Help with this Telescoping Series

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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You haven't done anything wrong - the sum doesn't equal 1.
 
Hi Je m'appelle! :wink:

Your result looks correct to me. :smile:

The given answer would be for a ∑ starting at n = 0, not n = 1. :frown:
 
statdad said:
You haven't done anything wrong - the sum doesn't equal 1.

tiny-tim said:
Hi Je m'appelle! :wink:

Your result looks correct to me. :smile:

The given answer would be for a ∑ starting at n = 0, not n = 1. :frown:

Yes, it seems then that it is a typo of either the sum being equal to 1/2 or n being equal to 0 heh instead of 1 and 1 respectively.

Thank you for your help statdad and tiny-tim :smile:
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...

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