009C Sample Final 1, Problem 2

Find the sum of the following series:

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 \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} (-2)^ne^{-n}}

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 \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \bigg(\frac{1}{2^n}-\frac{1}{2^{n+1}}\bigg)}

Foundations:
Review geometric series.
Review telescoping series.

Solution:

(a)

Step 1:
First, we write
${\begin{array}{rcl}\displaystyle {\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }(-2)^{n}e^{-n}}&=&\displaystyle {\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-2)^{n}}{e^{n}}}}\\&&\\&=&\displaystyle {\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\bigg (}{\frac {-2}{e}}{\bigg )}^{n}}\\\end{array}}$

Step 2:
Since $2<e$, ${\bigg |}-{\frac {2}{e}}{\bigg |}<1$. So,
$\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }(-2)^{n}e^{-n}={\frac {1}{1+{\frac {2}{e}}}}={\frac {1}{\frac {e+2}{e}}}={\frac {e}{e+2}}$.

(b)

Step 1:
This is a telescoping series. First, we find the partial sum of this series.
Let $s_{k}=\sum _{n=1}^{k}{\bigg (}{\frac {1}{2^{n}}}-{\frac {1}{2^{n+1}}}{\bigg )}$.
Then, 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_k=\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{2^{k+1}}} .

Step 2:

Thus, 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} \bigg(\frac{1}{2^n}-\frac{1}{2^{n+1}}\bigg)=\lim_{k\rightarrow \infty} s_k=\lim_{k\rightarrow \infty}\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{2^{k+1}}=\frac{1}{2}}

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 \frac{e}{e+2}}
(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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