How to find infinite sum How to find infinite sum $$1+\dfrac13+\dfrac{1\cdot3}{3\cdot6}+\dfrac{1\cdot3\cdot5}{3\cdot6\cdot9}+\dfrac{1\cdot3\cdot5\cdot7}{3\cdot6\cdot9\cdot12}+\dots? $$
I can see that 3 cancels out after 1/3, but what next? I can't go further.
Best Answer
As the denominator of the $n$th term $T_n$ is $\displaystyle3\cdot6\cdot9\cdot12\cdots(3n)=3^n \cdot n!$
(Setting the first term to be $T_0=1$)
and the numerator of $n$th term is $\displaystyle1\cdot3\cdot5\cdots(2n-1)$ which is a product of $n$th terms of an Arithmetic Series with common difference $=2,$
we can write $\displaystyle1\cdot3\cdot5\cdots(2n-1)=-\frac12\cdot\left(-\frac12-1\right)\cdots\left(-\frac12-{n+1}\right)\cdot(-2^n)$
which suitably resembles the numerator of Generalized binomial coefficients
$$\implies T_n=\frac{-\frac12\cdot\left(-\frac12-1\right) \cdots\left(-\frac12-{n+1}\right)}{n!}\left(-\frac23\right)^n$$
So, here $\displaystyle z=-\frac23,\alpha=-\frac12$ in $\displaystyle(1+z)^\alpha$