum of square root reciprocals

The alternating sum $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}{\frac{(-1)^{n+1}}{\sqrt{n}}}=(1-\sqrt{2})\zeta(\frac{1}{2})$ according to Wolfram Alpha. I tried to derive this result myself, and found it easy using the naïve way of expanding $\zeta(\frac{1}{2})$ into its…
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An identity involving Catalan numbers and binomial coefficients.

I stumbled upon the following identity $$\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^kC_k\binom{k+2}{n-k}=0\qquad n\ge2$$ where $C_n$ is the $n$th Catalan number. Any suggestions on how to prove it are welcome! This came up as a special case of a generating function for…
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An identity with binomial coefficients

I want to prove the following identity: if $1\leq m\leq n$, then $$ \sum_{i=1}^{m}(-1)^{i-1}\binom{n-i}{n-m}\left[\binom{n+m}{i}-\binom{n+m}{i-1}\right]=\binom{n}{m} $$ My attempt: I wanted to use the following…
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Asymptotic Behaviour of the Remainder of Certain Alternating Series

Let $a,b >0$ be real constants. Empirical observation (as in: asking WolframAlpha) suggests $$ \lim_{n\to \infty} n \cdot \sum_{k=0}^\infty (\frac{1}{n+ak} - \frac{1}{n+b+ak}) = \frac{b}{a} \tag{$*$}$$ Note that the series in question can be…
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If $(a_n)$ is a decreasing real sequence and $\sum a_n$ converges, then does $\sum (-1)^n n a_n\ $ converge?

"Motivation"/Introduction: If $(a_n)$ is a decreasing real sequence and $\displaystyle\sum a_n $ converges, then $n a_n \to 0,\ $ for example, by the Cauchy Condensation test. If $(a_n)$ is a real sequence and $\displaystyle\sum a_n $ converges…
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Closed form of $\sum _{k\ge 1} \frac{(-1)^{\binom{k}{p}}}{k}$, an alternating harmonic series with the signs determined by a binomial coeffcient

In a comment to Evaluating $\int_{0}^{1} \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \sum_{k=1}^{4n-2}(-1)^\frac{k^2+k+2}{2} x^{2k-1} dx$ for $n \in \mathbb{N}$ I proposed to study this alternating harmonic sum $$s(p) = \sum _{k\ge 1}…
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Are alternating series just derivative series?

I have a thought I cannot get out of my head but also cannot seem to prove or disprove satisfyingly. Please help me clarify my thoughts. Consider an alternating series $\sum{({-1})^{n+1}u_n}$ where $u_n$ is positive. We could group two by two this…
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Gut intuition for an alternating series divergence

Here is a specific diverging alternating series I came across: $$\sum_{n=2}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^n}{\sqrt{n}+(-1)^n}$$ This series diverges, one can show…
Arno
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An alternating binomial sum equal to 1

I was trying to prove that $$\sum_{j=0}^{r}(-1)^{r-j}\binom{d-j}{r-j}\sum_{l=1}^{d-k}(-1)^{l+1}\binom{d-k}{l}\binom{d-l+1}{j}=1$$ Where $0 \leq r\leq k-1$, $k \leq \lfloor \frac{d}{2} \rfloor$. I started by reordering the terms like…
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A tight positivity conjecture about sums over divisors of square-free integers.

Let $p_n$ be the $n$th prime number and all variables, unless otherwise specified, are natural numbers. Conjecture: For all square-free $n \geq 2$, the following function evaluates to a positive integer: $$F(n) = -1 + \sum_{d \mid n} \mu(d)…
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Evaluating $ \sum\limits_{n=1}^{N-1} \frac{(-1)^n}{\sqrt{1-\cos{\frac{2\pi n}{N}}}} $

I have come across this sum: $$\sum\limits_{n=1}^{N-1} \frac{(-1)^n}{\sqrt{1-\cos{\frac{2\pi n}{N}}}} $$ where $N$ is an even integer (it evaluates to $0$ for odd $N$). How does one evaluate this sum (or approximate its answer)? The only reason I…
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This alternating sum of fractional floor functions over the divisors of primorial is always a non-decreasing function (the general case).

Define the family of functions for $n \geq 1$. $$ f_n(x) = \sum_{d \mid p_n\#}(-1)^{\omega(d)}\sum_{0 \leq r \lt d \\ r^2 = 1 \pmod d}\left\lfloor \frac{x - r}{d}\right\rfloor $$ Conjecture. In general (and this distinguishes it from my other post),…
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in Orthogonal Polynomials of Several Variables 2nd ed. p177 is discriminant,alternating an error or not?

on page 177 in book Orthogonal Polynomials of Several Variables 2nd.ed. is written , [where from prior definition(s) R is a vector in d dimensional space and member of Coxeter group W generated by the root system R is subgroup of O(d) meaning real…
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Combinatorial sum with alternating signs.

Compute $$\sum_{n=0}^{10}(-1)^n\binom{10}{n}\binom{12+n}{n}.$$ How do I calculate it using well known identities?I've tried more or less every identity I know with alternating signs but I end up with a mess. (The answer is $66$) I saw this…
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