Euler, is that you?

Calculus Level 4

lim n e n k = 0 n n k k ! \large \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} e^{-n} \sum_{k = 0}^n \dfrac{n^k}{k!}

If N N is the value of the limit above, find the value of 1000 N . \lfloor 1000N \rfloor.


The answer is 500.

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1 solution

Steven Yuan
Feb 2, 2018

Let X X be a discrete random variable that follows the Poisson distribution with expected value n . n. We have

P ( X n ) = i = 0 n P ( X = i ) = i = 0 n e n n i i ! = e n i = 0 n n i i ! . \begin{aligned} P(X \leq n) &= \sum_{i = 0}^n P(X = i) \\ &= \sum_{i = 0}^n \dfrac{e^{-n}n^i}{i!} \\ &= e^{-n} \sum_{i = 0}^n \dfrac{n^i}{i!}. \end{aligned}

Thus, N = lim n P ( X n ) . N = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} P(X \leq n). As n n gets larger and larger, X X will approach a normal distribution, so lim n P ( X n ) \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} P(X \leq n) will just be equal to the fraction of the total area under a normal curve that is to the left of the mean. This is clearly equal to 1 2 , \dfrac{1}{2}, therefore N = 1 2 N = \dfrac{1}{2} and 1000 N = 1000 ( 1 2 ) = 500 . \lfloor 1000N \rfloor = \left \lfloor 1000 \left ( \dfrac{1}{2} \right ) \right \rfloor = \boxed{500}.

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