A calculus problem by Christopher Boo

Calculus Level 1

True or False?

Let S = 1 1 1 2 + 1 3 1 4 + 1 5 1 6 + 1 2 S = 1 2 1 4 + 1 6 1 8 + . \begin{aligned} S &= \color{#3D99F6}{\frac{1}{1}} \color{#D61F06}{-\frac{1}{2}} \color{#3D99F6}{+\frac{1}{3}} \color{#20A900}{-\frac{1}{4}} \color{#3D99F6}{+\frac{1}{5}} {\color{#D61F06}{- \frac{1}{6}}} \color{#333333}+ \cdots \\ \Rightarrow \frac{1}{2}S &= \color{#D61F06}{\frac{1}{2}} \color{#20A900}{- \frac{1}{4}} \color{#D61F06}{+ \frac{1}{6}} \color{#20A900}{- \frac{1}{8}} \color{#333333}+ \cdots. \end{aligned} Adding the two equations and regrouping gives 3 2 S = ( 1 1 + 1 3 + 1 5 + ) 2 ( 1 4 + 1 8 + 1 12 + ) = 1 1 1 2 + 1 3 1 4 + = S S = 0. \begin{aligned} \frac{3}{2} S &= \color{#3D99F6}{\bigg ( \frac{1}{1} + \frac{1}{3} + \frac{1}{5} + \cdots \bigg )} - \color{#20A900}{2 \bigg ( \frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{8} + \frac{1}{12} + \cdots \bigg )} \\ &= \frac{1}{1} - \frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{3} - \frac{1}{4} + \cdots = S \\\\ \Rightarrow S &= 0. \end{aligned} Therefore, 1 1 1 2 + 1 3 1 4 + = 0. \frac{1}{1} - \frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{3} - \frac{1}{4} + \cdots = 0.

True False

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

3 solutions

Shriram Lokhande
May 22, 2017

The series is not absolutely convergent so rearranging it may change the value of the sum.

Marta Reece
May 25, 2017

( 1 1 1 2 ) + ( 1 3 1 4 ) + + ( 1 n 1 ( n + 1 ) ) + \left(\frac{1}{1} - \frac{1}{2}\right) + \left(\frac{1}{3} - \frac{1}{4}\right) + \cdots +\left(\frac{1}{n} - \frac{1}{(n+1)}\right) + \cdots

is a series of positive terms. It cannot, therefore, add up to a zero.

why do you think you can group it that way and not the other way around, eg second and third, forth and fifth,...

Le Anh - 2 years, 7 months ago

Log in to reply

I am with you man

Rong Zhou - 1 year, 2 months ago
Silvia Tamburini
Apr 16, 2018

This series can be written as a n = ( 1 ) n n a_n = \frac{(-1)^n}{n} . It converges: we can see that for example applying Leibniz's rule. However, the statement is wrong because this series is not absolutely convergent: a n = 1 n |a_n| = \frac{1}{n} diverges - I know, it's counter-intuitive, but it does. And there is a beautiful theorem (Riemann's theorem) which states that if you have a series that is convergent but not absolutely convergent, if you want to rearrange the terms (it's called a permutation), you can make them have any sum you like.

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...