Triple Reciprocal Factorial Sum

Algebra Level 5

3 1 ! + 2 ! + 3 ! + 4 2 ! + 3 ! + 4 ! + . . . . . . + 2012 2010 ! + 2011 ! + 2012 ! \dfrac{3}{1! + 2! + 3!} + \dfrac{4}{2! + 3! + 4!} + ...... + \dfrac{2012}{2010! + 2011! + 2012!}

If the above expression can be simplified to the form 1 a ! 1 b ! \dfrac{1}{a!} - \dfrac{1}{b!} for positive integers a , b a,b , what is the value of a + b a+b ?


The answer is 2014.

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3 solutions

Discussions for this problem are now closed

Pratik Shastri
Dec 12, 2014

Let the required sum be S S .

S = r = 1 2010 r + 2 r ! + ( r + 1 ) ! + ( r + 2 ) ! = r = 1 2010 r + 2 r ! ( 1 + r + 1 + ( r + 1 ) ( r + 2 ) ) = r = 1 2010 r + 2 r ! ( r 2 + 4 r + 4 ) = r = 1 2010 1 r ! ( r + 2 ) = r = 1 2010 r + 1 ( r + 2 ) ! = r = 1 2010 r + 2 1 ( r + 2 ) ! = r = 1 2010 1 ( r + 1 ) ! 1 ( r + 2 ) ! = 1 2 ! 1 2012 ! \begin{aligned}S&=\sum_{r=1}^{2010} \dfrac{r+2}{r!+(r+1)!+(r+2)!}\\&=\sum_{r=1}^{2010}\dfrac{r+2}{r!(1+r+1+(r+1)(r+2))}\\&=\sum_{r=1}^{2010}\dfrac{r+2}{r!(r^2+4r+4)}\\&=\sum_{r=1}^{2010}\dfrac{1}{r!(r+2)}\\&=\sum_{r=1}^{2010}\dfrac{r+1}{(r+2)!}\\&=\sum_{r=1}^{2010}\dfrac{r+2-1}{(r+2)!}\\&=\sum_{r=1}^{2010} \dfrac{1}{(r+1)!}-\dfrac{1}{(r+2)!}\\&=\boxed{\dfrac{1}{2!}-\dfrac{1}{2012!}}\end{aligned}

Therefore, our answer is 2014 \boxed{2014} .

Rasched Haidari
Dec 13, 2014

Every term in this sequence can be written as 1 ( x 1 ) ! 1 x ! \frac {1}{(x-1)!} - \frac {1}{x!} where x x denotes the numerator (number at the top) of the fraction. When writing out each term as the difference of two other terms you can see that all but two terms will cancel each other out. The two which won't cancel out are 1 2 ! \frac {1}{2!} and 1 2012 ! \frac {1}{2012!} . Hence the answer is 2 + 2012 = 2014 2+2012=2014 .

Loki Come
Dec 21, 2014

here is my solution :)

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