Sequence

In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed. Like a set, it contains members (also called elements, or terms). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called the length of the sequence. Unlike a set, the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in a sequence, and order matters. Formally, a sequence can be defined as a function whose domain is either the set of the natural numbers (for infinite sequences) or the set of the first n natural numbers (for a sequence of finite length n). The position of an element in a sequence is its rank or index; it is the natural number from which the element is the image. It depends on the context or a specific convention, if the first element has index 0 or 1. When a symbol has been chosen for denoting a sequence, the nth element of the sequence is denoted by this symbol with n as subscript; for example, the nth element of the Fibonacci sequence is generally denoted Fn. | a n − L | < ε . {displaystyle |a_{n}-L|<varepsilon .} In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed. Like a set, it contains members (also called elements, or terms). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called the length of the sequence. Unlike a set, the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in a sequence, and order matters. Formally, a sequence can be defined as a function whose domain is either the set of the natural numbers (for infinite sequences) or the set of the first n natural numbers (for a sequence of finite length n). The position of an element in a sequence is its rank or index; it is the natural number from which the element is the image. It depends on the context or a specific convention, if the first element has index 0 or 1. When a symbol has been chosen for denoting a sequence, the nth element of the sequence is denoted by this symbol with n as subscript; for example, the nth element of the Fibonacci sequence is generally denoted Fn. For example, (M, A, R, Y) is a sequence of letters with the letter 'M' first and 'Y' last. This sequence differs from (A, R, M, Y). Also, the sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8), which contains the number 1 at two different positions, is a valid sequence. Sequences can be finite, as in these examples, or infinite, such as the sequence of all even positive integers (2, 4, 6, ...). In computing and computer science, finite sequences are sometimes called strings, words or lists, the different names commonly corresponding to different ways to represent them in computer memory; infinite sequences are called streams. The empty sequence ( ) is included in most notions of sequence, but may be excluded depending on the context. A sequence can be thought of as a list of elements with a particular order. Sequences are useful in a number of mathematical disciplines for studying functions, spaces, and other mathematical structures using the convergence properties of sequences. In particular, sequences are the basis for series, which are important in differential equations and analysis. Sequences are also of interest in their own right and can be studied as patterns or puzzles, such as in the study of prime numbers. There are a number of ways to denote a sequence, some of which are more useful for specific types of sequences. One way to specify a sequence is to list the elements. For example, the first four odd numbers form the sequence (1, 3, 5, 7). This notation can be used for infinite sequences as well. For instance, the infinite sequence of positive odd integers can be written (1, 3, 5, 7, ...). Listing is most useful for infinite sequences with a pattern that can be easily discerned from the first few elements. Other ways to denote a sequence are discussed after the examples. The prime numbers are the natural numbers bigger than 1 that have no divisors but 1 and themselves. Taking these in their natural order gives the sequence (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, ...). The prime numbers are widely used in mathematics and specifically in number theory. The Fibonacci numbers are the integer sequence whose elements are the sum of the previous two elements. The first two elements are either 0 and 1 or 1 and 1 so that the sequence is (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ...). For a large list of examples of integer sequences, see On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. Other examples of sequences include ones made up of rational numbers, real numbers, and complex numbers. The sequence (.9, .99, .999, .9999, ...) approaches the number 1. In fact, every real number can be written as the limit of a sequence of rational numbers, e.g. via its decimal expansion. For instance, π is the limit of the sequence (3, 3.1, 3.14, 3.141, 3.1415, ...). A related sequence is the sequence of decimal digits of π, i.e. (3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, ...). This sequence does not have any pattern that is easily discernible by eye, unlike the preceding sequence, which is increasing. Other notations can be useful for sequences whose pattern cannot be easily guessed, or for sequences that do not have a pattern such as the digits of π. One such notation is to write down a general formula for computing the nth term as a function of n, enclose it in parentheses, and include a subscript indicating the range of values that n can take. For example, in this notation the sequence of even numbers could be written as ( 2 n ) n ∈ N {displaystyle (2n)_{nin mathbb {N} }} . The sequence of squares could be written as ( n 2 ) n ∈ N {displaystyle (n^{2})_{nin mathbb {N} }} . The variable n is called an index, and the set of values that it can take is called the index set.