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 572: 144

Answer

$ a.\quad$ Converges to $L=0.$. See image. Steps given below. $ b.\quad$ $N=650$ (is a possible answer) $N=120,000$ (is a possible answer)

Work Step by Step

$a.\quad $ The steps you take will depend on the CAS you are using, but they follow the same logic. Using the free online CAS at geogebra.org/cas: Cell 1: Enter the function representing the sequence $a(x)=\displaystyle \frac{\ln(x)}{x}$ From the dropdown menu, select "Table of values". In the dialog box for the table, set the range from 1 to 25, step 1. When we observe the graph, the points approach the x-axis (the line y=0). The sequence seems to converge to 0. In the next free cell of the CAS, we find the limit when $ n\rightarrow\infty$ Here, we enter "L=Limit(a, infinity)" (without quotes) The CAS returns the limit to be $L=0$. $ b.\quad$ $\epsilon=0.01.$ Changing the view window to $[500,1500]$ by $[-0.02,0.02]$ we graph the line $y=0.01$ and note that after $N=648$ we can safely say that $a_{n}$ is within $0.01$ of the limit L. We take $N=650$. $\epsilon=0.0001.$ Changing the view window to $[80000,500000]$ by $[-0.0002,0.0002]$ we graph the lines $y=\pm 0.0001$ and note that after $N=120,000$ we can safely say that $a_{n}$ is within $0.0001$ of the limit L. We take $N=120,000$.
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