Solutions to exercise sheet 4: Sequences and limits

4.1 (a) We have that for all n ∈ N,

n+3 3
= 1 + ≤ 1 + 3 = 4.
n n
So this sequence is bounded.
(b) We have that for all n ∈ N,
n n n
= ≤ = 1.
n+2 n+2 n
So this sequence is bounded.
(c) For n ∈ N we can write

n2 + 1 1 + n−2 1 n
= − −2
≥ −1 = .
n+3 n 1 + 3n 4n 4
Thus if we let x ∈ R by the Archimedean principle we can find
n ∈ N with n > 4x. Then
n2 + 1 n
an = ≥ > x.
n+3 4
Thus the sequence is unbounded.
(d) If we let x ∈ R by the Archimedean principle we can choose n ∈ N
such that n > x. Thus |an | = | − n| = n > x. So the sequence is
unbounded.

4.2 Let ε > 0. By the Archimedean principle we can choose N ∈ N with

N > ε−1 (You may need to do some rough work before you
figure this out). Thus for n ∈ N with n ≥ N we have that
1 1 1 1
|an − 0| = ≤ ≤ ≤ −1 = ε.
n+4 n N ε

4.3 Let ε > 0. By the Archimedean principle we can choose N ∈ N with

N > 2ε−1 (You may need to do some rough work before you
figure this out). Thus for n ∈ N with n ≥ N
n n − (n + 2) 2 2 2
|an − 1| = −1 = = ≤ ≤ ≤ ε.
n+2 n+2 n+2 n N

4.4 (a) Let α ∈ R. We take ε = 1 and let N ∈ N. We will use that

|aN − aN +1 | = |2(−1)N − 2(−1)N +1 | = 4. Therefore by the
triangle inequality

4 = |aN − aN +1 | ≤ |aN − α| + |aN +1 − α|.

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 Thus we must have that either |aN −α| > 1 = ε or |aN +1 −α| > 1.
Therefore we have found ε > 0 such that for all N ∈ N there exists
n ≥ N (in this case either N or N +1) with |an −α| > ε. Therefore
we cannot have limn→∞ an = α. Since this holds for all α ∈ R
we must have that (an ) is a divergent sequence.
(b) Let α ∈ R. We take ε = 1 and let N ∈ N. We will use that
|aN − aN +1 | = |6(N ) − 6(N + 1)| = 6. Therefore by the triangle
inequality

6 = |aN − aN +1 | ≤ |aN − α| + |aN +1 − α|.

Thus we must have that either |aN −α| > 1 = ε or |aN +1 −α| > 1.
Therefore we have found ε > 0 such that for all N ∈ N there exists
n ≥ N (in this case either N or N +1) with |an −α| > ε. Therefore
we cannot have limn→∞ an = α. Since this holds for all α ∈ R
we must have that (an ) is a divergent sequence.
(c) Let α ∈ R. We take ε = 1/4 and let N ∈ N. If n ≥ 8 and odd then
an < 0 and if n is even then an = n+8n ≥ 1. Thus we can choose
n ≥ N (just take n = max{N, 8}) such that |an+1 − an | ≥ 1.
Therefore by the triangle inequality

1 ≤ |an − α| + |an+1 − α|

and so one of |an − α| or |an+1 − α| must be greater than 1/4.

Therefore (an ) is divergent.

4.5 Let ε > 0. Since limn→∞ xn = x we can find N1 ∈ N such that if

n ≥ N1 then |xn − x| ≤ ε. We choose N = N1 . If n ≥ N then since
n + k ≥ N we will have |xn+k − x| ≤ ε and so,

|yn − x| = |xn+k − x| ≤ ε.

4.6 We will show that for all ε > 0 we have that a − b ≤ ε which implies
a ≤ b. So we let ε > 0 and use that limn→∞ an = a and limn→∞ bn = b.
This means we can choose N ∈ N such that for all n ≥ N , |an −a| ≤ ε/2
and |bn − b| ≤ ε/2. Therefore

a−b = a−aN +aN −bN +bN −b ≤ |a−aN |+aN −bN +|bN −b| ≤ ε+aN −bN .

So a − b ≤ ε + aN − bN and since for all n ∈ N we have that an ≤ bn

we can conclude that a − b ≤ ε + aN − bN ≤ ε.

4.7 Let α ∈ R and choose ε = a/4. Let N ∈ N (we need to find n ∈ N

with |an − α| > a/4.) We can find K ∈ N such that for all k ≥ K
|(xk+1 − xk ) − a| ≤ a/8 and in particular |xk − xk+1 | ≥ 7a/8. Now

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 let N ∈ N and choose k = max N, K. In this case n ≥ N and by the
triangle inequality we have that

7a/8 ≤ |xn+1 − xn | ≤ |xn+1 − α| + |xn − α|.

