# Alternating series variant of a convergent series

I'm trying to prove whether the following series is convergent, divergent, or that there is not enough info.

If the series ∑ an is convergent and has positive terms, what is the series below?

$$\sum{(-1)^na_n}$$

I know that the series a_n is absolutely convergent, so the alternating one should be convergent, but I"m not sure how to prove it. The limit of an as n goes to infinity is 0, so an should be decreasing eventually, so it should be convergent by the Alternating Series Test.

• Leibnitz theorem proves that – Snufsan May 20 '14 at 14:23
• Use $\Bigl|\sum_{n=k}^{k+m} (-1)^n a_n\Bigr|\le \sum_{n=k}^{k+m}|a_n|$. – David Mitra May 20 '14 at 14:26
• Thanks, David, that works! – ElectronicGeek May 20 '14 at 14:28

The general rule is that if $\sum|x_n|$ converges, then $\sum x_n$ converges. This is a simple application of that fact.
By the convergence of $\sum_0^\infty a_k$, the sequence $(s_n)$, where $s_n=\sum_0^n (-1)^k a_k$ is a Cauchy sequence.
Proof: If $m\lt n$, then $|s_n-s_m|\le a_{m+1}+\cdots +a_n$.