Infinite Series: Uses & Applications

[CaptainADHD]

Concept question:

What are they used for? I understand functions used for position/time/velocity etc., but what are infinite series actually used for?

Are they just a sum of numbers with no application? I'd like to know what I'm devoting my brainpower to before I spend massive amounts of time understanding their behavior and solution methods.

 

[Mark44]

A concrete application is how calculators are able to calculate such functions as sin, cos, and so on. They don't actually add up the terms in an infinite series, but use a lookup table that has values computed from one kind of infinite series.

A series offers a way to calculate functions that would be very difficult to work with otherwise, using only ordinary addition operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide), which can be done very quickly in a calculator or on a computer.

 

[CaptainADHD]

A concrete application is how calculators are able to calculate such functions as sin, cos, and so on. They don't actually add up the terms in an infinite series, but use a lookup table that has values computed from one kind of infinite series.

A series offers a way to calculate functions that would be very difficult to work with otherwise, using only ordinary addition operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide), which can be done very quickly in a calculator or on a computer.

Haha wow man, I never thought of that. They're like a doorway to the more complex functions. I also read that Newton used to use sequences and just integrate them at a point.

Thanks for the info