In this chapter we’ll be taking a look at sequences and
(infinite) series. Actually, this chapter will deal almost
exclusively with series. However, we also need to understand
some of the basics of sequences in order to properly deal with
series. We will therefore, spend a little time on sequences as
well. Series is one of those topics that many students don’t
find all that useful. To be honest, many students will never see
series outside of their calculus class. However, series do play
an important role in the field of ordinary differential
equations and without series large portions of the field of
partial differential equations would not be In other words,
series is an important topic even if you won’t ever see any of
the applications. Most of the applications are beyond the scope
of most Calculus courses and tend to occur in classes that many
students don’t take. So, as you go through this material keep in
mind that these do have applications even if we won’t really be
covering many of them in this class.