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 10.5 - Absolute Convergence; The Ratio and Root Tests - Exercises 10.5 - Page 598: 64

Answer

Both the root and ratio tests fail.

Work Step by Step

Let us consider $a_n=\dfrac{1}{(\ln n)^p}$ Apply root test. This implies that $\lim\limits_{n \to \infty} |\dfrac{a_{n+1}}{a_{n}} |=\lim\limits_{n \to \infty}|\dfrac{\dfrac{1}{(\ln (n+1))^p}}{\dfrac{1}{(\ln n)^p}}|=\lim\limits_{n \to \infty}|\dfrac{(\ln n)^p}{[\ln (n+1)]^p}=1$ we can see that the ratio test is not satisfied, thus fails. Let us consider $a_n=\dfrac{1}{(\ln n)^p}$ Next, need to apply root test. This implies that $\lim\limits_{n \to \infty} \sqrt [n] {|a_n|}=\lim\limits_{n \to \infty} (|\dfrac{1}{(\ln n)^p})^{(1/n)}=1$ Thus, we can see that the root test is not satisfied, thus fails.
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