P = n = 1 ∏ ∞ ⌊ n ! e − 1 ⌋ ⌊ n ! e ⌋
What is ln ( P ) ?
Notation : ⌊ ⋅ ⌋ denotes the floor function .
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This is a really beautiful and well written solution imo :)
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Nice problem. Glad that you like the solution. When was the problem posted?
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I think it must be about 3 or 4 years ago now. This is the first contact I’ve had with brilliant in a long time. I should probably interact more.
I started out like Cde Cheong but took a different turn after his third line.
P N = ∏ n = 1 N ∑ k = 0 n k ! n ! − 1 ∑ k = 0 n k ! n ! = ∏ n = 1 N ∑ k = 0 n − 1 k ! n ! ∑ k = 0 n k ! n ! = ∏ n = 1 N ∑ k = 0 n − 1 k ! 1 ∑ k = 0 n k ! 1 = ∑ k = 0 N k ! 1 . In the last equation, we make use of a telescoping product.
Now P = lim N → ∞ P N = e and ln ( P ) = 1
Oh this is really nice :)
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P = n = 1 ∏ ∞ ⌊ n ! e − 1 ⌋ ⌊ n ! e ⌋ = n = 1 ∏ ∞ ⌊ n ! ∑ k = 0 ∞ k ! 1 − 1 ⌋ ⌊ n ! ∑ k = 0 ∞ k ! 1 ⌋ = n = 1 ∏ ∞ ∑ k = 0 n k ! n ! − 1 ∑ k = 0 n k ! n ! = n = 1 ∏ ∞ ( 1 + ∑ k = 0 n k ! n ! − 1 1 ) = n = 1 ∏ ∞ ( 1 + ∑ k = 0 n − 1 k ! n ! 1 ) = n = 1 ∏ ∞ ( 1 + a n 1 ) = e By Maclaurin series Since a n = k = 0 ∑ n − 1 k ! n ! satisfies a n = n ( a n − 1 + 1 ) See note below,
Therefore ln P = 1 .
Note: If a n satisfies the recurrent relation a n = n ( a n − 1 + 1 ) and a 1 = a − 1 , then n = 1 ∏ ∞ ( 1 + a n − 1 ) = e . See reference (equations (24) and (25)) . Now let us check if a n = k = 0 ∑ n − 1 k ! n ! satisfies the recurrent relation.
For n = 1 , a 1 = k = 0 ∑ 1 − 1 k ! n ! = 0 ! 1 ! = 1 and n = 2 , a 2 = 0 ! 2 ! + 1 ! 2 ! = 4 = 2 ( a 1 + 1 ) so the claim is true for n = 2 . Assuming the claim is true for n , then a n + 1 = k = 0 ∑ n k ! ( n + 1 ) ! = ( n + 1 ) k = 0 ∑ n − 1 k ! n ! + ( n + 1 ) n ! n ! = ( n + 1 ) ( a n + 1 ) . Therefore, the claim is also true for n + 1 and hence true for all n ≥ 1 .