Questions tagged [limits-and-convergence]

Convergence of series, sequences and functions and different modes of convergence.

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110 votes
34 answers
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Why do we teach calculus students the derivative as a limit?

I'm not teaching calculus right now, but I talk to someone who does, and the question that came up is why emphasize the $h \to 0$ definition of a derivative to calculus students? Something a teacher ...
50 votes
1 answer
2k views

Rearrangements of a power series at the boundary of convergence

Take some power series $f(z) = \sum a_n z^n$ with a finite non-zero radius of convergence. I can rearrange the terms of the series, say, to get a different infinite series $$f_{\sigma}(z) = \sum_{n=0}^...
echinodermata's user avatar
45 votes
5 answers
3k views

How many rearrangements must fail to alter the value of a sum before you conclude that none do?

This will not be altogether unrelated to this earlier question. For which classes $C$ of bijections from $\{1,2,3,\ldots\}$ to itself is it the case that for all sequences $\{a_i\}_{i=1}^\infty$ of ...
Michael Hardy's user avatar
39 votes
3 answers
5k views

A limit involving binomial coefficients: $\lim_{n\to\infty} (-1)^n\sum_{k=1}^n(-1)^k{n\choose k}^{-1/k}=\frac12$?

Experimentation suggests the limit $$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} (-1)^n\sum_{k=1}^n(-1)^k{n\choose k}^{-1/k}=\frac{1}{2}\ .$$ Does somebody have an idea for (a start of) a proof? Added: There seem to ...
Roland Bacher's user avatar
37 votes
7 answers
11k views

Limits in category theory and analysis

Is it possible to regard limits in analysis (say, of real sequences or more generally nets in topological spaces) as limits in category theory? Is there some formal connection? Edit ('13): Perhaps it ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
31 votes
0 answers
2k views

A question related to the Hofstadter–Conway \$10000 sequence

The Hofstadter–Conway \$10000 sequence is defined by the nested recurrence relation $$c(n) = c(c(n-1)) + c(n-c(n-1))$$ with $c(1) = c(2) = 1$. This sequence is A004001 and it is well-known that this ...
Alkan's user avatar
  • 681
30 votes
1 answer
1k views

Rearrangements that never change the value of a sum

I posted this question on math.stackexchange.com and so far the only answer posted (also mentioned in the comments under the question) shows that one of my rash initial guesses about the bottom-line ...
Michael Hardy's user avatar
28 votes
3 answers
2k views

Does $a_n=\prod^n_{k=1}(1-e^{k\alpha \pi i})$ converge to zero when $\alpha$ is irrational?

I came across a problem concerning about the convergence of products. I wonder if the complex series $a_n=\prod^n_{k=1}(1-e^{k\alpha \pi i})$ converges to zero when $\alpha$ is irrational. Of course, ...
No One's user avatar
  • 1,545
27 votes
4 answers
3k views

Rate of convergence of $\frac{1}{\sqrt{n\ln n}}(\sum_{k=1}^n 1/\sqrt{X_k}-2n)$, $X_i$ i.i.d. uniform on $[0,1]$?

Let $(X_n)$ be a sequence of i.i.d. random variables uniformly distributed in $[0,1]$; and, for $n\geq 1$, set $$ S_n = \sum_{k=1}^n \frac{1}{\sqrt{X_k}}\,. $$ It follows from the generalized central ...
Clement C.'s user avatar
  • 1,342
27 votes
5 answers
3k views

How to show a function converges to 1

Consider the following recurrence relation in two variables: $$f(a, b) = \frac{a}{a+b} f(a-1,b)+ \frac{b}{a+b}f(a+1,b-1) $$ for positive integers $a$ and $b$, with the boundary conditions $f(0,b)=0$ ...
Simd's user avatar
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25 votes
1 answer
719 views

"Harmonacci" recurrence and identities for $\pi$

While playing with something totally irrelevant I stumbled upon the recurrence: $$a_{n+1} = \frac{1}{a_n} + a_{n-1}$$ It turns out that given $a_0 = 1, a_1 = 1$, $$lim \frac{a_{2n}}{a_{2n-1}} = \...
Victor P's user avatar
  • 353
24 votes
4 answers
2k views

Letting $S(m)$ be the digit sum of $m$, then $\lim_{n\to\infty}S(3^n)=\infty$?

