asymptotic expansion


asymptotic expansion

[ā‚sim′täd·ik ik′span·shən] (mathematics) A series of the form a0+ (a1/ x) + (a2/ x 2) + · · · + (an / xn) + · · · is an asymptotic expansion of the function f (x) if there exists a number N such that for all nN the quantity xn [f (x) -Sn (x)] approaches zero as x approaches infinity, where Sn (x) is the sum of the first n terms in the series. Also known as asymptotic series.