009C Sample Midterm 1, Problem 2

Consider the infinite series $\sum _{n=2}^{\infty }2{\bigg (}{\frac {1}{2^{n}}}-{\frac {1}{2^{n+1}}}{\bigg )}.$

(a) Find an expression for the $n$th partial sum Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_n} of the series.

(b) Compute Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} s_n.}

Foundations:
The Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle n} th partial sum, Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_n} for a series Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^\infty a_n } is defined as
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_n=\sum_{i=1}^n a_i.}

Solution:

(a)

Step 1:
We need to find a pattern for the partial sums in order to find a formula.
We start by calculating Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_2} . We have
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_2=2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^3}\bigg).}

Step 2:
Next, we calculate Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_3} and Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_4.} We have
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{array}{rcl} \displaystyle{s_3} & = & \displaystyle{2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^3}\bigg)+2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^3}-\frac{1}{2^4}\bigg)}\\ &&\\ & = & \displaystyle{2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^4}\bigg)} \end{array}}
and
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{array}{rcl} \displaystyle{s_4} & = & \displaystyle{2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^3}\bigg)+2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^3}-\frac{1}{2^4}\bigg)+2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^4}-\frac{1}{2^5}\bigg)}\\ &&\\ & = & \displaystyle{2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^5}\bigg).} \end{array}}

Step 3:
If we look at Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_2,s_3,} and Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_4, } we notice a pattern.
From this pattern, we get the formula
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_n=2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^{n+1}}\bigg).}

(b)

Step 1:
From Part (a), we have
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_n=2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^{n+1}}\bigg).}

Step 2:
We now calculate Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} s_n.}
We get
Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{array}{rcl} \displaystyle{\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} s_n} & = & \displaystyle{\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} 2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^{n+1}}\bigg)}\\ &&\\ & = & \displaystyle{\frac{2}{2^2}}\\ &&\\ & = & \displaystyle{\frac{1}{2}.} \end{array}}

Final Answer:
(a)     Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle s_n=2\bigg(\frac{1}{2^2}-\frac{1}{2^{n+1}}\bigg)}
(b)     Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}

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