Paper 4, Section II, E

Numbers and Sets | Part IA, 2014

What does it mean to say that the sequence of real numbers (xn)\left(x_{n}\right) converges to the limit x?x ? What does it mean to say that the series ∑n=1∞xn\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} x_{n} converges to ss ?

Let ∑n=1∞an\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} a_{n} and ∑n=1∞bn\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} b_{n} be convergent series of positive real numbers. Suppose that (xn)\left(x_{n}\right) is a sequence of positive real numbers such that for every n⩾1n \geqslant 1, either xn⩽anx_{n} \leqslant a_{n} or xn⩽bnx_{n} \leqslant b_{n}. Show that ∑n=1∞xn\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} x_{n} is convergent.

Show that ∑n=1∞1/n2\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} 1 / n^{2} is convergent, and that ∑n=1∞1/nα\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} 1 / n^{\alpha} is divergent if α⩽1\alpha \leqslant 1.

Let (xn)\left(x_{n}\right) be a sequence of positive real numbers such that ∑n=1∞n2xn2\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} n^{2} x_{n}^{2} is convergent. Show that ∑n=1∞xn\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} x_{n} is convergent. Determine (with proof or counterexample) whether or not the converse statement holds.

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