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Math 515 Project Proposal

Monica Agana
Fall 2014

The Sum of the Rearrangements of Conditionally

Convergent Series

Description
Martin Ohm came up with the theorem in 1839 that considers the series
(−1)n−1
. It states that, for some p and q, where p, q ∈ Z+ , rearrange
P
n≥1 n
the series, respectively, so that one takes the first p positive terms, then the
first q negative terms, then the next p positive terms, and the next q negative
terms, and so forth, and one will find that the rearranged series converges to
ln(2) + ln( pq ).

But later in 1879, Schlömilch came up with a similar theorem that con-
sidered a similar rearrangement, but instead he added the condition where
one has a sequence cn (n : 1, 2, 3, · · · ) of real numbers that is signwise mono-
∞
X p
tonic, and cn + g · ln( ) is conditionally convergent. Then, as in the
n=1
q
rearrangement discussed in Martin Ohm’s theorem, one finds that the re-
∞
X p
arranged series converges to f (n) + g · ln( ), where g = limn→∞ n · an
n=1
q
(an : n = 1, 2, 3, . . . ), where an is the signwise monotonic sequence of positive
terms from cn .

I want to explore both Martin Ohm’s and Schlömilch’s Theorem by look-

ing at the alternating harmonic series, which is a conditionally convergent
series. There have not been many examples or proofs on these two theorems,
and if so, the detail of these proofs do not seem sufficient in my opinion,
and/or the original proofs have been lost or destroyed. So my goal for this
project is to investigate them myself.

First, I plan to work through several types of rearrangements for differ-

ent values of p and q, focusing on the three cases: p = q, p > q, and p < q
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applying Martin Ohm’s Theorem. I would like to show how these differ-
ent cases come together to form some general argument that shows that all
the different cases mathematically converge to the same limit, in this case,
ln(2) + ln( pq ).

Afterwards, using the same values for p and q that I did in Ohm’s The-
orem, I plan on investigating Schlömilch’s Theorem by looking at various
cases of conditionally convergent series to that of the alternating harmonic
series, except now investigating the condition that the sequence is signwise
monotonic. Again, proving how these different cases come together to form
some general argument which shows that all these cases converge to the same
∞
X p
limit, f (n) + g · ln( ), and to examine the connection between the limit
n=1
q
points of the signwise monotonic subsequence an to the limit of the sequence
cn .
To show how I would approach my project, I will demonstrate by intro-
ducing one of the main theorems to my project:

Theorem 0.0.1 (Martin Ohm’s Theorem (1839)). For p and q positive in-
X (−1)n−1
tegers rearrange by taking the first p positive terms, then the
n≥1
n
first q negative terms, then the next p positive terms, the the next q negative
terms, and so on. The rearranged series converges to

1 p

ln(2) + ln . (1)
2 q

Abstract

For years mathematicians have been investigating conditionally convergent

series. We know that the alternating harmonic series is a conditionally con-
vergent series which converges to ln(2). However, one might ask if the limit
remains the same if one were to rearrange the positive and negative terms
within the sequence, and what might the sum look like for other types of
conditionally convergent series. I will address these questions by showing
various examples of the different cases of rearrangements, and proving each
by induction.
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Literature Sources
1. Brown, Fon. “On Rearrangements of the Alternating Harmonic Series."
The College Mathematics Journal 16.2 (1985): 135-38. Web. 10 Sept.
2014.
<http://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/mathdl/CMJ/Brown135-
138.pdf>.

2. Filipów, Rafal, and Piotr Szuca. “Rearrangement of Conditionally Con-

vergent Series on a Small Set." Journal of Mathematical Analysis and
Applications 362.1 (2010): 64-71. Web.

3. Scheepers, Marion. “On the Pringsheim Rearrangement Theorems."

Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications 267.2 (2002): 418-
33. ScienceDirect. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022247X01975201>.

References
Marion Scheepers, Seminar, “Rearrangements of Conditionally Convergent
Series of Real Numbers”, October 22, 2013.