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Calculus Level 3

Evaluate

1 2 × 1 2 + 1 2 1 2 × 1 2 + 1 2 1 2 + 1 2 1 2 \sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2}}\times\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{2}\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2}}}\times\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{2}\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{2}\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2}}}}\cdots


The answer is 0.636.

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1 solution

U Z
Dec 21, 2014

c o s π 4 = 1 2 , π 4 = x cos\dfrac{\pi}{4} = \sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2}} , ~ \dfrac{\pi}{4} = x

1 2 + 1 2 1 2 = 1 + c o s x 2 = c o s x 2 \sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{2}\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2}}} = \sqrt{\dfrac{1 + cosx}{2}} = cos\dfrac{x}{2}

Similarly,

1 2 + 1 2 1 2 + 1 2 1 2 = c o s x 4 \sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{2}\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{2}\sqrt{\dfrac{1}{2}}}} = cos\dfrac{x}{4}

thus it becomes

P ( n ) = c o s x 2 n c o s x 2 n 1 . . . . c o s x P(n) = cos\dfrac{x}{2^{n}}cos\dfrac{x}{2^{n-1}}.... cos{x}

l i m n P ( x ) lim_{n \to \infty}P(x)

P ( n ) = 2 s i n x 2 n 1 c o s x 2 n 1 c o s x 2 n 2 . . . . . c o s x 2 2 s i n x 2 n 1 P(n) = \dfrac{2sin\dfrac{x}{2^{n-1}}cos\dfrac{x}{2^{n-1}}cos\dfrac{x}{2^{n-2}}..... cos\dfrac{x}{2}}{2sin\dfrac{x}{2^{n-1}}}

2 s i n x c o s x = s i n 2 x 2sinxcosx=sin2x

thus we get(multiplying and divivding by 2 n times and applying the above identity in each step)

l i m n P ( n ) = l i m n s i n 2 x 2 n s i n x 2 n 1 lim_{n \to \infty}P(n) = lim_{n \to \infty}\dfrac{sin2x}{2^{n}sin\dfrac{x}{2^{n-1}}}

l i m n P ( n ) = l i m n s i n x 2 n s i n x 2 n 1 x 2 n 1 × x 2 n 1 lim_{n \to \infty}P(n) = lim_{n \to \infty}\dfrac{sinx}{2^{n}\dfrac{sin\dfrac{x}{2^{n-1}}}{\dfrac{x}{2^{n - 1}}}\times\dfrac{x}{2^{n -1}}}

l i m n P ( n ) = s i n 2 x 2 x lim_{n \to \infty}P(n) = \dfrac{sin2x}{2x}

2 s i n π 2 π = 2 π \dfrac{2sin\dfrac{\pi}{2}}{\pi} = \dfrac{2}{\pi}

May I ask, can it be solve by using algebra? :)

Christian Daang - 6 years, 5 months ago

Nice problem and solution, Megh. This is a variation of a significant series known as Viète's formula , and was the first infinite (product) sequence found in Europe.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 5 months ago

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Thanks sir , I did'nt knew about that , but it's a jee practice problem!!

Sir can you try this one , I am trying it from past 10 days

Problem - Its geometry problem which is your favorite section

Thank you

U Z - 6 years, 5 months ago

By using algebra I'm getting 0.653

Calvin Lee - 6 years, 5 months ago

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Can you show your approach,

for inserting the image here( in case you don't know how to write in latex), then write in a notebook , take a photograph upload on internet on sites like postimage.org etc and copy the image link

and here write ! [Description or leave it blank] ( URL of the image) , Here don't leave any blank between the brackets

U Z - 6 years, 5 months ago

I did this numerically and got the equivalent of 2/pi. I took 200 nestings which was more than enough.

Ian Leslie - 2 years, 11 months ago

UZ, are there some typos in your solution? Third equation line from bottom - a missing 2 in sin(x). But more troubling for me is I don't see how you got the expression for P(n) just above where you wrote 2sinxcosx = sin2x. Since the expression ends with cos(x/2) you would have to multiply and divided by 2sin(x) so 2cos(x)sin(x) = sin(2x). This sin(2x) never cancels out as you indicate. Proceeding as you suggest, the last multiply and divide would be on the cos(x/2^n) factor, which would leave a sin(x/2^n) in the denominator, not sin(x/2^(n-1)). Further it seems that we must multiply and divide by 2, n+1 times not n times, since the exponent on 2 goes from zero to n. All of this means that where you have n-1 in the third line from the bottom equation, I think you should have n, and where you have n I think you should have n+1. The final result is the same.

I may have missed something obvious, but any clarification would be appreciated. I also know this problem is pretty old.

Ian Leslie - 2 years, 11 months ago

I used python to solve it and got a result of 0.6366197723675812, which is extremely close to 2/pi

Sanchit Sharma - 3 months, 4 weeks ago

1 pending report

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