For any $m\in\mathbb N$, let $S(m)$ be the digit sum of $m$ in the decimal system. For example, $S(1234)=1+2+3+4=10, S(2^5)=S(32)=5$. Question 1 :Is the following true? $$\lim_{n\to\infty}S(3^n)=\...
mathlove's user avatar
  • 4,727
22 votes
1 answer
4k views

A challenging (for me) limit calculation

How to calculate the following limit $$ \lim_{n\to\infty}\sqrt{n}\underbrace{{}\sin(\sin(\sin(\sin(\cdots\sin(\frac{1}{\sqrt{n}})\cdots))))}_{n \text{ sin's}} \text{?} $$ ${}{}$
C. WANG's user avatar
  • 539
22 votes
1 answer
698 views

Possible limits of $(1/n) \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} e^{i2\pi \cdot 2^k\alpha}$

I made a throwaway comment on math stackexchange the other day that got me thinking about the following question. Let $$ f_n (\alpha) = \frac1n \sum_{k=0}^{n-1} e(2^k\alpha),$$ where $e(x) = \exp(i2\...
Sean Eberhard's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
8k views

Unique limits of sequences plus what implies Hausdorff?

It is known that there are non-Hausdorff spaces which admit unique limits for all convergent sequence (see here) and it is also known that unique limits for nets implies Hausdorff. What I am ...
Dirk's user avatar
  • 12.3k
18 votes
1 answer
691 views

Is the p-adic density of the image of a polynomial always rational?

This question was previously posted here on MSE. Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial with integer coefficients, and let $p$ be a prime number. For $n\in\mathbb N$, let $I_n$ be the number of integers $i\in\{1,\...
Riemann's user avatar
  • 537
17 votes
2 answers
2k views

"Find $\lim_{n \to \infty}\frac{x_n}{\sqrt{n}}$ where $x_{n+1}=x_n+\frac{n}{x_1+x_2+\cdots+x_n}$" -where does this problem come from?

Recently, I encountered this problem: "Given a sequence of positive number $(x_n)$ such that for all $n$, $$x_{n+1}=x_n+\frac{n}{x_1+x_2+\cdots+x_n}$$ Find the limit $\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \...
Paresseux Nguyen's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
889 views

Fraction of $S_n$ reachable by using every transposition once as $n\to\infty$?

For $n\in \mathbb{N}$ let $S_n$ denote the set of permutations (bijections) $\pi: \{0,\ldots,n-1\}\to \{0,\ldots,n-1\}$. A transposition swaps exactly $2$ elements and is often denoted by $(i \; k)$ ...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
2k views

In infinite dimensions, is it possible that convergence of distances to a sequence always implies convergence of that sequence?

This is a cross-posted on MSE here. Let $(X,d)$ be a metric space. Say that $x_n\in X$ is a P-sequence if $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}d(x_n,y)$ converges for every $y\in X.$ Say that $(X,d)$ is P-...
Nikhil Sahoo's user avatar
  • 1,175
14 votes
2 answers
6k views

Are weak and strong convergence of sequences not equivalent?

For some infinite-dimensional Banach spaces $E$, it is easy to find sequences $\langle x_i:i\in\mathbb N_0\rangle$ which converge to zero weakly but not in the norm topology, i.e. we have $\lim_{i\to\...
TaQ's user avatar
  • 3,338
14 votes
2 answers
558 views

Needing proof of convergence for a sequence

Let $\left\{u_i\right\}_{i=1}^\infty$ be a sequence of real vectors (i.e. $u_i\in R^n, i=1,2,... $) and $m$ an integer large enough such that $\sum_{i=1}^m u_i u_i^T$ is a positive definite matrix. ...
polfosol's user avatar
  • 573
13 votes
5 answers
1k views

Asymptotics of a Bernoulli-number-like function

Tony Lezard asked me the following question which seemed like it should not be too hard but which I did not immediately see how to answer. Define $f(n,k)$ recursively by $f(1,k) = 1$ and $$f(n,k) = \...
Timothy Chow's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
3k views

Behavior of $n^\alpha \sin^{\circ\, n}(n^{-\alpha}x)$

I'll write it formally: Let $\sin^{\circ\, 1}(x) = \sin(x)$ and $\sin^{\circ n+1}(x) = \sin\bigl(\sin^{\circ n}(x)\bigr)$ for $n\in \Bbb N$ with $n>1$. What is the limit as $n \to \infty$? It's ...
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is there a $q$-L'Hospital's Rule?

