# Change in behaviour of Series from 11.1

In 11.0,

Series[(1 - Sqrt[1-4z])/2, {z, 1/4, 1}]


gives

1/2 - I Sqrt[z-1/4] + O[z-1/4]^(3/2)


as one would expect. From 11.1 (and still in 11.3), the output is

(1/2 - 1/2 Sqrt[1-4z]) + O[z-1/4]^2


Even worse,

SeriesCoefficient[(1 - Sqrt[1-4z])/2, {z, 1/4, 0}]


now returns 1/2 - 1/2 Sqrt[1-4z] which is nonsense, rather than the correct answer of 1/2. Similarly,

SeriesCoefficient[(1 - Sqrt[1-4z])/2, {z, 1/4, 1/2}]


now gives 0 rather than -I.

This is presumably related to this, but is not yet fixed and seems like a more fundamental failure in the handling of Puiseux series to me.

This has broken a lot of code I regularly use.

• Getting Series to behave at branch points has been something of a challenge. The issues indicated here have been addressed, although obviously not in time for version 11.3. My apologies for any inconveniences this may have caused. – Daniel Lichtblau Apr 23 '18 at 15:59
• This appears to be a relative of the issue from here and others linked to in a comment there. – Daniel Lichtblau Apr 23 '18 at 16:01
• @DanielLichtblau: Thanks for the update; glad to know a fix is on its way; I'll keep using 11.0 until 11.4 appears. – David Bevan Apr 23 '18 at 17:47