Inspired by Roopesh

Calculus Level 4

lim n P n 1 P n + 1 P n 2 \large \lim_{n\to\infty} \frac {P_{n-1} \ P_{n+1}}{P_n ^2}

Let P n P_n denote the product of all the numbers in the n th n^\text{th} row of the Pascal Triangle. What is the value of the limit above? Give your answer to 3 decimal places.


The answer is 2.7182818284590452353602874713527.

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1 solution

P n = k = 0 n ( n k ) P_{n} =\displaystyle \prod_{k=0}^{n}\binom{n}{k}

= k = 0 n n ! ( n k ) ! k ! = \displaystyle \prod_{k=0}^{n} \dfrac{n!}{(n-k)!\cdot k!}

= n ! n + 1 k = 0 n 1 k ! 2 = n!^{n+1} \displaystyle \prod_{k=0}^{n} \dfrac{1}{k!^{2}}

P n + 1 = ( n + 1 ) ! n + 2 k = 0 n + 1 1 k ! 2 \therefore P_{n+1} = (n+1)!^{n+2} \displaystyle \prod_{k=0}^{n+1} \dfrac{1}{k!^{2}}

P n + 1 P n = ( n + 1 ) n n ! , P n P n 1 = ( n ) n 1 ( n 1 ) ! \Rightarrow \dfrac{P_{n+1}}{P_{n}}=\dfrac{(n+1)^{n}}{n!} ,\dfrac{P_{n}}{P_{n-1}}=\dfrac{(n)^{n-1}}{(n-1)!}

Now the question asks for,

lim n P n 1 P n + 1 P n 2 \displaystyle \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \dfrac{P_{n-1}P_{n+1}}{P_{n}^{2}}

So we have ,

lim n P n 1 P n + 1 P n 2 = lim n ( n 1 ) ! ( n + 1 ) n n ! × n n 1 \displaystyle \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \dfrac{P_{n-1}P_{n+1}}{P_{n}^{2}} = \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \dfrac{(n-1)!(n+1)^{n}}{n!\times n^{n-1}}

= lim n ( n + 1 ) n n × n n 1 = \displaystyle \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \dfrac{(n+1)^{n}}{n\times n^{n-1}}

= lim n ( n + 1 n ) n =\displaystyle \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \left ( \dfrac{n+1}{n} \right )^{n}

= lim n ( 1 + 1 n ) n = \displaystyle \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \left ( 1 + \frac{1}{n} \right )^{n}

= e = e

Great solution!

Dylan Pentland - 6 years ago

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Thanks ¨ \ddot\smile

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Practice makes a man perfect @Azhaghu Roopesh M :P

Aditya Kumar - 6 years ago

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@Aditya Kumar Hehe , I see that the picture has been removed :P

How'd u get from the second to third line

Edit:

Nvm,

S t a n d i \dfrac{Stand}{i}

Trevor Arashiro - 6 years ago

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Product of ( n k ) ! (n-k)! = product of k ! k!

Aditya Kumar - 6 years ago

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How?? Could you please explain. I am new to this

Aayush Patni - 6 years ago

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@Aayush Patni k = 0 n k ! = 0 ! 1 ! 2 ! ( n 1 ) ! n ! = n ! ( n 1 ) ! 2 ! 1 ! 0 ! = ( n 0 ) ! ( n 1 ) ! ( n ( n 2 ) ) ! ( n ( n 1 ) ) ! ( n n ) ! = k = 0 n ( n k ) ! \begin{aligned}\prod_{k=0}^n k!&=0!\cdot 1!\cdot 2!\cdots (n-1)!\cdot n!\\&=n!\cdot (n-1)!\cdots 2!\cdot 1!\cdot 0!\\&=(n-0)!\cdot (n-1)!\cdots (n-(n-2))!\cdot (n-(n-1))!\cdot (n-n)!\\&=\prod_{k=0}^n (n-k)!\end{aligned}

There's an easy way to verify it if you write out both the products clearly. You'll see that all the terms of both the products are the same, but the terms in the second product are simply permuted (in a reversed order). Product of all the terms is an invariant (doesn't change on permutation of terms) which is why the two products are the same.

Prasun Biswas - 6 years ago

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@Prasun Biswas Lol , how did I miss this comment . Thanks for answering on my behalf Prasun :)

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@A Former Brilliant Member Haha, mention not. :D :)

Prasun Biswas - 6 years ago

@Prasun Biswas Thanks. Understood

Aayush Patni - 6 years ago

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