Let $\binom{n}{j}_q$ be a $q$-binomial coefficient and $(x;q)_n = (1-x)(1-qx)\cdots(1-q^{n-1}x).$ Consider the sum $$f(n,m,r,k)= \sum\limits_{j = 0}^{2n} {( - 1)}^{ j}q^{mj^2+rj} \binom{2n}{j}_{q^k}$...
Johann Cigler's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is $\varliminf_{n \rightarrow +\infty} |n \sin n| = 0$ correct, where $n$ is an integer?

Is it true that $\varliminf_{n \rightarrow +\infty} |n \sin n| = 0$, where $n$ runs over the integers? The existence of the limes inferior follows from Dirichlet's approximation theorem, but the ...
Y.X's user avatar
  • 399
12 votes
6 answers
5k views

Discrete version of Ito's lemma

Could anyone give me some references where I could find (a) discrete version(s) of Ito's lemma (b) a proof how it converges to the continuous form in the limit (c) its usage within stochastic ...
vonjd's user avatar
  • 5,855
12 votes
1 answer
883 views

Strange behavior of $x_{n+1}=x_n +\lambda \sin x_n$

Consider a sequence $(x_n)$ satisfying $x_{n+1}=x_n +\lambda \sin x_n$. You would expect the sequence $x_n$ to depend on $x_0$ and to exhibit a chaotic, Brownian-type behavior, and indeed it does ...
Vincent Granville's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
965 views

Ultralimit versus partial limit

Let $\omega$ be a nonprincipal ultrafilter on $\mathbb N$. A standard construction gives an $\omega$-limit, say $x_\omega$, for any bounded sequence $(x_n)$ of real numbers. Namely, there is unique ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
956 views

The geometric-mean factorial

Think of the factorial as $f(n) = n \odot (n-1) \odot \cdots \odot 2 \odot 1$, where $\odot$ is the binary operator for multiplication, $\cdot$. This suggests exploring replacing $\odot$ with other ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
441 views

Subtracting the weak limit reduces the norm in the limit

Question Let $X$ be some reflexive Banach space. Suppose $x_n$ is some sequence in $X$ that weak converges to some $y \neq 0$. Is it the case that $$ \limsup \|x_n - y\| < \limsup \|x_n\| ?$$ ...
Willie Wong's user avatar
  • 37.4k
12 votes
1 answer
557 views

Convergence of the series involving Mobius functions $\sum_{k,d} \mu(d) x_{kd}$

(I originally asked this question here, but the problem appears much more difficult than I think after a moment of thought, so I think it might be more suitable to post it here. Please tell me if this ...
Ma Joad's user avatar
  • 1,611
12 votes
2 answers
2k views

Reference on Minty's trick

I am searching for a precise reference for the following result: Consider $f:\mathbb{R}_+\rightarrow\mathbb{R}_+$ a nondecreasing function. Assume that a sequence of nonnegative functions $(u_n)_n$ ...
Ayman Moussa's user avatar
  • 2,575
12 votes
1 answer
315 views

Convergence of an implicitly defined sequence of random variables

Let $\{X_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ be a sequence of independent identically distributed Poisson random variables with mean $\lambda^*$. Consider a sequence of random variables $\{\hat{\lambda}_{n}\}_{n\ge 1}$ ...
user3605620's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
1k views

What is the limit of $a (n + 1) / a (n)$?

Let $a(n) = f(n,n)$ where $f(m,n) = 1$ if $m < 2 $ or $ n < 2$ and $f(m,n) = f(m-1,n-1) + f(m-1,n-2) + 2 f(m-2,n-1)$ otherwise. What is the limit of $a(n + 1) / a (n)$? $(2.71...)$
José María Grau Ribas's user avatar
11 votes
5 answers
981 views

Emergence of the discrete from the continuum

An almost eternal theme in Mathematics is the approximation of the Continuum by the Discrete. This core idea goes back at least to Archimedes, and remains active to these very days (and quite likely ...
Mirco A. Mannucci's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
1k views

What is the structure associated to almost-everywhere convergence?

