Lesson plan
Gosper's algorithm
In mathematics, Gosper's algorithm, due to Bill Gosper, is a procedure for finding sums of hypergeometric terms that are themselves hypergeometric terms. That is: suppose one has a(1) + ... + a(n) = S(n) − S(0), where S(n) is a hypergeometric term (i.e., S(n + 1)/S(n) is a rational function of n); then necessarily a(n) is itself a hypergeometric term, and given the formula for a(n) Gosper's algorithm finds that for S(n).
Article summary
In mathematics, Gosper's algorithm, due to Bill Gosper, is a procedure for finding sums of hypergeometric terms that are themselves hypergeometric terms. That is: suppose one has a(1) + ... + a(n) = S(n) − S(0), where S(n) is a hypergeometric term (i.e., S(n + 1)/S(n) is a rational function of n); then necessarily a(n) is itself a hypergeometric term, and given the formula for a(n) Gosper's algorithm finds that for S(n).
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Discussion questions
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