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Limsup

The document defines and provides properties of liminf and limsup for sequences. It states that liminf and limsup always exist in the extended sense (may be ±infinity) and that a sequence converges if and only if liminf and limsup are equal and equal to the limit. Examples are given where liminf does not equal limsup, showing the sequence does not converge, and where they are equal, showing convergence.

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Joanne Wong
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85 views1 page

Limsup

The document defines and provides properties of liminf and limsup for sequences. It states that liminf and limsup always exist in the extended sense (may be ±infinity) and that a sequence converges if and only if liminf and limsup are equal and equal to the limit. Examples are given where liminf does not equal limsup, showing the sequence does not converge, and where they are equal, showing convergence.

Uploaded by

Joanne Wong
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Math 407A 10/19/05

Limsup and Liminf Summary

Keep the following in mind: Theorem 1. All bounded monotone sequences converge. Theorem 2. If (xn ) n=1 is a monotone sequence, then lim xn exists in the extended sense (i.e. it might be ).
n

Let (xn ) n=1 be a sequence of real numbers. We dene liminf and limsup of (xn )n=1 as: lim inf xn = lim xn = lim inf {xn : n > k }
k k

lim sup xn = lim xn = lim sup {xn : n > k } . If we let zk = inf {xn : n > k } and yk = sup {xn : n > k } ,
then (zk ) k=1 is monotone (nondecreasing) and (yk )k=1 is monotone (nonincreasing). So by the above theorem

lim xn = lim zk
k

and

lim xn = lim yk
k

always exist in the extended sense (i.e. they might be ). Classic examples: (1) xn = (1)n . Then lim xn = 1 and lim xn = 1. (2) xn = (3) xn = 2+ 1
1 n 1 n 1 n

for n even for n odd

. Then lim xn = 1 and lim = 2.

for n even n for n odd

. Then lim xn = 0 and lim xn = .

Theorem 3. Let (xn ) n=1 be a sequence of real numbers. Then (xn )n=1 converges to x0 (might be ) if and only if lim xn = x0 = lim xn . (i.e. the liminf and limsup are equal and they are equal to x0 .)

Examples: (1) Notice that none of the sequences in the above examples converge and that lim xn = lim xn in each case. 1 (2) xn = n . Of course, lim xn = 0. Notice that lim xn = 0 and
n

lim xn = 0. Why? For each k N we have 1 1 1 zk = inf { n : n > k } = 0 and yk = sup{ n : n > k} = k . So limk zk = 0 and limk yk = 0.
1

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