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Why can the sum and integral be interchanged in this cosine-series example?

The sum and integral can be interchanged because the Dominated Convergence Theorem applies. The terms of the cosine power series are bounded in magnitude by 11 on the interval [0,π/2][0,\pi/2], making the constant function g(x)=1g(x)=1 a valid dominating function with a finite integral over the interval.

Conditions

  • The integration interval is [0,π/2][0,\pi/2].
  • The series terms are (−1)n(2n)!x2n\frac{(-1)^n}{(2n)!}x^{2n}.
  • The dominating function is g(x)=1g(x)=1.

Reasoning, step by step

  1. Identify the general term of the cosine series: (−1)n(2n)!x2n\frac{(-1)^n}{(2n)!}x^{2n}.
  2. Check the magnitude of the term on [0,π/2][0,\pi/2]: ∣(−1)n(2n)!x2n∣≤1\left|\frac{(-1)^n}{(2n)!}x^{2n}\right| \le 1.
  3. Verify that the constant function g(x)=1g(x)=1 dominates all terms for all n≥0n \ge 0.
  4. Confirm that ∫0π/21 dx=π/2<∞\int_0^{\pi/2} 1\,dx = \pi/2 < \infty, satisfying the finite-integral hypothesis.
  5. Conclude that the DCT justifies swapping the infinite sum and the definite integral.

Example

The speaker explicitly states, “So g of x equals one actually fulfills our conditions,” and then uses the DCT to swap the sum and integral.

Common misconceptions

  • Assuming that any power series can be integrated term-by-term without checking for a dominating function.
  • Thinking that the domination condition only needs to hold for a specific nn, rather than uniformly for all nn.

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