IACS - BS 1st Year I

Semester I : 2019-2020
MATHEMATICS I : Calculus of One Variable
Problem Set VI

Teacher: A. Goswami

1. For proving xn → x, is it enough to prove that for all 0 <  < 1, there exists a natural
number N such that x −  < xn < x +  for all n ≥ N ? Note that the definition requires
that this should be true for all  > 0.

2. {xn } and {yn } are two real sequences such that xn = yn for all n ≥ M . Prove that, if
xn → x, then yn → x also.

3. Let {xn } be a real sequence. Let sequences {yn } and {zn } be defined as yn = x2n−1 and
zn = x2n for n ≥ 1.
(a) Prove that if xn → x, then both yn → x and zn → x.
(b) Conversely, prove that if both sequences {yn } and {zn } converge and both converge to
the same limit, then the sequence {xn } converges.

4. Let {xn } and {yn } be two real sequences.

(a) Prove that if xn → 0 and {yn } is bounded, then xn yn → 0.
(b) If xn yn → 0, is it true that at least one of {xn } or {yn } has to converge to 0? If yes,
prove it. If not, give a counter example.

5. Give examples of sequences {xn } and {yn } with xn → 0 and {yn } diverging to +∞, such
that, (a) xn yn → 0, (b) xn yn → x 6= 0, (c) xn yn diverges to +∞.

6. Prove that if xn → 0, then xnn → 0. [Use Exs 1.]

7. Suppose xn → x. Show that, given any two real numbers a, b with a < x < b, there is a
natural number N , such that a < xn < b for all n ≥ N .

8. Suppose xn → x and yn → y. Define zn = min{xn , yn }, wn = max{xn , yn }, for n ≥ 1.

(a) Prove that, if x = y, then both zn → x and wn → x.
(b) Prove that, if x < y, then zn → x, while wn → y.
(c) Summerize (a) and (b) as: If xn → x and yn → y, then min{xn , yn } → min{x, y} and
max{xn , yn } → max{x, y}.

9. Recall: Given any two real numbers a < b, we can find a rational number r and also an
irrational number z such that a < r < b and a < z < b.
(a) Use this to prove that, given any real number x, there is a sequence {xn } of rational
numbers and a sequence {yn } of irrational numbers such that xn → x and yn → x.
(b) Is it possible to choose the sequences {xn } and {yn } in (a) to be monotonically in-
creasing? Monotonically decreasing?

10. Let 0 < x < 1 be an irrational number with decimal expansion x = .a1 a2 a3 · · ·. Con-
vince yourself that since x is irrational, the decimal expansion has to be non-terminating.
Consider the sequence {xn } defined as xn = .a1 · · · an for n ≥ 1. Prove that xn → x.