Why Do My Answers Differ on These Limit Problems?

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Hey! Can somebody take a look on these two limit problems? I don't agree with the answer to #15, which is supposed to be 0 while I get infinity. #16 seems to ask to find the value of the sum...I posted a pic of my attempts to solve the problems below.
upload_2016-7-6_13-3-12.png

upload_2016-7-6_13-4-2.png


My attempts:
upload_2016-7-6_13-20-27.png
 
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#15 is asking for the limit *from above*. When \pi/2 < x < \pi, \tan x is negative.

However you are correct that the limit *from below* is e^{+\infty} = +\infty.
 
pasmith said:
#15 is asking for the limit *from above*. When \pi/2 < x < \pi, \tan x is negative.

However you are correct that the limit *from below* is e^{+\infty} = +\infty.
Ooooh, I see! Thanks!
 
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For Problem 16, the approach should be to convert the summation into an integral thus:
\lim_{n \to \infty} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} \frac{3}{n} \sqrt{9 - \left(\frac{3i}{n}\right)^2} = \lim_{n \to \infty} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} \frac{3 \Delta i}{n} \sqrt{9 - \left(\frac{3i}{n}\right)^2}
where ##\Delta i = 1##.
Then, it is straightforward to have a variable ##\lambda = i / n##, so that in the limit ##n \to \infty##, the summation becomes the integral
\int_{0}^{1}d\lambda\,\,3\sqrt{9 - 3\lambda^2 }
 
Fightfish said:
For Problem 16, the approach should be to convert the summation into an integral thus:
\lim_{n \to \infty} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} \frac{3}{n} \sqrt{9 - \left(\frac{3i}{n}\right)^2} = \lim_{n \to \infty} \sum_{i = 1}^{n} \frac{3 \Delta i}{n} \sqrt{9 - \left(\frac{3i}{n}\right)^2}
where ##\Delta i = 1##.
Then, it is straightforward to have a variable ##\lambda = i / n##, so that in the limit ##n \to \infty##, the summation becomes the integral
\int_{0}^{1}d\lambda\,\,3\sqrt{9 - 3\lambda^2 }
Thanks! I understand the substitution, but don't quite get how you came up with the limits of integration (0 and 1).
 
Poznerrr said:
Thanks! I understand the substitution, but don't quite get how you came up with the limits of integration (0 and 1).
The variable ##\lambda = i/n## takes values between ##0## (i = 1) and ##1## (i = n), which are the corresponding limits of the original summation.
 
Fightfish said:
The variable ##\lambda = i/n## takes values between ##0## (i = 1) and ##1## (i = n), which are the corresponding limits of the original summation.

The limits make sense then. I'm trying to compute the integral and something is really off...
 
Here's what I get when I try to compute the integral
 

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The integration is not correct; you need to use integration by parts - remember its an ##u^2## under the square root.
 
  • #10
Fightfish said:
The integration is not correct; you need to use integration by parts - remember its an ##u^2## under the square root.
I set u=sqrt(1-u^2) (du=-u/sqrt(1-u^2) and dv=du, so that v=u. But this didn't help much, since I still need in integrate sqrt. (1-u^2). It started to look more like inverse sine though.
 

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  • #11
Actually nevermind about the integration by parts; it's much faster to do a substitution directly on the original integral ##\int d\lambda \,\,\sqrt{1-\lambda^2}## - let ##\lambda \equiv \sin \theta## and proceed accordingly.
 
  • #12
Fightfish said:
Actually nevermind about the integration by parts; it's much faster to do a substitution directly on the original integral ##\int d\lambda \,\,\sqrt{1-\lambda^2}## - let ##\lambda \equiv \sin \theta## and proceed accordingly.
Yeah, I used trig sub and got the answer I was supposed to. Thanks for your help!
 

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