Like the title says!

One concrete example is geometric series (but only when each term is some fraction of the previous).

Here’s the formula that dictates the resultant finite sum:

\[\sum_{n=0}^\infty ar^n = \frac{a}{1-r}\]
  • \(a\) is known as your “starting” amount
  • \(r\) is the “multiple” (remember, in a geometric series, each term is some “multiple” of the previous term)
    • \(r\) must be less than 1 in order for this sum to be finite (i.e. this formula assumes r less than 1!)
    • so not all geometric series result in a finite sum, only ones with \(r\) less than one

That’s kinda cool!