An unusual limit of lengths of intervals

Calculus Level 5

For a positive integer n n , let S n S_n be the total sum of the intervals of x x such that sin 4 n x sin x \sin 4n x\geq \sin x , and 0 x π 2 . 0\leq x\leq \frac{\pi}{2}.

If lim n S n = a π b , \displaystyle \lim_{n\to\infty} S_n= \frac{a \pi }{b}, where a , b a,b are coprime integers. Find a + b a+b .


The answer is 9.

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1 solution

Let's consider what is going on when n is already large, this way we will get the idea towards the solution.

If n is big, sin ( 4 n x ) \displaystyle \sin(4nx) oscillates very frequently and 1 interval is π 2 n \displaystyle \dfrac{\pi}{2n} which is very small in the limit n tends to infinity. More precisely, the variation of sin ( x ) \displaystyle \sin(x) function is of order 1 n \displaystyle \dfrac{1}{n} across this 1 cycle interval. So, we can regard this as a constant.

Now, if A is a positive constant, the length of interval of sin ( x ) \displaystyle \sin(x) such that the function lies above the level A is π 2 arcsin ( A ) \displaystyle \pi-2\arcsin(A)

In our case, we split [ 0 , π / 2 ] \displaystyle [0,\pi/2] into n intervals of equal length equals to π 2 n \displaystyle \dfrac{\pi}{2n} , so, the sum of all intervals satisfy the condition is then Σ m = 0 n 1 1 4 n ( π 2 arcsin ( sin ( m π 2 n ) ) ) \displaystyle \Sigma_{m=0}^{n-1} \dfrac{1}{4n}(\pi-2\arcsin(\sin(\dfrac{m\pi}{2n})) ) .

We can sum these explicitly, we get π 4 ( 1 n + 1 2 n ) \displaystyle \dfrac{\pi}{4}( 1-\dfrac{n+1}{2n}) in the limit n tends to infinity, we get S n = π 8 \displaystyle S_{n}=\dfrac{\pi}{8} , so 1 + 8 = 9 1+8=\boxed{9}

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