Let $M(X)$ be the vector space (actually it's an algebra) of all equivalent classes of measurable functions $X\to \mathbb{C}$ (where $X$ is a measured space) modulo equality almost-everywhere. One ...
Jon-S's user avatar
  • 539
11 votes
2 answers
827 views

Infinite limit of ratio of nth degree polynomials

The Problem I have two recursively defined polynomials (skip to the bottom for background and motivation if you care about that) that represent the numerator and denominator of a factor and I want to ...
OmnipotentEntity's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
927 views

Twice continuously differentiable implied by existence of limit

I have the following question. Let $f,g:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ be two continuous functions (vanishing at infinity) and assume that $$ \frac{f(x+t)+f(x-t)-2f(x)}{t^2}\to g(x) $$ for all $x\in X$ when ...
Sonam Idowu's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
816 views

Conditions under which $\lim_{s\to1^+}\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{a_n}{n^s}=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{a_n}{n}$

I was working with some Dirichlet series and I realized that I have never seen any general conditions under which \begin{equation} \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{a_n}{n}=\lim_{s\to1^+}\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\...
Milo Moses's user avatar
  • 2,809
11 votes
2 answers
656 views

Value of $c$ such that $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\sum_{k=1}^{n-1}\frac{1}{(n-k)c+\log(n!)-\log(k!)}=1$

What is the value of $c$ such that $$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\sum_{k=1}^{n-1}\frac{1}{(n-k)c+\log(n!)-\log(k!)}=1?$$ Numerically, it seems that the answer is $c=\log 2$. But I'd like to see a reason ...
Mark Girard's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
610 views

Integrals of power towers

Let's assume $x\in[0,1]$, and restrict all functions of $x$ that we consider to this domain. Consider a sequence $\mathcal S_n$ of sets of functions, where $n^{\text{th}}$ element is the set of all ...
Vladimir Reshetnikov's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
3k views

Convergence and non-convergence of left-point and mid-point Riemann sums

In standard calculus it is a well known fact that left-point and mid-point Riemann sums do become equal in the limit. When it comes to stochastic integration this is no longer the case. Taking the ...
vonjd's user avatar
  • 5,855
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Central Limit Theorem (and Berry-Esseen theorem) for non-independent variables

Consider the triangular array $X_{n,k}$ such that, for each $n>0$, the variables $(X_{n,1},\cdots,X_{n,n})$ have the following properties: For any given $1 \le L \le n$, all subsets of $(X_{n,1},\...
jmscarlett's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
846 views

Pointwise convergence imples uniform convergence in an infinite subset

I came upon this statement in a stack answer. Statement : If $f_n$ is a sequence of real valued functions (not necessarily continuous or measurable) on $[0,1]$ such that $f_n$ converges point-wise to $...
Kr Dpk's user avatar
  • 203
10 votes
1 answer
314 views

Does the mean ratio of the largest prime factor in prime gaps to the lower bound of the gap converge?

Posting in MO since this questions has been unanswered in MSE for 3 months. Let $p_n$ be the $n$-th prime and $q_n$ be largest among all the prime factors of the composite numbers between $p_n$ and $...
Nilotpal Kanti Sinha's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
486 views

How do I evaluate this sum :$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{H_{n}^3}{(n+1)2^n} $?

I have tried evaluating this series $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{H_{n}^3}{(n+1)2^n} $$ using some methods but it's seems to me that it is very hard. However, I noticed that the series converges ...
user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
8k views

Convergence rate of the central limit theorem near the center of the distribution

I'm looking for fast convergence rates for the central limit theorem - when we are not near the tails of the distribution. Specifically, from the general convergence rates stated in the Berry–Esseen ...
Daniel Soudry's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
291 views

Ideal characterization of almost convergence

$\bullet$ A real sequence $x=(x_n)_n$ is called convergent to $\alpha$ in usual sense if for any $\epsilon>0$ the set $\{n\in\mathbb N:|x_n-\alpha|\geq\epsilon\}$ is finite. $\bullet$ A real ...
MAS's user avatar
  • 872
9 votes
3 answers
691 views

Asymptotic analysis of $x_{n+1} = \frac{x_n}{n^2} + \frac{n^2}{x_n} + 2$

Problem: Let $x_1 = 1$ and $x_{n+1} = \frac{x_n}{n^2} + \frac{n^2}{x_n} + 2, \ n\ge 1$. Find the third term in the asymptotic expansion of $x_n$. I have posted it in MSE six months ago without ...
River Li's user avatar
  • 848
9 votes
2 answers
377 views

Rearrangement, conditional convergence, and "placid" permutations

This question came out of a conversation with my students about Riemann's rearrangement theorem, and the general problem of which permutations are "safe" w/r/t summing infinite series. It ...
Noah Schweber's user avatar

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