Higher Roots of Positive Numbers

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of successive rooting operations on positive non-zero numbers and the implications of these operations as the number of roots approaches infinity. Participants explore whether the infinite root of any positive number can be concluded to be zero and seek a synthesized formula to support this property.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that successive rooting operations on any positive number yield the number one, questioning if this implies that the infinite root is zero.
  • Another participant presents the limit expression $$\lim_{n\to \infty} a^{1/n} = 1$$ for all positive a, proposing methods to demonstrate this limit, including using the continuity of the exponential function.
  • A different participant challenges the initial claim, stating that one cannot conclude anything from limited examples and asserts that there is no concept of an infinite root, while proposing the hypothesis that $$\lim_{n \to \infty} \sqrt[n]{x} = 1$$ for positive x.
  • Further elaboration includes defining a sequence $$a_n:=\sqrt[n]{x}$$ and suggesting that the distance to 1 becomes arbitrarily small as n increases.
  • Another participant reinforces the limit statement and provides an indirect proof involving monotonicity and boundedness of the sequence $$a^{1/n}$$ for any a > 1, concluding that the limit must be 1.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the implications of successive rooting operations, with some supporting the limit of 1 and others questioning the validity of the initial claim regarding infinite roots. No consensus is reached on the conclusions drawn from the operations.

Contextual Notes

Some limitations in the discussion include the dependence on definitions of limits and the nature of sequences, as well as the lack of resolution regarding the implications of the infinite root concept.

dom_quixote
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Playing around with my calculator, I realized that if I do successive rooting operations on any positive non-zero number, I always get the number one.
Can I conclude that the infinite root of any positive number will always be zero?
If the statement is true, is there any synthesized formula to prove this property?

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$$\lim_{n\to \infty} a^{1/n} = 1$$ for all positive a. You can show this e.g. using ##a^{1/n} = e^{\log(a)/n}## and continuity of the exponential function to bring the limit into the exponent, but you can also show it for successive square roots in more elementary ways by showing that e.g. the distance to 1 decreases at least by a factor 2 each time.
 
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dom_quixote said:
Playing around with my calculator, I realized that if I do successive rooting operations on any positive non-zero number, I always get the number one.
Can I conclude that the infinite root of any positive number will always be zero?
No, you cannot conclude anything from trying out a couple of numbers. And there is no such thing like an infinite root. However, you can pose the hypothesis that
$$
\lim_{n \to \infty} \sqrt[n]{x} = 1 \text{ for }x>0
$$
dom_quixote said:
If the statement is true, is there any synthesized formula to prove this property?
You can define a sequence ##a_n:=\sqrt[n]{x}## and prove that ##|a_n-1|## get's arbitrary small for large ##n##.
 
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mfb said:
$$\lim_{n\to \infty} a^{1/n} = 1$$ for all positive a. You can show this e.g. using ##a^{1/n} = e^{\log(a)/n}## and continuity of the exponential function to bring the limit into the exponent, but you can also show it for successive square roots in more elementary ways by showing that e.g. the distance to 1 decreases at least by a factor 2 each time.
You can also do an indirect proof. For any ##a > 1##, the sequence ##a^{1/n}## is monotone decreasing and bounded below by ##1##. Therefore, the limit exists.

However, for any number ##l > 1##, the sequence ##l^n## in unbounded; and so ##l \ne lim_{n \to \infty} a^{1/n}##. That leaves the only possibility that ##lim_{n \to \infty} a^{1/n} = 1##.
 
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