Help with this Telescoping Series

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
3 replies · 2K views
Je m'appelle
Messages
117
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



Show that

[tex]\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(n+1)(n+2)} = 1[/tex]

Homework Equations


The Attempt at a Solution



So as this is a telescoping series, I rewrote the general formula through partial fractions as

[tex]\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{(n+1)} - \frac{1}{(n+2)} = 1[/tex]

The first few terms will be

[tex](\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)})[/tex]

It can be seen then, that the first term [tex]\frac{1}{2}[/tex] and the last term [tex]\frac{-1}{(n+2)}[/tex] do not cancel, therefore, it turns out to be basically

[tex]\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}[/tex]

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.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
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: