- #1
Jesseac
- 1
- 0
Hi,
I am a year 12 IB maths HL student... and i was wondering about the possibility of a general rule for a particular problem... I was looking at the following rules, which came up in a basic textbook exercise on mathematical induction.
1+2+3+4+...+n=(n^2+n)/2 where n is a positive integer
(1^2)+(2^2)+...+(n^2)=(n(n+1)(2n+1))/6, where n is a positive integer
I was wondering if there exists a rule for the case.
(1^a)+(2^a)+(3^a)+(4^a)+...+(n^a), where both n and a are positive integers.
This problem has been bugging me for quite some time. I had the feeling that the problem may be slightly different for odd values of a as opposed to even values of a.
Also, if there does indeed exist a general rule or rules for this case, I was wondering if someone could give an outline as to the method used to prove this (as I'm not so confident in attempting it for myself).
I am a year 12 IB maths HL student... and i was wondering about the possibility of a general rule for a particular problem... I was looking at the following rules, which came up in a basic textbook exercise on mathematical induction.
1+2+3+4+...+n=(n^2+n)/2 where n is a positive integer
(1^2)+(2^2)+...+(n^2)=(n(n+1)(2n+1))/6, where n is a positive integer
I was wondering if there exists a rule for the case.
(1^a)+(2^a)+(3^a)+(4^a)+...+(n^a), where both n and a are positive integers.
This problem has been bugging me for quite some time. I had the feeling that the problem may be slightly different for odd values of a as opposed to even values of a.
Also, if there does indeed exist a general rule or rules for this case, I was wondering if someone could give an outline as to the method used to prove this (as I'm not so confident in attempting it for myself).