The square root of the square root of the square root...

Calculus Level 1

Evaluate:

2015 \Large{\sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{\ldots \sqrt{\color{#3D99F6}{2015}}}}}}

Details:

  • There are infinitely many square roots on the 2015. \displaystyle \color{#3D99F6}{2015}.


The answer is 1.

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6 solutions

You should know that:

2015 = 201 5 1 2 \Large{\sqrt{2015}=2015^{\frac{1}{2}}}

Then:

2015 \Large{\sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{\ldots 2015}}}}}

= 201 5 ( 1 2 × 1 2 × 1 2 × 1 2 ) \Large{=2015^{(\frac{1}{2} \times \frac{1}{2} \times\frac{1}{2} \times\frac{1}{2} \ldots)}}

= 201 5 1 = 201 5 0 = 1 \Large{= 2015^{\frac{1}{\infty}}=2015^0=\boxed{1}}

thanks for the awesome explanation !! :D

Harsh Manghnani - 5 years, 9 months ago

nice solution

Turbulent Payel - 5 years, 7 months ago

Nice Solution

Mohsiin Khan Qumbhar - 5 years, 9 months ago

Very good and simple solution.......

Debmalya Mitra - 5 years, 9 months ago

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Nice, never thought about it however I did as Sir Chew-Seong Cheong did.

Syed Baqir - 5 years, 9 months ago

what if the number of square roots are odd in number

Varun Raj - 5 years, 9 months ago

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It doesn't matter.Infinity is neither odd nor even

Mehul Arora - 5 years, 9 months ago

1/infinity is not 0. It tends to zero. So it is not correct.

Aditya Agarwal - 5 years, 9 months ago

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just as 2 * 2 * 2 * ... * 2 is not infinity

João Ítalo Andrade Alves - 5 years, 9 months ago
Chew-Seong Cheong
Aug 30, 2015

We note that when x > 1 x > 1 , we note that: x > 1 x > 1 x > 1 . . . . . . x = 1 x > 1 \quad \Rightarrow \sqrt{x} > \sqrt{1} \quad \Rightarrow \sqrt{\sqrt{x}} > \sqrt{\sqrt{1}} \quad \Rightarrow ... \quad \Rightarrow \sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{...\sqrt {x}}}} = 1

When x < 1 x<1 , then . . . x = 0 \sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{...\sqrt {x}}}} = 0

It can also be shown by letting y = . . . x y = \sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{...x}}}} , then be have:

y = . . . x y 2 = . . . x y 2 = y y = { 0 for x < 0 1 for x 1 \begin{aligned} y & = \sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{...x}}}} \\ y^2 & = \sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{...x}}}} \\ \Rightarrow y^2 & = y \\ \Rightarrow y & = \begin{cases} 0 & \text{for } x < 0 \\ 1 & \text{for } x \ge 1 \end{cases} \end{aligned}

You have to specify that for x not = 0 , then y = 1..

Razik Ridzuan - 5 years, 9 months ago

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Yes, you are right.

Chew-Seong Cheong - 5 years, 9 months ago

if y^​2=y then how is y=1 ..?

Harsh Manghnani - 5 years, 9 months ago

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Y^2 means Y*Y=Y cancel out one Y

waleed karori - 5 years, 9 months ago

y^2-y=0 has two solutions. y=0 or y=1. How did you eliminate the other one.

Aditya Agarwal - 5 years, 9 months ago

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he said that x > 0

João Ítalo Andrade Alves - 5 years, 9 months ago

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How would he prove that for x > 0 x>0 , y > 0 y>0 ?

Aditya Agarwal - 5 years, 9 months ago

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@Aditya Agarwal no need of the condition since square root can never be negative

ishan pradhan - 5 years, 8 months ago

I have the same view, they should have given the condition that the answer is > 0...

Prateek Kaushik - 5 years, 9 months ago

Actually, we started with x = 2015 x=2015 . Then 0 < 2015 < 2015 0 < \sqrt{2015} < 2015 , 0 < 2015 < 2015 0 < \sqrt{\sqrt{2015}} < \sqrt{2015} , 0 < 2015 < 2015 0 < \sqrt{\sqrt{\sqrt{2015}}} < \sqrt{\sqrt{2015}} , .... 0 < y 0 < y .

Chew-Seong Cheong - 5 years, 9 months ago

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The explanation is not convincing. Consider the sequence { 1 n } , n 1 \{\frac{1}{n}\},n\geq 1 . Each of the term of this sequence is strictly greater than zero. However the limit is zero.

Abhishek Sinha - 5 years, 9 months ago

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@Abhishek Sinha You are right. x x must be 1 \ge 1 . Thanks, I will change the solution,

Chew-Seong Cheong - 5 years, 9 months ago

Formally, This problem is asking the following : Consider a sequence { x n } , n 1 \{x_n\},n\geq 1 , defined by x n + 1 = x n , x 1 = 2015 x_{n+1}=\sqrt{x_n}, x_1=2015 Find lim x n \lim x_n So, you have to first prove that the limit indeed exists. How do you show it ? Hint : Use Banach's fixed point theorem on an appropriate subset of R \mathbb{R} .

Abhishek Sinha - 5 years, 9 months ago

Or either: y 2 = y y 2 y = 0 y^2=y \Leftrightarrow y^2-y=0 y ( y 1 ) = 0 \Leftrightarrow y \cdot ( y-1)=0 y = 0 or y = 1 \Leftrightarrow y=0 \text{ or } y=1

For x 0 x \geq 0 !

Cleres Cupertino - 5 years, 9 months ago
Gian Sanjaya
Aug 29, 2015

This is equal to lim n x 2 n \lim_{n\to\infty}x^{2^{-n}} . Since lim n 2 n = 0 \lim_{n\to\infty}2^{-n}=0 , then for all x R + x \in R^{+} , the expression equals x 0 = 1 x^0=1 . Note that N R + N \subseteq R^{+} .

Shravan Kumar
Sep 9, 2015

Square root reduces the value and here we have infinite square roots. The least value of a number when you apply square root is 1.

So infinite square root leads to least value that is 1

Adam Zaim
Sep 12, 2015

2015 = 201 5 1 \sqrt { \sqrt { \sqrt { \dots \sqrt { 2015 } } } } = 2015^\frac { 1 }{ \infty }

lim x 1 = 0 \lim _{ x\rightarrow \infty }{ \frac { 1 }{ \infty } } =0

201 5 0 = 1 2015^0=1

Glen Isip
Sep 17, 2015

I got the correct answer, but I'm so glad to see the actual solutions because honestly I just guessed.

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