Thus either |xn − α| > a/4 = ε or |xn+1 − α| > a/4 = ε. either way
we can find n ∈ N with n ≥ N and |xn − α| > ε.
4.8 First of all we need to show that x ≥ 0. To do this we will show that
x ≥ −ε for any ε > 0. So let ε > 0 and choose N such that for all
n ≥ N we have that |xn − x| ≤ ε (since limn→∞ xn = x). We have
that x − xN ≥ −ε and xN ≥ 0 which means that

x = x − xN + xN ≥ −ε + 0 = −ε.

Thus x ≥ 0.
Now suppose that x = 0. In this case let ε > 0 and choose N ∈ N
to be such that for all n ≥ N , |xn | ≤ ε2 (which we can do since
limn→∞ xn = x). Thus for n ≥ N we have that
√ √ √
| xn − 0| = xn ≤ ε2 = ε.
√ √
Thus limn→∞ xn = x.
Now suppose that x > 0. In this case let ε > 0 and choose N ∈ N to be
√ √
such that for all n ≥ N , |xn −x| ≤ ε x (which we can do since x > 0
and limn→∞ xn = x. Note you will need to do some calculations first
before figuring out how to choose N .) Thus for n ≥ N we have that
√ √ √ √
√ √ ( xn − x)( xn + x)
| xn − x| = √ √
xn + x
|xn − x| |x − x|
= √ √ ≤ n√ ≤ ε.
xn + x x
√ √
Thus limn→∞ xn = x.
4.9 (a) We know that for all n ∈ N, 0 ≤ n31+5 ≤ n13 . Since we know that
limn→∞ 0 = 0 and limn→∞ n−3 = 0 (lecture notes) it follows by
the sandwich rule that limn→∞ n31+5 = 0.
2 −2
(b) We have that for all n ∈ N, 4nn2 +7n
+3
= 1+3n
4+7n−1
. By the sum and
scalar product rules it follows that limn→∞ 1 + 3n−2 = 1 and
limn→∞ 4 + 7n−1 = 4. It then follows by the quotient rule that
2 +3
limn→∞ 4nn2 +7n = 41 .
√ √ √
(c) We have that for all n ∈ N, (using that 1 = ( n + 1− n)( n + 1+
√
n))
√ √ 1 1
0≤ n+1− n= √ √ ≤√ .
n+1+ n n

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 It follows by question 8 that limn→∞ √1
= 0 (covered in the
n √
problems class) and so by the sandwich rule limn→∞ n + 1 −
√
n = 0.
(d) We have that for all n ∈ N

sin n + 5n
= n−2 (sin n) + 5n−1 .
n2
We know that since −1 ≤ sin n ≤ 1, −n−2 ≤ n−2 sin n ≤ n−2 .
Thus by the sandwich rule and the scalar product rule limn→∞ n−2 sin n =
0 and so by the sum rule and the scalar product rule limn→∞ sin n+5n
n2
=
0.

4.10 Since x < 0 and limn→∞ xn = x we can choose N such that for all
n ≥ N |xn − x| ≤ −x/2. Thus xn − x ≤ −x/2 and so xn ≤ x/2 < 0.
Thus there are at most N − 1 (finite) values of n where xn ≥ 0.

4.11 Since (bn )n∈N is bounded there exists K > 0 such that for all n ≥ N
|bn | ≤ K. Thus for all n ∈ N 0 ≤ |an bn | ≤ K|bn |. So if we let ε > 0 and
choose n ∈ N where for all n ≥ N |an | ≤ ε/K then |an bn | ≤ K|bn | ≤ ε
and thus limn→∞ an bn = 0.

4.12 Since |a| > 0 and limn→∞ an = a we can find N ∈ N such that
for all n ≥ N |an − a| ≤ |a|/2 and thus for n ≥ N , an 6= 0. So
by question 5 from sheet 4 limn→∞ an+N = a and an+N 6= 0 for all
n ∈ N. Now in order to obtain a contradiction suppose that (bn an ) is
convergent then there exists c ∈ R where limn→∞ an bn = c and thus
limn→∞ an+N bn+N = c. So by the quotient rule limn→∞ bn+N = c/a
and thus limn→∞ bn = c/a (let ε > 0, choose N1 such that for all
n ≥ N + N1 |bn+N − c/a| ≤ ε and thus if we take N2 = N1 + N for all
n ≥ N we have that |bn −c/a| ≤ ε and so limn→∞ bn = c/a). Thus (bn )
is convergent which is a contradiction. So (an bn ) must be divergent.