Problems from Monotonous sequences

Determine the behavior of the following sequences:

a) an=8n12n

b) bn=2n1+n2

c) cn=n2+2n1

See development and solution

Development:

a) The sequence is not constant since a1=8 and a2=163.

To verify if the solution is increasing or decreasing it is sufficient to verify whether anan+1 or anan+1, respectively.

Let's see if it is increasing. We want to verify if 8n12n8(n+1)1(2n+1)

By simplifying the factor 8 and multiplying by the denominators, while observing that the denominators are always negative, we obtain n(12(n+1))(n+1)(12n) By expanding the products we have n2n2+12n2n

And by reducing the term n2n2 we obtain 01 which is always true independently of n. Therefore the sequence is increasing.

To see if the sequence is definitely increasing we must verify whether an<an+1.

We can verify it using the previous calculations about the solution being definitely increasing since the calculations that were carried out are true if we replace the inequality by the strict inequality <.

b) The sequence is not constant since b1=1 and b2=45.

Taking a look at the first two terms ot the sequence, it cannot be an increasing one. Let's see if the sequence is strictly decreasing. We verify if 2n1+n2>2(n+1)1+(n+1)2 Multiplying by the denominators; 2n(1+(n+1)2)>(1+n2)2(n+1) Expanding we obtain; 4n+4n2+2n3>2+2n+2n2+2n3 Simplifying we obtain n2+n1>0 Computing two roots of the previous polynomial we see that they are both smaller than 1. Therefore, for n integer it is satisfied that n2+n1>0 and the sequence is definitely decreasing.

c) The sequence is not constant since c1=32 and c2=2.

By taking a look at the first two terms it can happen that the sequence is definitely decreasing. We verify if n2+2n1>(n+1)2+2(n+1)1 By multiplying by the denominators we obtain (n2)(n2+2)>(n2+2n+3)(n1) By multiplying by 1, and therefore inverting the inequality and expanding, we obtain; n3+2n2+2n+4<n3+3n2+5n+3 By subtracting we obtain the inequality n2+3n1>0

By calculating the roots we see that the two of them are smaller than 1 and, therefore, the inequality is true for every integer n.

Therefore, the sequence is strictly decreasing.

Solution:

a) The sequence is strictly increasing.

b) The sequence is strictly decreasing.

c) The sequence is strictly decreasing.

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