If is a random real number between 0 and 1, what is the probability that is an even number?
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For ⌊ − ln x ⌋ to equal an even number 2 k (where k is an integer), then 2 k + 1 > − ln x ≥ 2 k − 2 k − 1 < ln x ≤ − 2 k e − 2 k − 1 < x ≤ e − 2 k Now, x must be between 0 and 1. When k = 0 , e − 1 < x ≤ 1 and as k → ∞ , e − 2 k − 1 → 0 , e − 2 k → 0 . Since all functions here are continuous and monotonically increasing or decreasing, we can conclude that all possible values of x between 0 and 1 are accounted for by all non-negative integer values of k (i.e. k = 0 , 1 , 2 , … ).
The size of the region for a certain value of k is the upper bound minus the lower bound, i.e. e − 2 k − e − 2 k − 1 . Therefore the sum of all the regions where ⌊ − ln x ⌋ is an even number is equal to k = 0 ∑ ∞ e − 2 k − e − 2 k − 1 = e 0 − e − 1 + e − 2 − e − 3 + e − 4 − e − 5 … = n = 0 ∑ ∞ ( − 1 ) n e − n = 1 − e − 1 1 = e + 1 e