eli5 how does the sum of infinite terms turns to be a finite value

Question

does this apply only for terms that are less than 1 eg 1 + 1/2 + 1/4…. or does this apply to all ap/gp. I remember studying this, but it’s been so long I remember only the gist.

In: 248

Answer 1

It sounds like you might be thinking of a mathematical concept called a “telescoping series” or a “telescoping sum.” In such a series, most of the terms cancel each other out, leaving only a finite number of terms to compute. This often leads to a simpler expression for the sum of an infinite series.

Here’s an example i found that’s not too advanced: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/calculus2/chapter/telescoping-series/

I would type it out but it would be harder to understand in non-math text