Calculus: Early Transcendentals (2nd Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321947347
ISBN 13: 978-0-32194-734-5

Chapter 8 - Sequences and Infinite Series - 8.6 Alternating Series - 8.6 Exercises - Page 657: 24

Answer

Converges

Work Step by Step

Let us consider an alternating series $\Sigma_{k=1}^\infty(-1)^k a_k$ that can be convergent , when it satisfy the following two conditions such as: 1) The magnitude of terms must form a non-increasing sequence. 2) $\lim\limits_{k \to \infty} a_k=0$ Here, in the problem we have $a_k=\dfrac{1}{k \ln ^2 k}$ a) In the given sequence, $a_k=\dfrac{1}{k \ln ^2 k}$ , and $a_{k+1}=\dfrac{1}{(k+1) \ln ^2 (k+1)}$ and $\dfrac{1}{(k+1) \ln ^2 (k+1)}\leq \dfrac{1}{k \ln ^2 k}$ This implies that $a_{k+1} \lt a_k$ and $a_{k+1} \gt 0$ , so the terms are a non-increasing sequence. b) $\lim\limits_{k \to \infty} a_k=\lim\limits_{k \to \infty} (\dfrac{1}{k \ln ^2 k})$ Apply L-Hospital's Rule to obtain: $\lim\limits_{k \to \infty} a_k=\lim\limits_{k \to \infty} (\dfrac{-1/k^2}{2 \ln k/k})=\lim\limits_{k \to \infty} (\dfrac{1/k^2}{2/k})=\lim\limits_{k \to \infty} (\dfrac{1}{2k})=0$ This implies that the given series converges.
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