MHB Remainder Estimate for Integral Test

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The discussion revolves around the Remainder Estimate for the Integral Test applied to the series $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{{n}^{1.01}}$$. A participant expresses confusion about their approach and the error in their approximation, indicating they are not obtaining the expected results. It is clarified that the integral approximation should not be directly equated with the series sum and that the correct method involves using bounds for the remainder. The correct estimate for the sum should yield approximately 100.65 when evaluated properly. Understanding the proper application of the Integral Test is crucial for accurate results in series approximations.
Pull and Twist
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I'm working on the following problem and I have made it this far... am I on the correct path or am I doing this incorrectly?? I find series extremely confusing. Also... how do I find the error involved in the improved approximation?

This is the series I am working with: $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{{n}^{1.01}}$$

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PullandTwist said:
I'm working on the following problem and I have made it this far... am I on the correct path or am I doing this incorrectly?? I find series extremely confusing. Also... how do I find the error involved in the improved approximation?

This is the series I am working with: $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{{n}^{1.01}}$$

Take into account the Laurent series expansion discovered by the Dutch mathematician Thomas Joannes Stieltjes in the XIX century...

$\displaystyle \zeta (s) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^{s}} = \frac{1}{s-1} + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{n}}{n!} (s - 1)^{n},\ |s|>1\ (1) $

It is clear that if s is close to 1 the first term will be dominant, so that $\displaystyle \zeta (1.01) \sim 100$ ... if You want to take into account the term of order 0, the coefficient $\gamma_{0}$ in (1) is known as the Euler's constant $\gamma = .57721566...$ so that is $\displaystyle \zeta (1.01) \sim 100. 57721566... $

... it is clear that also adding other terms the result will not deviate too much...

Kind regards

$\chi$ $\sigma$
 
chisigma said:
Take into account the Laurent series expansion discovered by the Dutch mathematician Thomas Joannes Stieltjes in the XIX century...

$\displaystyle \zeta (s) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^{s}} = \frac{1}{s-1} + \sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{(-1)^{n}}{n!} (s - 1)^{n},\ |s|>1\ (1) $

It is clear that if s is close to 1 the first term will be dominant, so that $\displaystyle \zeta (1.01) \sim 100$ ... if You want to take into account the term of order 0, the coefficient $\gamma_{0}$ in (1) is known as the Euler's constant $\gamma = .57721566...$ so that is $\displaystyle \zeta (1.01) \sim 100. 57721566... $

... it is clear that also adding other terms the result will not deviate too much...

Kind regards

$\chi$ $\sigma$

I have never learned about the Laurent series expansion... I'm supposed to be using the Remainder Estimate for Integral Test... I am assuming that I am not using it correctly since I am not getting the same answer.
 
PullandTwist said:
I'm working on the following problem and I have made it this far... am I on the correct path or am I doing this incorrectly?? I find series extremely confusing. Also... how do I find the error involved in the improved approximation?

This is the series I am working with: $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{{n}^{1.01}}$$

Hi PullandTwist,

There are many errors in your work. While you can approximate $s$ using $\int_1^\infty dx/x^{1.01}$, it is not the case that $s = \int_1^\infty dx/x^{1.01}$, which is what your work shows on the left side of the paper. The main point though is that it has nothing to do with the problem; you should remove it. In the problem, you must approximate $s$ with $s_1$ (which you did -- you have $s_1 = 1$) and then use the estimates for $R_1$ to give the error of approximation (it should be fine to give the order of magnitude of $R_1$). In your analysis, you gave an approximation of $s$ of about $75.827$. This should be a red flag, because the checkpoint was $s \approx 100.65$. Knowing that $\int_{n+1}^\infty x^{-1.01}\, dx \le R_n \le \int_n^\infty x^{-1.01}\, dx$, after computing the integrals we obtain $100 (n+1)^{-0.01} \le R_n \le 100n^{-0.01}$. Substituting $n = 1$, we get $100(0.5)^{-0.01} \le R_1 \le 100$. What does this tell you about the order of magnitude of $R_1$?
 
PullandTwist said:
I have never learned about the Laurent series expansion... I'm supposed to be using the Remainder Estimate for Integral Test... I am assuming that I am not using it correctly since I am not getting the same answer.

... what You can obtain from integral test is...

$\displaystyle |R_{n}| \le \int_{n}^{n+1} x^{-1.01}\ d x = \frac {100}{99}\ \{ (n+1)^{\frac{99}{100}} -n^{\frac{99}{100}}\}\ (1) $

... so that if $s_{0}=100$ You have $|R_{1}|\le .996...,\ |R_{2}| \le .9909..., |R_{3}|\le .9875...$ and so on...

Kind regards

$\chi$ $\sigma$
 
PullandTwist said:
I'm working on the following problem and I have made it this far... am I on the correct path or am I doing this incorrectly?? I find series extremely confusing. Also... how do I find the error involved in the improved approximation?

This is the series I am working with: $$\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{{n}^{1.01}}$$
You may find these notes helpful – see the section headed Integral Test.

The setting is as follows. Suppose that $f(x)$ is a positive, decreasing function defined for $x>0$ and let $a_n = f(n).$ Let $$s = \sum_{j=1}^\infty a_j$$ and let $$s_n = \sum_{j=1}^n a_j.$$ So $s$ denotes the sum of the whole series, and $s_n$ is the sum of the first $n$ terms. Finally, let $R_n = s-s_n$ be the remainder after summing the first $n$ terms. Then it is shown in the above link that $R_n$ lies between $$\int_n^\infty \!\!\!f(x)\,dx$$ and $$\int_{n+1}^\infty \!\!\!f(x)\,dx.$$ It suggests that a good estimate for $s$ would be to approximate $R_n$ by the midpoint of those two bounds. In other words, you should use $$\frac12\biggl(\int_n^\infty \!\!\!f(x)\,dx + \int_{n+1}^\infty f(x)\,dx\biggr)$$ as an approximation for $R_n$, getting $$s \approx s_n + \frac12\biggl(\int_n^\infty \!\!\!f(x)\,dx + \int_{n+1}^\infty f(x)\,dx\biggr).$$ In your problem, you should take $f(x) = \dfrac1{x^{1.01}}$ and $n=1$. Then $s_1 = 1$ and $$s \approx 1 + \frac12\biggl(\int_1^\infty \frac1{x^{1.01}}\,dx + \int_2^\infty \frac1{x^{1.01}}\,dx\biggr).$$ If you do that and evaluate the integrals correctly, you should find that $s\approx 100.65$, as the question suggests.