Je m'appelle
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Homework Statement
Show that
\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(n+1)(n+2)} = 1
Homework Equations
The Attempt at a Solution
So as this is a telescoping series, I rewrote the general formula through partial fractions as
\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(n+1)} - \frac{1}{(n+2)} = 1
The first few terms will be
(\frac{1}{2} - \frac{1}{3}) + (\frac{1}{3} - \frac{1}{4}) + (\frac{1}{4} - \frac{1}{5}) + (\frac{1}{5} - \frac{1}{6}) + (\frac{1}{6} - \frac{1}{7}) + ... + (\frac{1}{(n+1)} - \frac{1}{(n+2)})
It can be seen then, that the first term \frac{1}{2} and the last term \frac{-1}{(n+2)} do not cancel, therefore, it turns out to be basically
\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(n+1)} - \frac{1}{(n+2)} = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} (\frac{1}{2} - \frac{1}{(n+2)}) = \frac{1}{2}
What am I doing wrong here? Is this telescoping series equal to 1 or 1/2? My textbook says 1 as I pointed out in the beginning of this thread, but I came up with 1/2, so I'd like to know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm correct and the textbook has a typo.
Thanks in advance.
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