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Calculate $ \biggr\lfloor \frac{1}{4^{\frac{1}{3}}} + \frac{1}{5^{\frac{1}{3}}} + \frac{1}{6^{\frac{1}{3}}} + ... + \frac{1}{1000000^{\frac{1}{3}}} \biggr\rfloor$

I am just clueless. I just have some random thoughts. I can find the sum of this series and then put in the value $1000000$ and then find the floor of that. To do this, I would have to telescope this series which seems impossible to me. But is there any other way to directly find the floor without finding the general sum?

I am very new to calculus, so please provide hints and answers that dio not involve calculus.

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  • $\begingroup$ Euler-Maclaurin? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 9, 2018 at 18:56
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    $\begingroup$ Since $\frac{1}{\sqrt[3]{x}}$ is approximately constant on short intervals of $[3,+\infty)$, the inner sum is expected to be pretty close to... which integral? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 9, 2018 at 18:56
  • $\begingroup$ @LordSharktheUnknown What is it sir? $\endgroup$
    – ami_ba
    Commented Sep 9, 2018 at 19:11
  • $\begingroup$ @ami_ba I see now the editing, really you are requested to solve without calculus? $\endgroup$
    – user
    Commented Sep 9, 2018 at 19:51
  • $\begingroup$ I will be grateful to anyone who provides me any hint for a completely pre calculus solution $\endgroup$
    – ami_ba
    Commented Sep 10, 2018 at 5:58

2 Answers 2

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Following tha suggesion given by Jack D'Aurizio in the comments, by integral bounding we have that

$$14996.23\approx\int_4^{1\,000\,001}\frac1{x^{1/3}}dx\le\sum_{k=4}^{1\,000\,000} \frac1{k^{1/3}}\le\int_4^{1\,000\,001}\frac1{(x-1)^{1/3}}dx\approx14996.88$$

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Since $(x^a)' = ax^{a-1}$, $a\int_n^{n+1} x^{a-1}dx =(n+1)^a-n^a $.

Therefore

$\begin{array}\\ v^a-u^a &=\sum_{n=u}^{v-1}((n+1)^a-n^a)\\ &=\sum_{n=u}^{v-1}a\int_n^{n+1} x^{a-1}dx\\ \end{array} $

If $a > 1$, since $x^{a-1}$ is increasing, $n^{a-1} \lt \int_n^{n+1} x^{a-1}dx \lt (n+1)^{a-1} $.

If $a < 1$, since $x^{a-1}$ is decreasing, $n^{a-1} \gt \int_n^{n+1} x^{a-1}dx \gt (n+1)^{a-1} $.

In this case, $a-1 = -1/3 < 0$. Therefore $v^a-u^a =\sum_{n=u}^{v-1}a\int_n^{n+1} x^{a-1}dx \lt \sum_{n=u}^{v-1}an^{a-1} $ so $\sum_{n=u}^{v-1}n^{a-1} \gt \frac1{a}(v^a-u^a) $.

Similarly, $v^a-u^a =\sum_{n=u}^{v-1}a\int_n^{n+1} x^{a-1}dx \gt \sum_{n=u}^{v-1}a(n+1)^{a-1} = a\sum_{n=u+1}^{v}n^{a-1} = a\sum_{n=u}^{v-1}n^{a-1}-a(u^{a-1}-v^{a-1}) $ so $\sum_{n=u}^{v-1}n^{a-1} \lt \frac1{a}((v-1)^a-u^a)+(u^{a-1}-v^{a-1}) $.

The reverse inequalities hold if $a > 1$.

In this case, $a-1=-1/3, a = 2/3, v=10^6+1, u=4$, so, if $s = \sum_{n=u}^{v-1}n^{a-1}$, then $s \gt \frac1{2/3}((10^6)^{2/3}-4^{2/3}) \gt \frac32(10^4-2.519...) \approx 14996.220 $ and $s \lt \frac1{2/3}((10^6)^{2/3}-4^{2/3})+(4^{-1/3}-(10^6)^{-1/3}) \approx 14996.220+0.619 = 14996.839 $

so $\lfloor s \rfloor =14996 $.

If the lower and upper bounds surrounded an integer, I would manually compute the first few terms until the bounds for the remaining terms are close enough that the floor is determined.

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