An infinite sum

Algebra Level 3

Evaluate

n = 0 n n 4 + n 2 + 1 . \sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\frac{n}{n^4+n^2+1}.

Note : Refrain from using Wolfram Alpha to solve this problem.


The answer is 0.5.

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2 solutions

Pratik Shastri
May 29, 2014

n n 4 + n 2 + 1 \dfrac{n}{n^4+n^2+1} can be factorized as n ( n 2 + n + 1 ) ( n 2 n + 1 ) = 1 / 2 n 2 n + 1 1 / 2 n 2 + n + 1 \dfrac{n}{(n^2+n+1)(n^2-n+1)}=\dfrac{1/2}{n^2-n+1}-\dfrac{1/2}{n^2+n+1}

We assume that a n = 1 / 2 n 2 n + 1 a_n=\dfrac{1/2}{n^2-n+1}

So, a n + 1 = 1 / 2 n 2 + n + 1 a_{n+1}=\dfrac{1/2}{n^2+n+1}

Hence,

S N = n = 0 N n n 4 + n 2 + 1 = n = 0 N ( a n a n + 1 ) S_N=\displaystyle\sum_{n=0}^N \dfrac{n}{n^4+n^2+1}=\displaystyle\sum_{n=0}^N (a_n-a_{n+1})

= ( a 0 a 1 ) + ( a 1 a 2 ) + . . . . + ( a N a N + 1 ) = a 0 a N + 1 =(a_0-a_1)+(a_1-a_2)+....+(a_N-a_{N+1})=a_0-a_{N+1}

= 1 2 N N 2 + N + 1 =\dfrac{1}{2}-\dfrac{N}{N^2+N+1}

Finally, N N \rightarrow \infty

S = 1 2 S_{\infty}=\boxed {\dfrac{1}{2}}

Done this way.For ones who are curious about this method..this is the telescopic method.It's a great way to do trigonometry summation and sequence and series problems!

pranav jangir - 7 years ago

how to factorize it?

yee cheng - 7 years ago

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n 4 + n 2 + 1 n^4+n^2+1

= n 4 + 2 n 2 n 2 + 1 =n^4+2n^2-n^2+1

= n 4 + 2 n 2 ( n 2 1 ) =n^4+2n^2-(n^2-1)

= n 4 + 2 n 2 ( n + 1 ) ( n 1 ) =n^4+2n^2-(n+1)(n-1)

= n 4 + ( n + 1 ) n 2 ( n 1 ) n 2 ( n + 1 ) ( n 1 ) =n^4+(n+1)n^2-(n-1)n^2-(n+1)(n-1)

= n 2 ( n 2 + n + 1 ) ( n 1 ) ( n 2 + n + 1 ) =n^2(n^2+n+1)-(n-1)(n^2+n+1)

= ( n 2 + n + 1 ) ( n 2 n + 1 ) =(n^2+n+1)(n^2-n+1)

Pratik Shastri - 7 years ago

Exactly same way.

Kushagra Sahni - 5 years, 9 months ago
Robbie King
May 30, 2014

this is no proof, but:

the first few terms of the sequence are 1/3 , 2/21 , 3/91 , 4/273 ...

if we take the "cumulative sequence" of the sequence above, we get:

1/3 , (1/3 + 2/21) , (1/3 + 2/21 + 3/91), (1/3 + 2/21 + 3/91 + 4/273) ... = 1/3 , 3/7 , 6/13 , 10/21 ...

This sequence is the triangle numbers (formula n(n+1)/2) divided by the sequence n^2+n+1

The formula for this sequence is therefore n(n+1)/2(n^2+n+1) = (n^2+n)/(2n^2+2n+1)

The limit of this function (which is the answer) is 1/2, as this is the ratio between the coefficients of the dominant terms

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