Calculus, 10th Edition (Anton)

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

Chapter 9 - Infinite Series - 9.3 Infinite Series - Exercises Set 9.3 - Page 621: 11

Answer

The series diverges.

Work Step by Step

We have the $n$th partial sums: ${s_n} = \mathop \sum \limits_{k = 3}^n \dfrac{1}{{k - 2}}$. So, ${s_3} = 1$ ${s_4} = 1 + \dfrac{1}{2}$ ${s_5} = 1 + \dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{3}$ ${s_6} = 1 + \dfrac{1}{2} + \dfrac{1}{3} + \dfrac{1}{4}$ ... So, the partial sums form a strictly increasing sequence such that ${s_3} \lt {s_4} \lt {s_5} \lt \cdot\cdot\cdot \lt {s_n} \lt \cdot\cdot\cdot$ Since there is no upper bound, by Theorem 9.2.3 part (b) in Section 9.2: $\mathop {\lim }\limits_{n \to \infty } {s_n} = \infty $. Therefore, the series diverges.
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