Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/ia/paper-4/2e/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 2E Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For a nonempty set , an upper bound in a partially ordered set is a real number such that for every . Its supremum, or least upper bound, is an upper bound with for every upper bound . The least-upper-bound property asserts that every nonempty set of real numbers bounded above has a real supremum.
Let be a bounded, increasing sequence; here increasing allows . Apply the least-upper-bound property to its set of terms and put . Given , the number cannot be an upper bound, so some satisfies . The monotone sequence property then givesHence for all . This proves the monotone bounded sequence result, with limit .
For the two series, define their partial sums and . Positivity makes both partial-sum sequences increasing, and termwise comparison gives . Since is a convergent sequence, it is bounded above, and therefore so is . Applying the monotone bounded sequence result already proved shows that converges. By the definition of a convergent series, converges. This is the comparison test for series for positive terms.
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