What Values of p Make These Mathematical Series Converge?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around determining the values of p for which two mathematical series converge. The first series is given by the sum from n=1 to infinity of 1/(n(ln(n))^p), and the second series is the sum from n=1 to infinity of ln(n)/(n^p). Participants are exploring convergence criteria through integration techniques and comparisons.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are attempting to apply integration techniques, such as u-substitution and integration by parts, to analyze the convergence of the series. There are discussions about the limits involved and the behavior of the functions as n approaches infinity. Some participants express uncertainty about their reasoning and calculations, particularly regarding the assumptions made about the value of p.

Discussion Status

There is ongoing exploration of the convergence criteria for both series, with some participants suggesting that convergence occurs for p > 1. Others are questioning the assumptions made and the implications of specific values of p, particularly p = 1, indicating that different approaches may be needed for these cases. Guidance has been offered to simplify integrals and consider comparison tests.

Contextual Notes

Participants note potential complications in the convergence analysis, especially for p ≤ 1, and the need to treat the case where p = 1 separately. There is also mention of the original poster's unfamiliarity with formatting mathematical expressions, which may affect clarity in their attempts.

Hyrox
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for what values of p does...

Homework Statement


Find the values of p for which the series is convergent:

Homework Equations


There are two separate problems I'm having problems with here.
The first is:
n=1 to n=∞ ∑ 1/(n(lnn)^p)

The second is:
n=1 to n=∞ ∑ ln(n)/(n^p)

The Attempt at a Solution


Okay, I'm almost certain both of them converge for all values p>1. I'm having trouble proving it though.

Question 1:
On this one, I first took the sister function
f(x)=1/x(lnx)^p
and integrated it using u-substitution:
∫ (1/x(lnx)^p )dx u=lnx du=(1/x)dx
∫u^(-p)du = (u^(-p+1)) / (-p+1)
which I rewrote as:
(u^(1-p)) / (1-p)
then, I took the limit
lim n→∞ (u^(1-p)) / (1-p), looking for where it would converge.

I didn't really do any editing here, I just assumed p had to be greater than 1 so that the bottom was not negative, and not equal to 0, which would be undefined. Likewise, the top would have a negative exponent which would make the ln(x) converge. Therefore, I decided that it converges for all values p>1. I'm really not sure if I worked this one correctly or not.

Question 2:
I worked this one very similarly, but because it seems to be more complex, stumbled.
Once again, I took the sister function:
f(x)= lnx/x^p integrated by parts:
∫(lnx/x^p)dx u=lnx du=(1/x)dx dv=(1/x^p)dx v=x^(1-p)/(1-p)

With this, I'm not completely sure I got the correct value for v, when integrating dv.

However, I proceeded to set up the equation:

uv - ∫vdu = ((lnx)(x^1-p))/(1-p) - ∫[(x^(1-p))/(x(1-p))]dx

By this point, I didn't even bother integrating the ∫vdu because I felt so far off track.
That's pretty much as far as I worked on that one, assuming any of it is correct.

I'm new to this forum, so I hope I posted all of the necessary information...
It looks a bit messy, I tried to tidy it up as well as I could with symbols, but I'm not very familiar with how to use the fractions.

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
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Hyrox said:

Homework Statement


Find the values of p for which the series is convergent:

Homework Equations


There are two separate problems I'm having problems with here.
The first is:
n=1 to n=∞ ∑ 1/(n(lnn)^p)

The second is:
n=1 to n=∞ ∑ ln(n)/(n^p)




The Attempt at a Solution


Okay, I'm almost certain both of them converge for all values p>1. I'm having trouble proving it though.

Question 1:
On this one, I first took the sister function
f(x)=1/x(lnx)^p
and integrated it using u-substitution:
∫ (1/x(lnx)^p )dx u=lnx du=(1/x)dx
∫u^(-p)du = (u^(-p+1)) / (-p+1)
which I rewrote as:
(u^(1-p)) / (1-p)
then, I took the limit
lim n→∞ (u^(1-p)) / (1-p), looking for where it would converge.
i think you mean lim u goes to infinity, which is ok as lnx goes to infinity a s x does

to write in latex, trying clicking on text below to see the script
[tex]\frac{u^{1-p}}{1-p}[/tex]

Hyrox said:
I didn't really do any editing here, I just assumed p had to be greater than 1 so that the bottom was not negative, and not equal to 0, which would be undefined. Likewise, the top would have a negative exponent which would make the ln(x) converge. Therefore, I decided that it converges for all values p>1. I'm really not sure if I worked this one correctly or not.
you reasoning looks ok to me, but take a look at the first term in your series... may complicate things a little
Hyrox said:
Question 2:
I worked this one very similarly, but because it seems to be more complex, stumbled.
Once again, I took the sister function:
f(x)= lnx/x^p integrated by parts:
∫(lnx/x^p)dx u=lnx du=(1/x)dx dv=(1/x^p)dx v=x^(1-p)/(1-p)

With this, I'm not completely sure I got the correct value for v, when integrating dv.

However, I proceeded to set up the equation:

uv - ∫vdu = ((lnx)(x^1-p))/(1-p) - ∫[(x^(1-p))/(x(1-p))]dx

By this point, I didn't even bother integrating the ∫vdu because I felt so far off track.
That's pretty much as far as I worked on that one, assuming any of it is correct.

I'm new to this forum, so I hope I posted all of the necessary information...
It looks a bit messy, I tried to tidy it up as well as I could with symbols, but I'm not very familiar with how to use the fractions.

Thanks in advance for the help!

I think you're on the right track here, try simplifying the integral & keep going

It should also be easy to do a comparision test for p<=1, with the harmonic series 1/n
 


Okay, let's see.

I stopped here:
uv - ∫vdu = ((lnx)(x^1-p))/(1-p) - ∫[(x^(1-p))/(x(1-p))]dx
and then I picked back up.

[tex]\frac{lnx(x)^{1-p}}{1-p}[/tex] -[tex] \frac{1}{1-p}[/tex] ∫[tex]x^(-p)[/tex]

= lim n→∞ [tex]\frac{ln(x)^{1-p}}{1-p} - \frac{x^{1-p}}{(1-p)^{2}}[/tex]

At this point, I said that the limit converges for all values p > 1, because as p grows past 1, the x will be going to negative exponential powers, which converge to 0. Did I follow through well enough?

P.S. I hope I used latex okay.
 
Last edited:


Another point, for any cases where p = 1, the integration steps will be different so you should consider this separately

Back to Q2, you get to:
[tex]\displaystyle\lim_{x\to\infty} \frac{ln(x).x^{1-p}}{1-p} - \frac{x^{1-p}}{(1-p)^{2}}[/tex]

I think you dropped the x somewhere previously, but you will need to consider the limit of ln(x)/x^(1-p), for p > 1
 

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