Questions tagged [sequences-and-series]
For questions concerning sequences and series. Typical questions concern, but are not limited to: identifying sequences, identifying terms, recurrence relations, $\epsilon-N$ proofs of convergence, convergence tests, finding closed forms for sums. For questions on finite sums, use the (summation) tag instead.
65,955
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Different ways to prove $\sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{1}{k^2}=\frac{\pi^2}{6}$ (the Basel problem)
As I have heard people did not trust Euler when he first discovered the formula (solution of the Basel problem)
$$\zeta(2)=\sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{1}{k^2}=\frac{\pi^2}{6}$$
However, Euler was Euler ...
452
votes
24
answers
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views
How can I evaluate $\sum_{n=0}^\infty(n+1)x^n$?
How can I evaluate
$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{2n}{3^{n+1}}$$?
I know the answer thanks to Wolfram Alpha, but I'm more concerned with how I can derive that answer. It cites tests to prove that it is ...
- 4,735
446
votes
10
answers
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My son's Sum of Some is beautiful! But what is the proof or explanation?
My youngest son is in $6$th grade. He likes to play with numbers. Today, he showed me his latest finding. I call it his "Sum of Some" because he adds up some selected numbers from a series of numbers, ...
- 3,441
268
votes
9
answers
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Evaluating $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} e^{-n} \sum\limits_{k=0}^{n} \frac{n^k}{k!}$
I'm supposed to calculate:
$$\lim_{n\to\infty} e^{-n} \sum_{k=0}^{n} \frac{n^k}{k!}$$
By using WolframAlpha, I might guess that the limit is $\frac{1}{2}$, which is a pretty interesting and nice ...
- 44.4k
246
votes
12
answers
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Is there an elementary proof that $\sum \limits_{k=1}^n \frac1k$ is never an integer?
If $n>1$ is an integer, then $\sum \limits_{k=1}^n \frac1k$ is not an integer.
If you know Bertrand's Postulate, then you know there must be a prime $p$ between $n/2$ and $n$, so $\frac 1p$ ...
- 4,640
235
votes
6
answers
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When can you switch the order of limits?
Suppose you have a double sequence $\displaystyle a_{nm}$. What are sufficient conditions for you to be able to say that $\displaystyle \lim_{n\to \infty}\,\lim_{m\to \infty}{a_{nm}} = \lim_{m\to \...
- 9,822
198
votes
8
answers
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Are there any series whose convergence is unknown?
Are there any infinite series about which we don't know whether it converges or not? Or are the convergence tests exhaustive, so that in the hands of a competent mathematician any series will ...
- 2,271
189
votes
10
answers
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Self-Contained Proof that $\sum\limits_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac1{n^p}$ Converges for $p > 1$
To prove the convergence of the p-series
$$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac1{n^p}$$
for $p > 1$, one typically appeals to either the Integral Test or the Cauchy Condensation Test.
I am wondering if ...
- 2,824
188
votes
28
answers
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Proving the identity $\sum_{k=1}^n {k^3} = \big(\sum_{k=1}^n k\big)^2$ without induction
I recently proved that
$$\sum_{k=1}^n k^3 = \left(\sum_{k=1}^n k \right)^2$$
using mathematical induction. I'm interested if there's an intuitive explanation, or even a combinatorial interpretation ...
- 5,897
183
votes
0
answers
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Sorting of prime gaps
Let $g_i$ be the $i^{th}$ prime gap $p_{i+1}-p_i.$
If we rearrange the sequence $ (g_{n,i})_{i=1}^n$ so that for any finite $n$, if the gaps are arranged from smallest to largest, we have a new ...
- 10.3k
177
votes
7
answers
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Proof of $\frac{1}{e^{\pi}+1}+\frac{3}{e^{3\pi}+1}+\frac{5}{e^{5\pi}+1}+\ldots=\frac{1}{24}$
I would like to prove that $\displaystyle\sum_{\substack{n=1\\n\text{ odd}}}^{\infty}\frac{n}{e^{n\pi}+1}=\frac1{24}$.
I found a solution by myself 10 hours after I posted it, here it is:
$$f(x)=\...
- 1,915
166
votes
26
answers
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Why does the series $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac1n$ not converge?
Can someone give a simple explanation as to why the harmonic series
$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac1n=\frac 1 1 + \frac 12 + \frac 13 + \cdots $$
doesn't converge, on the other hand it grows very slowly?...
- 9,805
160
votes
4
answers
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Sum of random decreasing numbers between 0 and 1: does it converge??
Let's define a sequence of numbers between 0 and 1. The first term, $r_1$ will be chosen uniformly randomly from $(0, 1)$, but now we iterate this process choosing $r_2$ from $(0, r_1)$, and so on, so ...
- 2,597
154
votes
14
answers
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Why does an argument similiar to 0.999...=1 show 999...=-1?
I accept that two numbers can have the same supremum depending on how you generate a decimal representation. So $2.4999\ldots = 2.5$ etc.
Can anyone point me to resources that would explain what the ...
- 1,605
153
votes
33
answers
88k
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Sum of First $n$ Squares Equals $\frac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6}$
I am just starting into calculus and I have a question about the following statement I encountered while learning about definite integrals:
$$\sum_{k=1}^n k^2 = \frac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6}$$
I really ...
