Thomas' Calculus 13th Edition

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-32187-896-5
ISBN 13: 978-0-32187-896-0

Chapter 10: Infinite Sequences and Series - Section 10.1 - Sequences - Exercises 10.1 - Page 569: 23

Answer

$a_{n}=\displaystyle \frac{3n+2}{n!}, \quad n=1,2,3...$

Work Step by Step

Observe numerators and denominators separately, as sequences. Annotate $a_{n}=\displaystyle \frac{A_{n}}{B_{n}}$ The differences between terms of $A_{n}$ are 3,3,3,3,... These are constant, similar to the sequence of natural numbers: 1,2,3,4,... where the difference between terms is $1$. If we multiply each term of (1,2,3,4,...) with 3, we get $3,6,9,12,15,...$ (a sequence with the general n-th term = $3n$.) The difference between terms is now $3$, as in the problem. If we add 2 to each term of $(3,6,9,12,15,...)$, we get the numerator sequence $A_{n}$ of our problem.. The general term for the numerators is, $A_{n}=3n+2$ We recognize the denominators from $1!=1$ $2!=2$ $3!=2!\times 3=6$ $4!=3!\times 4=24$ $5!=4!\times 5=120,$ etc. Thus, the denominators form the sequence for which $B_{n}=n!$ So, $a_{n}=\displaystyle \frac{3n+2}{n!}, \quad n=1,2,3...$
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