Calculus 8th Edition

Published by Cengage
ISBN 10: 1285740629
ISBN 13: 978-1-28574-062-1

Chapter 11 - Infinite Sequences and Series - 11.5 Alternating Series - 11.5 Exercises - Page 776: 19

Answer

Divergent

Work Step by Step

Alternating series test: Suppose that we have series $\Sigma a_n$, such that $a_{n}=(-1)^{n}b_n$ or $a_{n}=(-1)^{n+1}b_n$, where $b_n\geq 0$ for all $n$. Then if the following two condition are satisfied the series is convergent. 1. $\lim\limits_{n \to \infty}b_{n}=0$ 2. $b_{n}$ is a decreasing sequence. In the given problem, $b_{n}=\frac{n^{n}}{n!}$ $\frac{n^{n}}{n!}=\frac{n.n.n.......n}{1.2.3.....n}$ Clearly, the numerator is larger than denominator because all the factors in the numerator are $n$ and there is only one factor of $n$ in the denominator. Thus, the limit does not exist. Hence, the given series is divergent by divergence test.
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