Open Access

Wolfram Koepf

• Formal Laurent-Puiseux series of the form \[ f(x)=\sum \limits_{k=k_0}^{\infty}a_{k}x^{k/n} \] are important in many branches of mathematics. Whereas {\sc Mathematica} supports the calculation of truncated series with its {\tt Series} command, and the {\sc Mathematica} package {\tt SymbolicSum} that is shipped with {\sc Mathematica} version 2 is able to convert formal series of the type mentioned above in some instances to their corresponding generating functions, in six publications of the author we developed an algorithmic procedure to do these conversions that is implemented by the author, A.\ Rennoch and G.\ Stölting in the {\sc Mathematica} package {\tt PowerSeries}. The implementation enables the user to reproduce most of the results of the extensive bibliography on series of Hansen, E.\ R.: A table of series and products. Prentice-Hall, 1975. Moreover a subalgorithm of its own significance generates differential equations satisfied by the input function.