Find the Unknown sum

Algebra Level 3

1 8 + 1 18 + 1 30 + 1 44 + 1 60 + 1 78 + 1 98 + = ? \frac{1}{8} + \frac{1}{18} + \frac{1}{30} + \frac{1}{44} + \frac{1}{60}+\frac{1}{78}+\frac{1}{98} + \cdots = \ ?

The problem may not be original.


The answer is 0.37040.

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1 solution

Chris Lewis
Nov 3, 2020

The n th n^\text{th} denominator is given by n ( n + 7 ) n(n+7) (this is easy to find by looking at their differences).

Since 1 n ( n + 7 ) = 1 7 n 1 7 ( n + 7 ) \frac{1}{n(n+7)}=\frac{1}{7n}-\frac{1}{7(n+7)}

the sum telescopes: n = 1 1 n ( n + 7 ) = n = 1 1 7 n n = 1 1 7 ( n + 7 ) = n = 1 1 7 n n = 8 1 7 n = n = 1 7 1 7 n = 363 980 \begin{aligned} \sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{n(n+7)}&=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{7n}-\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{7(n+7)} \\ &=\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{7n}-\sum_{n=8}^\infty \frac{1}{7n} \\ &=\sum_{n=1}^7 \frac{1}{7n} \\ &=\boxed{\frac{363}{980}}\end{aligned}

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