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Solved Problems On Supremum and Infimum

1) The document defines a sequence A where the terms are fractions involving n. 2) It is observed that the odd terms of A appear to be increasing while the even terms appear to be decreasing. 3) Through further analysis and taking limits, it is proved that the odd terms are indeed increasing with limit 1, and the even terms are decreasing with limit 1. 4) Therefore, the supremum of A is A(2) = 7/4, and the infimum is A(1) = 1/4.

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akil
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430 views

Solved Problems On Supremum and Infimum

1) The document defines a sequence A where the terms are fractions involving n. 2) It is observed that the odd terms of A appear to be increasing while the even terms appear to be decreasing. 3) Through further analysis and taking limits, it is proved that the odd terms are indeed increasing with limit 1, and the even terms are decreasing with limit 1. 4) Therefore, the supremum of A is A(2) = 7/4, and the infimum is A(1) = 1/4.

Uploaded by

akil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Solved Problems on

Supremum and Infimum

 n 2 + ( −1)n n + 1 
1 Let A =  2 n = 1,2,3,… .
( )
n +1
 n + − 1 n + 2 
Determine sup ( A ) and inf ( A ) .
Sup and Inf
 n 2 + ( −1)n n + 1 
Problem 1 Let A =  2 n = 1,2,3,… .
 n + ( −1) n + 2
n +1

Solution
Determine sup ( A ) and inf ( A ) .

Use the Maple commands


> A := unapply((n^2+(-1)^n*n+1)/(n^2+(-1)^(n+1)*n+2),n);
> for k to 10 do evalf(A(k));od;
to list the first ten elements of the sequence A.
Floating point approximations of the elements are:
0.250, 1.750, 0.500, 1.500, 0.656, 1.343, 0.741, 1.258, 0.793,
1.206.
It appears that the odd elements form an increasing sequence
and the even elements a decreasing sequence. Furthermore, the
odd elements appear to be smaller than the even elements.

Mika Seppälä: Solved Sup and Inf Problems


Sup and Inf
 n 2 + ( −1)n n + 1 
Problem 1 Let A =  2 n = 1,2,3… .
 n + ( −1) n + 2
n +1

Determine sup ( A ) and inf ( A ) .

Solution (cont’d)
Assuming that the previous observation about the odd and even
elements is true, sup(A)= 1¾ and inf(A) = ¼.

It remains to show that the odd elements of A form an increasing


sequence and the even elements a decreasing sequence.
Assuming that the function A is already defined for Maple, use the
Maple commands
> assume(n,posint); Maple needs to know this in order
> simplify(A(2*n+2)-A(2*n)); to be able to simplify correctly.
to compute the difference of two subsequent even elements of the set
A.

Mika Seppälä: Solved Sup and Inf Problems


Sup and Inf
 n 2 + ( −1)n n + 1 
Problem 1 Let A =  2 n = 1,2,3,… .
 n + ( −1) n + 2
n +1

Determine sup ( A ) and inf ( A ) .

Solution (cont’d)

One gets
2
8 n~ + 4 n~ − 5
A( 2 n + 2 ) − A( 2 n ) = −
2 2
2 ( 2 n~ + 3 n~ + 2 ) ( 2 n~ − n~ + 1 )

One concludes that A(2n+2) – A(2n) is always negative.

Hence the even elements of the sequence A form a decreasing


sequence.

Mika Seppälä: Solved Sup and Inf Problems


Sup and Inf
 n 2 + ( −1)n n + 1 
Problem 1 Let A =  2 n = 1,2,3,… .
 n + ( −1) n + 2
n +1

Determine sup ( A ) and inf ( A ) .

Solution (cont’d)

In the same way one gets

2
8 n~ + 20 n~ + 7
A( 2 n + 3 ) − A( 2 n + 1 ) =
2 2
2 ( 2 n~ + 7 n~ + 7 ) ( 2 n~ + 3 n~ + 2 )

One concludes that A(2n + 3) – A(2n + 1) is always positive.

Hence the odd elements of the sequence A form a increasing


sequence.

Mika Seppälä: Solved Sup and Inf Problems


Sup and Inf
 n 2 + ( −1)n n + 1 
Problem 1 Let A =  2 n = 1,2,3,… .
 n + ( −1) n + 2
n +1

Determine sup ( A ) and inf ( A ) .

n 2 + ( −1) n + 1
n

Solution (cont’d) Let A ( n ) = .


n + ( −1)
n +1
2
n+2
( −1)
n
1
n + ( −1) n + 1
2 n 1− 2
+
lim A ( n ) = lim 2 = lim n n = 1.
n + ( −1) n + 2 ( −1)
n →∞ n →∞ n +1 n →∞ n +1
2
1+ + 2
n n

Conclude
lim A ( 2n ) = lim A ( 2n + 1) = lim A ( n ) = 1.
n →∞ n →∞ n →∞

Mika Seppälä: Solved Sup and Inf Problems


Sup and Inf
 n 2 + ( −1)n n + 1 
Problem 1 Let A =  2 n = 1,2,3,… .
 n + ( −1) n + 2
n +1

Determine sup ( A ) and inf ( A ) .
Solution (cont’d)

We have shown that the odd elements of the sequence A form an


increasing sequence with the limit 1.
We have also shown that the even elements of the sequence A
form an decreasing sequence with the limit 1.

Here odd elements are


denoted by red diamonds
and even elements by blue.

Conclude: sup(A) = A(2) = 7/4 and inf(A) = A(1)=1/4.

Mika Seppälä: Solved Sup and Inf Problems

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