Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ia / Paper 4 / 8D (Numbers and Sets)

A sequence $(a_k)$ converges to $a\in \mathbb{R}$ when for every $\epsilon >0$ there is $N$ such that $|a_k-a|<\epsilon$ for all $k\ge N$. A series ${\sum }_{k=1}^{\infty }{a}_k$ converges to a finite $S$ when its partial sums $s_n={\sum }_{k=1}^n{a}_k$ converge to $S$.

If the series converges, then $a_n=s_n-s_{n-1}\to S-S=0$, so its terms tend to zero. The converse is false: the harmonic series has terms tending to zero but diverges.

For the arithmetic averages, suppose $a_k\to a$. Fix $\epsilon >0$ and choose $K$ so $|a_k-a|<\epsilon /2$ for $k\ge K$. The finite initial contribution $C={\sum }_{k=1}^{K-1}|a_k-a|$ is fixed, andFor sufficiently large $n$, $C/n<\epsilon /2$, provingThis is the Cesaro theorem for convergent sequences. Its hypothesis concerns a convergent sequence; the corresponding series need not be a convergent series.

The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality gives $a_k+1/a_k\ge 2$, so $u_n\ge 2n\to +\infty$. Hence $(u_n)$ has no finite limit.

For the example, take $\boxed{a_k=1+2^{-k}}$. Every term is positive and different from $1$, andThe bounding geometric series converges, so the comparison test for series proves that the partial sums $v_n$ converge.

In general, if $v_n$ converges, the necessary condition for a convergent series gives $d_k=a_k-1/a_k=v_k-v_{k-1}\to 0$. Since $a_k>0$,Apply the Cesaro theorem for convergent sequences to these summands:Equivalently, $a_k=(d_k+\sqrt{d_k^2+4})/2\to 1$. The series of the differences may converge while the series of the positive sums still diverges linearly.