Wallis this?

m = 1 ( 2 m 1 ) ! ! ( 2 m ) ! ! ( 7 16 ) m \large \sum_{m=1}^\infty\dfrac{(2m-1)!!}{(2m)!!} \left(\dfrac{7}{16}\right)^m

If the value of the series above is equal to A 1 A^{-1} , find the value of A A .


Inspired by one of the problems here .


The answer is 3.

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1 solution

Jake Lai
Dec 18, 2015

We begin by simplifying the sum:

m = 1 ( 2 m 1 ) ! ! ( 2 m ) ! ! ( 7 16 ) m = m = 1 ( 2 m ) ! / [ m ! 2 m ] m ! 2 m ( 7 16 ) m = m = 1 ( 2 m m ) ( 7 64 ) m = 1 + m = 0 ( 2 m m ) ( 7 64 ) m . \begin{aligned} \sum_{m=1}^\infty \frac{(2m-1)!!}{(2m)!!} \left( \frac{7}{16} \right)^m &= \sum_{m=1}^\infty \frac{(2m)!/[m! 2^m]}{m! 2^m} \left( \frac{7}{16} \right)^m \\ &= \sum_{m=1}^\infty \binom{2m}{m} \left( \frac{7}{64} \right)^m \\ &= -1 + \sum_{m=0}^\infty \binom{2m}{m} \left( \frac{7}{64} \right)^m. \end{aligned}

Note that the generating function for ( 2 m m ) \dbinom{2m}{m} is m = 0 ( 2 m m ) x m = 1 1 4 x \displaystyle \sum_{m=0}^\infty \binom{2m}{m} x^m = \frac{1}{\sqrt{1-4x}} . Thus,

m = 0 ( 2 m m ) ( 7 64 ) m = 1 1 4 ( 7 / 64 ) = 4 3 . \sum_{m=0}^\infty \binom{2m}{m} \left( \frac{7}{64} \right)^m = \frac{1}{\sqrt{1-4(7/64)}} = \frac{4}{3}.

Therefore, m = 1 ( 2 m 1 ) ! ! ( 2 m ) ! ! ( 7 16 ) m = 1 + 4 3 = 1 3 \displaystyle \sum_{m=1}^\infty \frac{(2m-1)!!}{(2m)!!} \left( \frac{7}{16} \right)^m = -1+\frac{4}{3} = \boxed{\dfrac{1}{3}} .

OH NICE! I was thinking of Wallis formula (hence the title), 0 π / 2 sin n x d x = 0 π / 2 cos n x d x = ( n 1 ) ! ! n ! ! π 2 \displaystyle \int_0^{\pi /2} \sin^n x \, dx = \int_0^{\pi /2} \cos^n x \, dx = \dfrac{(n-1)!!}{n!!} \cdot \dfrac\pi 2 for positive even integer n n , but yours is clearly better!!

Pi Han Goh - 5 years, 5 months ago

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Hey, no problem! Your method totally works too!

Jake Lai - 5 years, 5 months ago

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