SEQUENCE PROOFS-EXAMPLES

JACOB MILLER

This a collection of things that might help you as you attempt to navigate the scary world
of proving sequences using their formal defintion! This worksheet includes three things:
Resources (i.e. things you should remember!), example problems, and special proof that I
intend to do in class, but might help you on the homework also!!
Resources
(some things you should remember that might be helpful!)

(1) If a 0 then |a| = a, if a 0 then (5) Let r 1

|a| = a.
(2) If a and b are real numbers then
|ab| = |a| |b|.
(3) If a and b are real numbers then
|a + b| |a| + |b| (This is called the
Triangle Inequality)
(4) If a and b are nonnegative numbers
and a b then 1b a1 .
If 0 a 1 then ar a
If a 1 then a ar
(e.g. since 0 0.5 1 we have
0.52 = 0.25 0.5 where as 2 22 = 4
since 1 2).
(6) Remember in all these problems we
can assume n is an integer greater
than 0 (i.e. n 1)

Problems
These are example problems with proofs to show how I would do each of these limits. A
lot of what is shown here is only the formal part of the proof (not the scratch work that you
NEED to do first in order to find that N were looking for in the defintion!). They get
progressively harder (Problem 8 is especially difficult) as they go along (towards the end
you may have to do your scratch work a little differently than your used to). The primary
reason for these is so you can see HOW a proof should be written and to give you extra
practice. I would suggest you go through these one at a time, trying each one and looking
at the answer, see what you could make better and then trying the next one. Also for your
reference!! :
A sequence {an } is said to converge to a limit L (i.e. lim an = L) if for every
n
 > 0 there exists an integer N > 0 such that for all integer n > N we have that
|an L| < .

Date: June 22, 2012.

1
 1 2n2
(1) lim (6) lim
n n n n2 + 1

1 n+1
(2) lim (7) lim
n n4 n n2

1 2n2 3n
(3) lim (8) lim
n n n 3n2 + 4

sin n
(4) lim (9) lim n+1 n
n n n

n
(5) lim
n n+1

2
This page is left blank

3
 1. Problem 1 Solution
We have that
1
lim = 0,
n n
now we prove it!
1
Proof. Let  > 0, then choose an integer N > 0 such that N > . Then for any integer

n > N we have that 1  1
 0 =  
   
n n
1 1 1
= < < = .
n N 1/
1
Thus by the defintion of a limit of a sequence we get that lim = 0.
n n


4
 2. Problem 2 Solution
We have that
1
lim = 0,
n n4
now we prove it!
1
Proof. Let  > 0, then choose an integer N > 0 such that N > 1/4 . Then for any integer

n > N we have that 1  1
 4 0 =  4 
   
n n
1 1 1 1
= 4 < 4 < 1/4 4
= = .
n N (1/ ) 1/
1
Thus by the defintion of a limit of a sequence we get that lim 4 = 0.
n n


5
 3. Problem 3 Solution
We have that
1
lim = 0,
n n
now we prove it!
1
Proof. Let  > 0, then choose an integer N > 0 such that N > 2 . Then for any integer

n > N we have that  1   1 
 0 =  
   
n n
1 1 1 1
= < <p = = .
n N 1/2 1/
1
Thus by the defintion of a limit of a sequence we get that lim = 0.
n n


6
 4. Problem 4 Solution
We have that
sin n
lim =0
n n
now we prove it!
1
Proof. Let  > 0, then chose an integer N > 0 such that N > . We note that since for any

integer n that 1 sin(n) 1 and thus 0 | sin(n)| 1. Thus for any integer n > N we
have that  sin(n)   sin(n)  | sin(n)|
0 =  =
   
n n n

1 1 1
< < = .
n N 1/
sin(n)
Thus by the defintion of a limit of a sequence we get that lim = 0.
n n


7
 5. Problem 5 Solution
We have that
n
lim =1
n n + 1
now we prove it!
1
Proof. Let  > 0, then chose an integer N > 0 such that N > . Then for any integer n > N

we have that  n   n (n + 1)  | 1| 1
1 =  = =
   
n+1 n+1 n+1 n+1

1 1 1
< < = .
n N 1/
n
Thus by the definition of a limit of a sequence we have that lim = 1.
n n + 1

NOTE: When you did your scratch work on this problem you may have come up with
1
N > 1. This still works, and you should try out that proof on your own too. The N

you choose is not unique in this defintion, you just have to show it exists!

