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Calculus Level 5

S = k = 1 80 1 k S \displaystyle =\sum_{k=1}^{80} \dfrac{1}{\sqrt{k}}

Find the value of S \lfloor S \rfloor .


You can try my other Sequences And Series problems by clicking here : Part II and here : Part I.


The answer is 16.

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2 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
May 17, 2015

We note that:

k = 2 80 1 k < 1 80 1 x d x < k = 1 80 1 k 1 2 × 1 1 1 2 × 1 80 S 1 1 < 1 80 1 x d x < S 80 + 1 2 80 S 1 < [ 2 x ] 1 80 < S 80 + 1 2 80 S 1 < 2 ( 80 1 ) < S 80 + 1 2 80 S 1 < 15.88854382 < S 0.555901699 16.44444552 < S < 16.88854382 S = 16 \displaystyle \sum_{k=\color{#D61F06}{2}}^{80} {\frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}} < \int_1^{80} {\frac{1}{\sqrt{x}}dx} < \sum_{k=\color{#3D99F6}{1}}^{80} {\frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}} - \frac{1}{2}\times \frac{1}{\sqrt{1}} - \frac{1}{2}\times \frac{1}{\sqrt{80}} \\ S - \frac{1}{\sqrt{1}} < \int_1^{80} {\frac{1}{\sqrt{x}}dx} < S - \frac {\sqrt{80}+1}{2\sqrt{80}}\\ S - 1 < \left[ 2\sqrt{x} \right]_1^{80} < S - \frac {\sqrt{80}+1}{2\sqrt{80}} \\ S - 1 < 2\left(\sqrt{80} - 1\right) < S - \frac {\sqrt{80}+1}{2\sqrt{80}}\\ S - 1 < 15.88854382 < S - 0.555901699 \\ 16.44444552 < S <16.88854382 \\ \Rightarrow \lfloor S \rfloor = \boxed{16}

can you please explain the first step?

Benny Joseph - 3 years, 1 month ago
Alfred Yerger
Apr 5, 2015

This isn't really a proper solution, but what I did to get close enough to get it was to approximate the value between "nice" points using a few different methods. For example, for every value between $k=9$ and $k=16$, the terms lie between $1/3$ and $1/4$. After trying with left, right and midpoint, and summing with a hand calculator, I found the answer to be 16, and this was correct. I am looking forward to seeing someone more creative than me find a more analytic solution though!

Not bad observation...upvoted!!

rajdeep brahma - 3 years, 2 months ago

What are the dollar signs supposed to mean?

Oli Hohman - 6 years, 2 months ago

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It is another way to express L a T e X LaTeX .

Siva Muthupalaniappan - 5 years, 10 months ago

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