Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
MARCUS CARLSSON
The following theorem contains 4 standard limits, and most more intricate limits
can be found by knowing these, the “algebra of limits”-theorem 2.27, and the
sandwich theorem 2.34.
1
Theorem 0.1. 1. Given α ą 0 we have limnÑ8 nα “0
2. Given r P p´1, 1q we have limnÑ8 rn “ 0
3. Given a ą 0 we have limnÑ8 a1{n “ 1
4. limnÑ8 lnnn “ 0
Proof. 1. Actually, we have not yet defined what we mean by nα for α P RzQ, so
therefore we satisfy with a proof for the particular case α “ 1{M where M P N.
Let ą 0 be fixed. Clearly, x ÞÑ x1{M is an increasing positive function (see the
definition in Sec. 1.5) so therefore the sequence 1{n1{M is decreasing and positive.
Pick N P N such that N ą 1{M . For n ą N we then have
1 1 1
ď 1{M ď “ .
n1{M N p1{M q1{M
Since also 1{n1{M ě 0, we conclude that
1 1
| 1{M ´ 0| “ 1{M ď
n n
for all n ą N , and so
1
lim “ 0,
nÑ8 n1{M
by definition.
To get an idea of a proof for the general case, note that given any α ą 0 we
can pick M P N such that α ą 1{M . We now accept (on faith) that the function
x ÞÑ nx is increasing for every fixed n P N. Therefore
0 ď 1{nα ď 1{n1{M .
The sequence which is identically zero clearly has limit 0, which also holds for
p1{n1{M q8
n“1 by what we already have established. Thus
1
lim α “ 0
nÑ8 n
by the sandwich theorem.
2. One proof is given in Example 2.35. A more intuitive proof was given during
exercises for r “ 2{3, but the argument used properties of the exponential function,
which I’d like to avoid since we have not yet formally introduced it. So I provide
an alternative proof based on contradiction instead...
Note that |rn ´ 0| “ |r|n , so it suffices to show that limnÑ8 |r|n “ 0. In other
words, we may assume that r ą 0, which we do from now on. The sequence prn q8 n“1