Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus, 7th Edition

Published by Brooks Cole
ISBN 10: 1305071751
ISBN 13: 978-1-30507-175-9

Chapter 12 - Section 12.1 - Sequences and Summation Notation - 12.1 Exercises - Page 851: 44

Answer

$\dfrac {1}{2}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}$ $ S_{1}=\dfrac {1}{6};$ $S_{2}=\dfrac {1}{4};$ $S_{3}=\dfrac {3}{10};$ $S_{4}=\dfrac {1}{3}$

Work Step by Step

$a_{n-1}+a_{n}=\dfrac {1}{\left( n-1\right) +1}-\dfrac {1}{\left( n-1\right) +2}+\dfrac {1}{n+1}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}=\dfrac {1}{n}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}$ $a_{n-2}+a_{n-1}+a_{n}=\dfrac {1}{\left( n-2\right) +1}-\dfrac {1}{\left( n-2\right) +2}+\dfrac {1}{\left( n-1\right) +1}-\dfrac {1}{\left( n-1\right) +2}+\dfrac {1}{n+1}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}=\dfrac {1}{n-1}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}$ $\Rightarrow a_{1}+a_{2}+\ldots a_{n-1}+a_{n}=\dfrac {1}{1+1}-\dfrac {1}{1+2}+\dfrac {1}{2+1}-\dfrac {1}{2+2}+\ldots +\dfrac {1}{\left( n-1\right) +1}-\dfrac {1}{\left( n-1\right) +2}+\dfrac {1}{n+1}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}=\dfrac {1}{1+1}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}=\dfrac {1}{2}-\dfrac {1}{n+2}$ $\Rightarrow S_{1}=\dfrac {1}{2\left( 1+2\right) }=\dfrac {1}{6};S_{2}=\dfrac {2}{2\left( 2+2\right) }=\dfrac {1}{4};S_{3}=\dfrac {3}{2\left( 3+2\right) }=\dfrac {3}{10};S_{4}=\dfrac {4}{2\left( 2+4\right) }=\dfrac {1}{3}$
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