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[parent] $p$ test (Corollary)

The following is an immediate corollary of the integral test.

Corollary 1 ($p$ -Test)   A series of the form $\sumn \frac{1}{n^p}$ converges if $p>1$ and diverges if $p\leq 1$ .
Proof. The case $p=1$ is well-known, for $\sumn \frac{1}{n}$ is the harmonic series, which diverges (see this proof). From now on, we assume $p\neq 1$ (notice that one could also use the integral test to prove the case $p=1$ ). In order to apply the integral test, we need to calculate the following improper integral: $$\int_1^\infty \frac{1}{x^p} dx=\lim_{n\to \infty}\left[ \frac{x^{1-p}}{1-p} \right]_1^n= \limn \frac{n^{-p+1}}{1-p}-\frac{1}{1-p}.$$ Since $\limn n^t$ diverges when $t>0$ and converges for $t \leq 0$ , the integral above converges for $1-p < 0$ , i.e. for $p>1$ and diverges for $p<1$ (and also diverges for $p=1$ ). Therefore, the corollary follows by the integral test. $ \qedsymbol$




"$p$ test" is owned by alozano.
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See Also: examples using comparison test without limit, a series related to harmonic series

Other names:  p-test, $p$-test, p test, p series test, $p$-series test, $p$ series test

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Cross-references: integral, improper integral, calculate, order, harmonic series, diverges, converges, series, integral test
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This is version 3 of $p$ test, born on 2005-03-21, modified 2008-04-01.
Object id is 6894, canonical name is PTest.
Accessed 7644 times total.

Classification:
AMS MSC40A05 (Sequences, series, summability :: Convergence and divergence of infinite limiting processes :: Convergence and divergence of series and sequences)

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