Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt Ulrich Schlickewei

Mathematics 2
Winter term 2021/22

Exam preparation – sheet 4: series October 28, 2021

Exercise 1

Show that the series

∞
X (−1)n+1
√
n=1
n
is convergent, but its Cauchy product with itself is divergent.

Sketch of solution:

• First, we apply Leibniz’s criterion to show the convergence of the series: The sequence an = √1 is
√ √ P∞ n
n
monotonically decreasing (because of n + 1 > n), thus the series −1) an is convergent.
n=1 (
P∞ n+1 P∞
Therefore, the same holds for n=1 (−√1)n = − n=1 (−1)n an .
P∞
• The Cauchy product with itself is the series n=1 an with

n −1
X (−1)k+1 (−1)n−k+1
an = √ · √ .
k=1
k n − k

• We now show that an does not converge to 0 which proves that the Cauchy product is not convergent:
 
n−1 k+1 n−k+1 
X ( −1) (− 1)
|an | =  √ · √
 

 k n − k 
 nk−=11 
X (−1)n+2 
=  √
 
−

 k(n k) 
 k =1 
n−1
1
 X 
= (−1)n+2 √
 
k(n − k) 


k=1
n−1
X 1
= √
k =1
k(n − k)
n−1
X 1
≥ √
k =1
n2
n−1
= → n → ∞ 1.
n

Exercise 2
 (a) Investigate whether the following series are convergent:
∞ ∞ ∞
X k X 5k X 3k · k!
, , .
5k 4k · k 2 kk
k=1 k =1 k =1

√
n 1 n

3
(Hint: limn → ∞ n = 1, limn → ∞ 1 + n
= e und e
> 1,1.)
(b) Show that the series
∞
X (−1)k
ln(k + 1)
k=1

is convergent, but not absolutely convergent.

Sketch of solution:
P∞ P∞ k
(a) • For the series k=1 ak = k =1 5k we apply the root test:
s  √
p
k
k  kk
k 
1
|ak | =  5k  = 5 −
 −−→ .
n→∞ 5

Here we used the first hint. We deduce that the series is convergent.
P∞ P∞ 5k
• For the series k=1 bk = k =1 4k ·k 2 we use the ratio test:
   k 2
|bk +1 |  5k +1   4 · k  5 (k + 1)2
· = · 5
=  k+1 −−−→ .
|bk | 4 · (k + 1)2   5k  4 k2 n→∞ 4

We deduce that the series is divergent.

P∞ P∞ 3k ·k!
• For the series k=1 ck = k =1 kk
we apply again the ratio test:

|ck+1 | 3k+1 · (k + 1)! kk

= ·
|ck | (k + 1)k+1 3k · k !
kk
= 3·
(k + 1)k
1
= 3 · (k+1)k
kk
1
= 3·
(k+1) k


k
1
= 3·
1 k


1+ k
3
−−−→ > 1,1.
n→∞ e
Thus, the series is divergent.
1
(b) • The convergence can be proved by Papplying Leibniz’s criterion because ak = ln k +1
is a monoto-
∞
nically decreasing sequence. Thus, k =1 (−1)k ak is convergent.
• That the series is not absolutely convergent can be seen using the following inequality:
 
 1  1 1
|ak | =  = ≥ .
ln(k + 1)  ln(k + 1) k +1
P∞ 1
Here, we used that for k ∈ P
N the inequality ln(k) < k holds. Thus,
P∞ the harmonic series k =1 k +1
∞
is a divergent minorant for k =1 |ak |, which implies that also k=1 |ak | is divergent.
 Exercise 3

We consider a ball which after falling from height h to the ground bounces back to height rh, where r is a
parameter with 0 < r < 1. Assume that at the beginning of an experiment the ball is falling from height
H.

(a) Assuming the ball can bounce back infinitely often, what distance will it travel overall?
(b) Compute the overall time the ball is moving.
(Use Newton’s laws of motion: assuming the ball is falling from height h with starting velocity 0
and hits the ground at time th , then h = 12 gth2 .) (Nutzen Sie dabei die Newtonschen Bewegungs-
gleichungen: Angenommen der Ball fällt aus einer festen Höhe h mit Startgeschwindigkeit 0 und
kommt zum Zeitpunkt th auf dem Boden auf. Dann gilt h = 21 gth2 .)

Sketch of solution:

(a) • First we deduce Sn , the distance travelled at the time of the n-th impact on the ground. At the
first impact the ball has travelled the starting height H. After that it moves up to height rH and
falls down the same distance so that at the second impact the distance travelled is H + 2rH. This
pattern continues:

S1 = H,
S2 = H + 2rH = H · (r 0 + r 1 + r 1 ),
S3 = H + 2rH + 2r 2 H = H · (r 0 + r 1 + r 2 + r 1 + r 2 ),
S4 = H + 2rH + 2r 2 H + 2r 3 H = H · (r 0 + r 1 + r 2 + r 3 + r + r 2 + r 3 ),
.. ..
. . !
n
X n
X
k
Sn = H · r + rk .
k =0 k=1

P∞ k 1
P∞ P∞ r
• Using k =0 r = 1− r
and k=0 r k +1 = r k=0 rk = 1−r
and applying the rules for convergent
series we find:  
1 r H(1 + r )
S = lim Sn = H · + = .
n→∞ 1−r 1−r 1−r
(b) • Before the first impact the ball falls the distance H. For this it needs time
s
2H
t0 = .
g

• After the n-th impact to the ground the ball first moves up to height r n H, then it falls down again
from this height. The acceleration is when moving up and when falling down is the same with op-
posite directions. Therefore, the two distances are travelled in the same time tn . We can compute
this as follows: s s
1 2H 2H √
n
r n H = gtn2 ⇐⇒ tn = rn = r .
2 g g
• Overall we find the total time at the (n + 1)-st impact:
n
X
Tn+1 = t0 + 2tn
k =1
s s
n
2H X 2H √
k
= +2 r
g g
k=1
s !
n n
2H X √
k X √
k
= r + r .
g
k=0 k=1

• Using the same argument as in (a) we find:

s √
2H 1 + r
T = lim Tn+1 = · √ .
n→∞ g 1− r