A tangled nest we weave

Calculus Level 5

S = π e π e π e π 8 7 6 5 4 3 \Large S = \displaystyle\sqrt{\pi \sqrt[3]{e \sqrt[4]{\pi \sqrt[5]{e \sqrt[6]{\pi \sqrt[7]{e \sqrt[8]{\pi \cdots}}}}}}}

Find the value of 1000 S \lfloor 1000*S \rfloor .

Clarification : The small numbers 3 , 4 , 5 , 3, 4,5,\ldots indicate the n th n^\text{th} roots and are not powers.


The answer is 2218.

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2 solutions

We can rewrite S S as

π 1 2 e 1 6 π 1 24 e 1 120 π 1 720 . . . . . . = π M e N \pi^{\frac{1}{2}} * e^{\frac{1}{6}} * \pi^{\frac{1}{24}} * e^{\frac{1}{120}} * \pi^{\frac{1}{720}} * ...... = \pi^{M} * e^{N}

where M = k = 1 1 ( 2 k ) ! = cosh ( 1 ) 1 M = \displaystyle\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \dfrac{1}{(2k)!} = \cosh(1) - 1 and

N = k = 1 1 ( 2 k + 1 ) ! = sinh ( 1 ) 1 N = \displaystyle\sum_{k=1}^{\infty} \dfrac{1}{(2k + 1)!} = \sinh(1) - 1 .

(See here for a discussion of the Taylor series for hyperbolic functions.)

Thus S = π cosh ( 1 ) 1 e sinh ( 1 ) 1 = 2.2186121..... S = \pi^{\cosh(1) - 1} * e^{\sinh(1) - 1} = 2.2186121..... , and so 1000 S = 2218 \lfloor 1000*S \rfloor = \boxed{2218} .

That was cool!

Krishna Sharma - 6 years, 7 months ago

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Thanks. I think this was the weirdest question I've posted so far. :)

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 7 months ago

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Waiting for more :D

Krishna Sharma - 6 years, 7 months ago

Damn ! Didn't notice that the powers of e started from 1/3 ; hence used sinh(1) instead of sinh(1)-1.

Keshav Tiwari - 6 years, 7 months ago

Argh, I used sinh ( 1 ) 1 -\sinh(1)-1 rather than sinh ( 1 ) 1 \sinh(1)-1 .

Jake Lai - 6 years, 6 months ago

great solution!

Mohnish Chakravarti - 6 years, 5 months ago

it is one of the best problems i've seen......fantastic problem

mudit bansal - 6 years, 5 months ago

@brian charlesworth it was wonderful example !!

Bhargav Upadhyay - 6 years, 4 months ago

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Thanks. This is one of my favorites of the questions I've posted. :)

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 4 months ago
Shiv Gupta
Nov 23, 2014

My solution may not be impressive for mathematicians but I used the given information to the best.

repeated exponentiation give u the general term as

S^(n!) = pi^(Sum(1/2n!)) * e^(Sum(1/(2n+1)!) //n from 1 to infinity

I couldn't find the hyperbolic function-equivalent for days then I looked at the answer we need here, 1000*S

and after n=7, 1/2n! etc won't affect the Sum much which means that for 1000*S value you can just calculate Powers of pi and e upto n=8. i.e., 1/2! + 1/4! +.... +1/16! , similarly for e, 1/3! + 1/5! + 1/7! ...+1/17!

and calculate the approximate answer.

And Bingo!! It worked :)

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