Calculus, 10th Edition (Anton)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 0-47064-772-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-47064-772-1

Chapter 9 - Infinite Series - 9.1 Sequences - Exercises Set 9.1 - Page 606: 44

Answer

The sequence diverges. See the explanation below.

Work Step by Step

We have $f\left( x \right) = \left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {2x,}&{0 \le x \lt 0.5}\\ {2x - 1,}&{0.5 \le x \lt 1} \end{array}} \right.$ We evaluate the sequence and list them in the following table: $\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {f\left( x \right)}&{{\rm{equal to}}}\\ {f\left( {0.2} \right) = }&{0.4}\\ {f\left( {f\left( {0.2} \right)} \right) = }&{0.8}\\ {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {0.2} \right)} \right)} \right) = }&{0.6}\\ {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {0.2} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right) = }&{0.2}\\ {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {0.2} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right) = }&{0.4}\\ {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {0.2} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right) = }&{0.8}\\ {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {0.2} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right) = }&{0.6}\\ {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {f\left( {0.2} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)} \right)... = }&{...} \end{array}$ In the table above, we see that the sequence keeps repeating the set of values $0.4,0.8,0.6,0.2$. Therefore, we conclude that the sequence does not converge to some finite limit. Hence, it diverges.
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