Enquiry abt engineering mathematics

[shermaine]

Hello,

Any one knows where to get detailed and understandable notes on infinite Sequences and Series?
Defining whether a series is convergence or divergence, and function like power series, Taylor,Maclaurin and binomial series...
The word "infinity" is making me confused...Is it a "0"

 

[Russlk]

Infinity is a concept, the concept of a quantity greater than any number. Zero is also a concept, note that the Roman Numeral system had no symbol for zero because the concept had not been realized. Mathmaticlly, 0*infinity = N where N is any number (since it can be any number, 1 is usually chosen).

 

[mechie]

Zero as a multiplier ?

I thought any number times ZERO was zero ?
after all NO millions doesn't make you very rich !

shermaine
You appear to be talking mostly degree level maths here but I thought infinity was a simple concept to describe a quantity that 'went on for ever', such as time or space; neither have a known limit.
The symbol to use is a '8' on its side, like two overlapping zeros, sort of 'oo' but without the white space between them.

Try a book like Engineering Mathematics or even Further Engineering Mathematics, both by K.A. Stroud and published by Macmillan.
**broken link removed**

 

[crust]

There are several good math sites, such as mathworld.wolfram.com, www.calc101.com, and www.karlscalculus.org.

 

[daviddoria]

a series is the sum of a sequence.

an infinte series is the sum of a sequence that doesn't ever stop (has an
infinite number of terms)

example
( _ will mean "subscript")

consider the sequence

a_n=n

means the nth term of the sequence = the term number

a_1=1
a_2=2
etc...

SUM_0^infinty a_n is the infinte series related to the sequence a_n

the study of this series is only important if it converges, which is determined by a number of tests (nth term test, p-series test, ratio test (by far the MOST important)

these explanations are much more lengthy buy can be found in any calculus book. i would recommend a calculus book before an engineering mathmatics book.

good luck!

feel free to contact me at doriad@rpi.edu if you have further questions

david

 

[ljcox]

Infinity depends upon the application in question.

For example, if you are taking a photo, if the subject is more than a few metres away, then the lens is set to infinity.

An example from electronics is the charge / discharge of a capacitor.

The usual approximation is that 5 time constants is near enough to infinity. So if the TC = 1 uS, then > 5 uS is infinity.

Len