- 1,883
144
votes
16
answers
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Proving an alternating Euler sum: $\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{k+1} H_k}{k} = \frac{1}{2} \zeta(2) - \frac{1}{2} \log^2 2$
Let $$A(p,q) = \sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{k+1}H^{(p)}_k}{k^q},$$
where $H^{(p)}_n = \sum_{i=1}^n i^{-p}$, the $n$th $p$-harmonic number. The $A(p,q)$'s are known as alternating Euler sums.
...
- 55.8k
144
votes
1
answer
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Identification of a curious function
During computation of some Shapley values (details below), I encountered the following function:
$$
f\left(\sum_{k \geq 0} 2^{-p_k}\right) = \sum_{k \geq 0} \frac{1}{(p_k+1)\binom{p_k}{k}},
$$
where $...
- 57.3k
141
votes
36
answers
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Proof that $1+2+3+4+\cdots+n = \frac{n\times(n+1)}2$
Why is $1+2+3+4+\ldots+n = \dfrac{n\times(n+1)}2$ $\space$ ?
- 1,585
135
votes
7
answers
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Values of $\sum_{n=0}^\infty x^n$ and $\sum_{n=0}^N x^n$
Why does the following hold:
\begin{equation*}
\displaystyle \sum\limits_{n=0}^{\infty} 0.7^n=\frac{1}{1-0.7} = 10/3\quad ?
\end{equation*}
Can we generalize the above to
$\displaystyle \sum_{n=...
123
votes
18
answers
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Nice proofs of $\zeta(4) = \frac{\pi^4}{90}$?
I know some nice ways to prove that $\zeta(2) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^2} = \pi^2/6$. For example, see Robin Chapman's list or the answers to the question "Different methods to compute $\sum_{...
- 55.8k
122
votes
4
answers
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Motivation for Ramanujan's mysterious $\pi$ formula
The following formula for $\pi$ was discovered by Ramanujan:
$$\frac1{\pi} = \frac{2\sqrt{2}}{9801} \sum_{k=0}^\infty \frac{(4k)!(1103+26390k)}{(k!)^4 396^{4k}}\!$$
Does anyone know how it works, or ...
- 19.1k
117
votes
1
answer
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Convergence of $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{\sin(n!)}{n}$
Is there a way to assess the convergence of the following series?
$$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{\sin(n!)}{n}$$
From numerical estimations it seems to be convergent but I don't know how to prove it.
- 1,859
115
votes
25
answers
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Can an infinite sum of irrational numbers be rational?
Let $S = \sum_ {k=1}^\infty a_k $ where each $a_k$ is positive and irrational.
Is it possible for $S$ to be rational, considering the additional restriction that none of the $a_k$'s is a linear ...
- 1,841
115
votes
5
answers
8k
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How to sum this series for $\pi/2$ directly?
The sum of the series
$$
\frac{\pi}{2}=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{k!}{(2k+1)!!}\tag{1}
$$
can be derived by accelerating the Gregory Series
$$
\frac{\pi}{4}=\sum_{k=0}^\infty\frac{(-1)^k}{2k+1}\tag{2}
...
- 348k
113
votes
16
answers
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If $(a_n)\subset[0,\infty)$ is non-increasing and $\sum_{n=1}^\infty a_n<\infty$, then $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}{n a_n} = 0$
I'm studying for qualifying exams and ran into this problem.
Show that if $\{a_n\}$ is a nonincreasing sequence of positive real
numbers such that $\sum_n a_n$ converges, then $\lim\limits_{n \...
- 4,666
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votes
6
answers
20k
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Why is a geometric progression called so? [duplicate]
Just curious about why geometric progression is called so. Is it related to geometry?
- 1,401
108
votes
3
answers
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How prove this nice limit $\lim\limits_{n\to\infty}\frac{a_{n}}{n}=\frac{12}{\log{432}}$
Nice problem:
Let $a_{0}=1$ and
$$a_{n}=a_{\left\lfloor n/2\right\rfloor}+a_{\left\lfloor n/3 \right\rfloor}+a_{\left\lfloor n/6\right\rfloor}.$$ Show that
$$\lim_{n\to\infty}\dfrac{a_{n}}{n}=\...
- 93.6k
104
votes
13
answers
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Limit of sequence in which each term is defined by the average of preceding two terms
We have a sequence of numbers $x_n$ determined by the equality
$$x_n = \frac{x_{n-1} + x_{n-2}}{2}$$
The first and zeroth term are $x_1$ and $x_0$.The following limit must be expressed in terms of $...
- 2,277
103
votes
4
answers
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A community project: prove (or disprove) that $\sum_{n\geq 1}\frac{\sin(2^n)}{n}$ is convergent
As the title says, I would like to launch a community project for
proving that the series $$\sum_{n\geq 1}\frac{\sin(2^n)}{n}$$ is
convergent.
An extensive list of considerations follows. The ...
- 355k
101
votes
1
answer
4k
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Arithmetic-geometric mean of 3 numbers
The arithmetic-geometric mean$^{[1]}$$\!^{[2]}$ of 2 numbers $a$ and $b$ is denoted $\operatorname{AGM}(a,b)$ and defined as follows:
$$\text{Let}\quad a_0=a,\quad b_0=b,\quad a_{n+1}=\frac{a_n+b_n}2,...
- 47.3k