Geometric series

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This article is about infinite geometric series. For finite sums, see geometric progression.

Each of the purple squares has 1/4 of the area of the next larger square (1/2×1/2 = 1/4, 1/4×1/4 = 1/16, etc.).
The sum of the areas of the purple squares is one third of the area of the large square.

n mathematics, a geometric series is a series with a constant ratio between successive terms. For
example, the series

is geometric, because each successive term can be obtained by multiplying the previous term by
1/2.
 Geometric series are among the simplest examples of infinite series with finite sums, although
not all of them have this property. Historically, geometric series played an important role in the
early development of calculus, and they continue to be central in the study of convergence of
series. Geometric series are used throughout mathematics, and they have important
applications in physics, engineering, biology, economics, computer science, queueing theory,
and finance.

Common ratio[edit]

The convergence of the geometric series with r=1/2 and a=1/2

The convergence of the geometric series with r=1/4 and a=1

The terms of a geometric series form a geometric progression, meaning that the ratio of successive
terms in the series is constant. This relationship allows for the representation of a geometric series
using only two terms, r and a. The term r is the common ratio, and a is the first term of the series. As
an example the geometric series given in the introduction,

may simply be written as

, with and .
The following table shows several geometric series with different start terms and common
ratios:

Start term, a Common ratio, r Example series

4 10 4 + 40 + 400 + 4000 + 40,000 + ···

9 1/3 9 + 3 + 1 + 1/3 + 1/9 + ···

7 1/10 7 + 0.7 + 0.07 + 0.007 + 0.0007 + ···

 3 1 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + ···

1 −1/2 1 − 1/2 + 1/4 − 1/8 + 1/16 − 1/32 + ···

3 –1 3 − 3 + 3 − 3 + 3 − ···

The behavior of the terms depends on the common ratio r:

If r is between −1 and +1, the terms of the series become smaller and smaller, approaching
zero in the limit and the series converges to a sum. In the case above, where r is one half,
the series has the sum one.
If r is greater than one or less than minus one the terms of the series become larger and
larger in magnitude. The sum of the terms also gets larger and larger, and the series has no
sum. (The series diverges.)
If r is equal to one, all of the terms of the series are the same. The series diverges.
If r is minus one the terms take two values alternately (e.g. 2, −2, 2, −2, 2,... ). The sum of
the terms oscillates between two values (e.g. 2, 0, 2, 0, 2,... ). This is a different type of
divergence and again the series has no sum. See for example Grandi's series: 1 − 1 + 1 − 1
+ ···.

Sum[edit]
The sum of a geometric series is finite as long as the absolute value of the ratio is less than 1; as the
numbers near zero, they become insignificantly small, allowing a sum to be calculated despite the
series containing infinitely many terms. The sum can be computed using the self-similarity of the
series.

Example[edit]

A self-similar illustration of the sum s. Removing the largest circle results in a similar figure of 2/3 the original
size.

Consider the sum of the following geometric series:

This series has common ratio 2/3. If we multiply through by this common ratio, then the initial 1
becomes a 2/3, the 2/3 becomes a 4/9, and so on:
This new series is the same as the original, except that the first term is missing. Subtracting
the new series (2/3)s from the original series s cancels every term in the original but the first,

A similar technique can be used to evaluate any self-similar expression.

Formula[edit]

For , the sum of the first n terms of a geometric series is

where a is the first term of the series, and r is the common ratio. We can derive this
formula as follows:

so,

As n goes to infinity, the absolute value of r must be less than one for the
series to converge. The sum then becomes

When a = 1, this can be simplified to

the left-hand side being a geometric series with common ratio r.

The formula also holds for complex r, with the corresponding
restriction, the modulus of r is strictly less than one.