8
 6. Problem 6 Solution
We have that
2n2
lim = 2,
n n2 + 1
now we want to prove it!!!
 1/2 r
2 2
Proof. Let  > 0, then choose an integer N > 0 such that N > = . Then for
 
any integer n > N we have that
 2n2   2n2 2n2 + 2   2 
     
 n2 + 1 2 =  n2 + 1 n2 + 1  =  n2 + 1 
  

| 2| 2 2 2 2 2
= 2
= 2 2 < 2 < p = = .
n +1 n +1 n N ( 2/) 2 2/
2n2
Thus by the defintion of a limit of a sequence we get that lim 2 = 2.
n n + 1


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 7. Problem 7 Solution
We have that
n+1
lim = 0,
n n2
now we want to prove it!!!
2
Proof. Let  > 0, then choose an integer N > 0 such that N > . Then for all integers

n > N we have that
   
n + 1  n + 1 n + 1
(7.1)  n2 0 =  n2  = n2
   

n 1 1 1 1 1
(7.2) = + = + +
n2 n2 n n2 n n
2 2 2
(7.3) = < < = .
n N 2/
n+1
Thus by the defintion of a limit of a sequence we get that lim = 0.
n n2


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 8. Problem 8 Solution
We have that
2n2 3n 2
lim 2
=
n 3n + 1 3
now we prove it!!
2
Proof. Let  > 0. Then choose an integer N > 0 such that N > . Then for any integer

n > N we have that
 2n2 3n 2   6n2 9n 6n2 + 2   9n 2 
(8.1) = 2 2 = 2
     
 2
3n + 1 3 9n + 3 9n + 3 9n + 3


|(1)(9n + 2)| 9n + 2 9n + 2 9n 2
(8.2) = 2
= 2 2
= 2+ 2
9n + 3 9n + 3 9n 9n 9n
1 2 1  1 9 1  1 1
(8.3) = + 2
+ 2
= + 2
n 9 n n 9 n n n
1 1 2 2 2
(8.4) + = < < = .
n n n N 2/
2n2 3n 2
Thus by the definition of a limit of a sequence we have lim = . 
n 3n2 + 1 3

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 9. Problem 9 Solution
We have that
lim n+1 n=0
n
now we prove it!
1
Proof. Let  > 0, then choose an integer N > 0 such that N > 2 . Then for any integer

n > N we have that
 
  
 
n + 1 + n   (n + 1) n 
 n + 1 n = ( n + 1 n)  =  
 n + 1 + n  n + 1 + n
 
 1  1 1
=   =
n+1+ n n+1+ n n
1 1 1
< <p = = .
N 1/2 1/

Thus by the defintion of a limit of a sequence we have lim n + 1 n = 0.
n


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 Sum Rule Proof
Theorem 9.1. Let {an } and {bn } be sequences and suppose that lim an = A and that
n
lim bn = B. Then
n
lim (an + bn ) = A + B.
n

Proof. Let  > 0. Now since  > 0 then > 0 is also. So since lim an = A by the definition
2 n
of a limit of a sequence there exists an integer N > 0 such that if n > N then

|an A| < .
2
Also since lim bn = B by the defintion of a limit of a sequence there exists an integer M > 0
n
(Note we are using M because we already used N ealier and we dont want to mix up the
two), such that if n > M then

|bn B| < .
2
Then let K be the maximum of both N and M (i.e. whichever one is bigger, in math
notation we sometimes write this as K = max{N, M }). Then we note that if n > K then
n > M and n > N as the same time, by the way weve defined K. So if n > K we have
using the triangle inequality that
|(an + bn ) (A + B)| = |(an A) + (bn B)| |an A| + |bn B|
 
< + = ,
2 2

since when n > K we have n > N and thus |an A| < and similarly when n > K we also
2

have n > M and thus |bn B| < .
2
SO if n > K we have |(an + bn ) (A + B)| < . Therefore since we can kind this K for
any  > 0 this means by defintion that lim (an + bn ) = A + B.
n


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