Alternating series test (Leibniz's test)
Criterio de Leibniz
- Date
- c. 1705 · confidence low
- Place
- Hanover, Germany
- Credited to
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
A convergence test for alternating series: if the absolute value of its terms decreases monotonically to zero, the series converges. It is a sufficient but not necessary condition.
The exact date of formulation is not well documented; it falls within Leibniz's later mathematical work.
What it led to
- Practical tools to estimate the error of truncated series
- A basis for later tests such as Dirichlet's test