Quantum Mechanics for

Scientists and Engineers

David Miller

Background mathematics 5
Sum, factorial and product notations

Summation notation
If we want to add a set of numbers a1, a2, a3,
and a4 , we can write
S a1 a2 a3 a4
or we can use summation notation
4

S aj
j 1

j 1,2,3,4

aj

If the range of j is obvious

S aj
Here j is an index

j 1,...,4

aj
plural of index
indexes
or
indices

Example arithmetic series

For a set of numbers spaced by a constant amount,
an arithmetic progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth number is an a1 n 1 d
e.g., the numbers 4, 7, 10, and 13
i.e., a1 4, a2 7 , a3 10 and a4 13
with, therefore d 3 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)

a1 a2 a3 a4 4 7 10 13 34

Example arithmetic series

For a set of numbers spaced by a constant amount,
an arithmetic progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth number is an a1 n 1 d
e.g., the numbers 4, 7, 10, and 13
i.e., a1 4, a2 7 , a3 10 and a4 13
with, therefore d 3 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)
4

j 1

j 1

a1 a2 a3 a4 a j a1 j 1 d

Example arithmetic series

For a set of numbers spaced by a constant amount,
an arithmetic progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth number is an a1 n 1 d
e.g., the numbers 4, 7, 10, and 13
i.e., a1 4, a2 7 , a3 10 and a4 13
with, therefore d 3 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)
m
a1 a4

a1 a2 a3 a4 a1 j 1 d m
2
j 1

Example arithmetic series

For a set of numbers spaced by a constant amount,
an arithmetic progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth number is an a1 n 1 d
e.g., the numbers 4, 7, 10, and 13
i.e., a1 4, a2 7 , a3 10 and a4 13
with, therefore d 3 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)
m
a1 am
4 13

a1 a2 a3 a4 a1 j 1 d m
4
34
2
2
j 1

Example geometric series

With a constant ratio between successive terms,
a geometric progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth term is an a1r n1
e.g., the numbers 3, 6, 12, and 24
i.e., a1 3, a2 6, a3 12 and a4 24
with, therefore r 2 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)

a1 a2 a3 a4 3 6 12 24 45

Example geometric series

With a constant ratio between successive terms,
a geometric progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth term is an a1r n1
e.g., the numbers 3, 6, 12, and 24
i.e., a1 3, a2 6, a3 12 and a4 24
with, therefore r 2 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)
4

j 1

j 1

a1 a2 a3 a4 a j a1r j 1

Example geometric series

With a constant ratio between successive terms,
a geometric progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth term is an a1r n1
e.g., the numbers 3, 6, 12, and 24
i.e., a1 3, a2 6, a3 12 and a4 24
with, therefore r 2 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)
4

j 1

j 1

a1 a2 a3 a4 a j a1r

j 1

1 rm
a1
1 r

Example geometric series

With a constant ratio between successive terms,
a geometric progression or sequence
i.e., where the nth term is an a1r n1
e.g., the numbers 3, 6, 12, and 24
i.e., a1 3, a2 6, a3 12 and a4 24
with, therefore r 2 and m 4 terms in the
progression
gives the series (sum of the terms)
4

j 1

j 1

a1 a2 a3 a4 a j a1r

j 1

1 rm
1 16
a1
3
3 15 45
1 r
1 2

Summation over multiple indexes

We can extend the summation notation
Suppose we have two lists of numbers
a1, a2, a3, a4 and b1, b2, b3
and we want to add up all the products

R a1b1 a1b2 a1b3

a2b1 a2b2 a2b3
a3b1 a3b2 a3b3
a4b1 a4b2 a4b3

Summation over multiple indexes

Then we can write

R a1b1 a1b2 a1b3

a2b1 a2b2 a2b3

a j bk
j 1 k 1

a3b1 a3b2 a3b3

a4b1 a4b2 a4b3
and, because order of addition does not matter
in various equivalent notations
4

R a j bk a j bk a j bk j ,k a j bk
j 1 k 1

k 1 j 1

j ,k

Factorial notation
Quite often, we need a convenient way of
writing the product of successive integers
e.g., 1 2 3 4
We can write this as
1 2 3 4 4!
called four factorial
and using the exclamation point !
The notation is obvious for most other cases
Note, though, that we choose
0! 1

Product notation
Generally, when we want to write the product
of various successive terms
a1 a2 a3 a4
by analogy with the summation notation
we can use the product notation
4

a1 a2 a3 a4 a j
j 1

For example, for all integers n 1

n

n! p
p 1

Background mathematics 5
Power series

Analytic functions and power series

For a very broad class of the functions in physics
we presume they are analytic
(except possibly at some singularities)
i.e., at least for some range of values of the
argument x near some point xo
the function f x can be arbitrarily well
The ellipsis
approximated by a power series
means we
i.e., with xo = 0 for simplicity we have
omit writing
2
3
f
x

a
x

a
x

a
x

o
1
2
3
some terms
which may be an infinite series
explicitly

Analytic functions and power series

For a very broad class of the functions in physics
we presume they are analytic
(except possibly at some singularities)
i.e., at least for some range of values of the
argument x near some point xo
the function f x can be arbitrarily well
approximated by a power series
i.e., generally

f x ao a1 x xo a2 x xo a3 x xo
2

Maclaurin series
Taking the simplest case of xo = 0 first
f x ao a1 x a2 x 2 a3 x 3
Obviously at x = 0
f 0 ao so, trivially, ao f 0
Now,
df

f x
a1 2a2 x 3a3 x 2
dx
so
df

f 0
a1
dx 0

Maclaurin series
Continuing
so

d2 f
f x 2 2a2 3 2 a3 x 2! a2 3! a3 x
dx
d2 f
f 0 2
dx

and

d3 f
f 0 3
dx

and so on

2!a2
0

3!a3
0

Maclaurin and Taylor series

Continuing gives the Maclaurin series
x df
x2 d 2 f
xn d n f
f x f 0

2
n ! dx n
1! dx 0 2! dx 0

Repeating the same procedure around x xo with

2
3
f x ao a1 x xo a2 x xo a3 x xo
f x
f xo

gives the Taylor series

x xo df
1!

dx

xo

x xo
2!

d f
dx 2

xo

x xo
n!

dn f
dx n

xo

Example power series expansions

1
1 x x 2 x3
1 x
x 2 x3
exp x 1 x
2! 3!
x2 x4
cos x 1
2! 4!
x3 x5
sin x x
3! 5!

Power series for approximations

Maclaurin and Taylor series allow approximations
for small ranges of the argument about a point
Examples for small x
Approximations to first order in x
1/ 1 x 1 x
exp x 1 x
sin x x
1 x 1 x / 2

ln 1 x x

tan x x

Note lowest order dependence on x for cos x

is second order
cos x 1 x 2 / 2