How do I simplify sigma notation to find the sum in terms of n only?

Youngster
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Homework Statement



I'm actually asked to calculate the area under the curve 5x + x2 over the interval [0,1] using Riemann Sums. I found the formula for the Riemann sum over the interval, it being the following:

[itex]\sum[/itex][itex]^{n}_{k=1}[/itex] ([itex]\frac{5k}{n}[/itex]+[itex]\frac{k^{2}}{n^{2}}[/itex])([itex]\frac{1}{n}[/itex])

However, I am asked to simplify the sigma notation to find the sum in terms of n only, which is where I'm currently stuck.

Homework Equations



None, I believe. Except perhaps the sum formulas for positive integers

The Attempt at a Solution



I actually just went ahead and multiplied through and separated each term like so

[itex]\frac{5}{n^{2}}[/itex][itex]\sum[/itex][itex]^{n}_{k=1}[/itex] k +[itex]\frac{1}{n^{3}}[/itex][itex]\sum[/itex][itex]^{n}_{k=1}[/itex] k[itex]^{2}[/itex]

I, however, was left with something completely different from the expected answers given. Am I going through this correctly?
 
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Yes, you are on the right track. Now use a closed-form expression for those two sums to get something only in terms of n; then you can take the limit as n goes to infinity.
 
Okay, I figured out what I was doing wrong after going through my work - I neglected to multiply part of the numerator of the first sum by 3n, thus giving me something different. So after multiplying through, the end result should be:

[itex]\frac{15n^{3}+15n^{2}}{6n^{3}}[/itex] + [itex]\frac{2n^{3}+3n^{2}+n}{6n^{3}}[/itex]

This should simplify to:

[itex]\frac{17n^{3}+18n^{2}+n}{6n^{3}}[/itex]

This could further be simplified by removing [itex]\frac{17n^{3}}{6n^{3}}[/itex] to get

[itex]\frac{17}{6}[/itex] + [itex]\frac{18n+1}{6n^{2}}[/itex], where an n is distributed out of the second term.

Then the limit should be [itex]\frac{17}{6}[/itex] as n approaches infinity since the second term is equal to zero. :D
 
Youngster said:
Okay, I figured out what I was doing wrong after going through my work - I neglected to multiply part of the numerator of the first sum by 3n, thus giving me something different. So after multiplying through, the end result should be:

[itex]\frac{15n^{3}+15n^{2}}{6n^{3}}[/itex] + [itex]\frac{2n^{3}+3n^{2}+n}{6n^{3}}[/itex]

This should simplify to:

[itex]\frac{17n^{3}+18n^{2}+n}{6n^{3}}[/itex]

This could further be simplified by removing [itex]\frac{17n^{3}}{6n^{3}}[/itex] to get

[itex]\frac{17}{6}[/itex] + [itex]\frac{18n+1}{6n^{2}}[/itex], where an n is distributed out of the second term.

Then the limit should be [itex]\frac{17}{6}[/itex] as n approaches infinity since the second term is equal to zero. :D

Sure, that's it.
 

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