How much do I need?

Calculus Level 4

S = n = 1 1 n 2 , 1 0 5 × S = ? \large S = \displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac 1{^n 2} , \ \ \ \ \ \left \lfloor 10^5 \times S \right \rfloor = \ ?

Note that m n ^m n is the tetration function.


The answer is 81251.

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2 solutions

Prasun Biswas
May 3, 2015

I'll try to provide a sensible solution here:

It is obvious that the sum S S is bounded below by 0 0 and above by 1 1 because the sum must be positive since only positive terms are added. The upper bound is given by comparison.

0 < S < n = 1 1 2 n = 1 0\lt S\lt \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{2^n}=1

So, let's consider that the sum S S is of the form S = 0. a b c d e f g h S=\overline{0.abcdefgh\cdots} , where a , b , c , d , e , f , g , { 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , , 9 } a,b,c,d,e,f,g,\cdots\in\{0,1,2,3,\ldots,9\} . Then, we have,

1 0 5 × S = a b c d e . f g h = a b c d e \lfloor 10^5\times S\rfloor = \lfloor \overline{abcde.fgh\cdots}\rfloor=\overline{abcde}

We need to find a b c d e \overline{abcde} . Now, comes the calculator part. We test how many terms we need to get the correct result. From the above result, note that the insignificant terms that doesn't change our answer are of the order of magnitude ( 6 ) \leq (-6) since those terms only contribute to the fractional part of 1 0 5 S 10^5S and can never affect the integral part as subsequent terms rapidly decrease .

Hence, we use only those terms which are of the order of magnitude ( 5 ) \geq (-5) . Now, well, let's just say that the calculator works here more than you do.

The last term in the series that has order of magnitude ( 5 ) \geq (-5) is 1 4 2 \dfrac{1}{^42} .

This is because 1 5 2 < 1 4 2 × 2 \dfrac{1}{^52}\lt \dfrac{1}{^42\times 2} and the latter has order of magnitude ( 6 ) \leq (-6) .


So, it all boils down to this:

1 0 5 × S = 1 0 5 × n = 1 4 1 n 2 = 81251 \lfloor 10^5\times S\rfloor=\left\lfloor10^5\times \sum_{n=1}^4\frac{1}{^n2}\right\rfloor=81251

@Prasun Biswas , we really liked your comment, and have converted it into a solution. If you subscribe to this solution, you will receive notifications about future comments.

Brilliant Mathematics Staff - 6 years, 1 month ago
Joel Yip
May 3, 2015

Add up the first four terms because 1/2^65536 is very tiny

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Have I ever told you how epic you are?

Prasun Biswas - 6 years, 1 month ago

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Challenge Master Note: No. Can you elaborate on it? How did you reached that conclusion? Were you conducting an experiment? What are the parameters? What's the control variables? Sample size? Hypothesis?

Pi Han Goh - 6 years, 1 month ago

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@Pi Han Goh Simply by observing the specimen's activity for a couple of months did I conclude my result.

Seriously dude, the troll is strong with that comment. XD

People here seem to have lost their sense of humour. I don't get why anyone would downvote that comment of yours!

Prasun Biswas - 6 years, 1 month ago

To be precise: n 2 ^n2 are 2, 4, 16, 65536, and the next one is a number with 20,000 digits.

Akiva Weinberger - 6 years, 1 month ago

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