wu :: forums
« wu :: forums - Must this series converge? »

Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register.
May 17th, 2024, 10:55pm

RIDDLES SITE WRITE MATH! Home Home Help Help Search Search Members Members Login Login Register Register
   wu :: forums
   riddles
   putnam exam (pure math)
(Moderators: towr, Icarus, william wu, Eigenray, Grimbal, SMQ)
   Must this series converge?
« Previous topic | Next topic »
Pages: 1  Reply Reply Notify of replies Notify of replies Send Topic Send Topic Print Print
   Author  Topic: Must this series converge?  (Read 500 times)
ecoist
Senior Riddler
****





   


Gender: male
Posts: 405
Must this series converge?  
« on: Apr 15th, 2006, 8:58am »
Quote Quote Modify Modify

Let {an} and {bn} be monotone increasing unbounded sequences of positive real numbers.  Must the series
 
[sum]an-bn
 
always converge?
IP Logged
Barukh
Uberpuzzler
*****






   


Gender: male
Posts: 2276
Re: Must this series converge?  
« Reply #1 on: Apr 20th, 2006, 9:15am »
Quote Quote Modify Modify

If I understand correctly, the answer is no: take bn = log log(n), and anbn = n. For an appropriate base, both sequences are strictly increasing.
IP Logged
ecoist
Senior Riddler
****





   


Gender: male
Posts: 405
Re: Must this series converge?  
« Reply #2 on: Apr 20th, 2006, 2:22pm »
Quote Quote Modify Modify

Here's a different, more specific solution.  Let bn=sqr(ln n) and an=ebn, for n>1.  Then an-bn=1/n, and the series is the divergent harmonic series (as is Barukh's solution).
IP Logged
Pages: 1  Reply Reply Notify of replies Notify of replies Send Topic Send Topic Print Print

« Previous topic | Next topic »

Powered by YaBB 1 Gold - SP 1.4!
Forum software copyright © 2000-2004 Yet another Bulletin Board