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Summation Approximations: N 1 I 1 N 1 I 1

1) The fundamental theorem of calculus can be used to solve certain summations by treating the summation as an integral and evaluating it. 2) The harmonic sum from 1 to n can be approximated by taking the ceiling of the logarithm of n+1, since the terms decrease and can be bounded above by blocks that each add to 1. 3) A geometric series can be used to approximate summations of strictly increasing or decreasing functions by bounding the summation at the point where the terms begin decreasing and treating the remainder as a geometric series.

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73 views2 pages

Summation Approximations: N 1 I 1 N 1 I 1

1) The fundamental theorem of calculus can be used to solve certain summations by treating the summation as an integral and evaluating it. 2) The harmonic sum from 1 to n can be approximated by taking the ceiling of the logarithm of n+1, since the terms decrease and can be bounded above by blocks that each add to 1. 3) A geometric series can be used to approximate summations of strictly increasing or decreasing functions by bounding the summation at the point where the terms begin decreasing and treating the remainder as a geometric series.

Uploaded by

Andrew Lee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Summation Approximations

Fundamental Theorem of Calculus

Not an approximation, but still a useful method of solving certain summations. For a constant variable x:
Z n1
n1
X
X
d
i1
ix
=
ixi1 dx
(1)
dx
i=1
i=1
!
n1 Z
d X
=
ixi1 dx
(2)
dx
=

d
dx

i=1
n1
X

xi



d xn 1
1
dx x 1
(n 1)xn nxn1 + 1
=
(x 1)2
=

(3)

i=1

(4)
(5)

Harmonic Sum
n
X
1
i=1

=1+

1 1 1 1 1 1
+ + + + + + ...
2 3 4 5 6 7

(6)

To approximate this sum, take the first element as-is. Now because the
function is strictly decreasing, the sum of any block of consecutive terms
in the sequence can be upper-bounded by the length of the block times the
first element.
Using this approach, upper-bound 1/3 to 1/2, (1/5, 1/6, 1/7) each to
1/4, and so on and so forth. For every element (1/2)j , upper-bound the
next 2j 1 elements to the first. This divides the entire summation into a
number of blocks, where each block adds up to 1. The number of blocks is
lg(n + 1), so therefore
n
X
lg(n + 1)
(7)
i=1

Summation Approximations
3

Geometric Approximation

For a strictly increasing or decreasing function, its summation can be approximated by a geometric series.
2
X
i
i=1

2i

1 4 9 16 25 36
+ + +
+
+
+ ...
2 4 8 16 32 64

(8)

Notice that for this summation, the terms begin decreasing at i = 3. An


approximation can be taken by bounding the summation at this point with
a geometric series. Taking the ratio of consecutive terms,
(i + 1)2


i+1
1
1 2
2
r=
=
1+
(9)
2
i
i2
2i
Better approximations can be achieved by increasing i and adding in the
sum of excluded terms.

Integral Approximation

For strictly increasing or decreasing functions, summations can be bounded


both above and below by integrals.

m1

m1

n+1

For an increasing f ,
Z n
f (x)dx
m1

and for a decreasing f ,


Z n+1
f (x)dx
m

n
X

f (i)

n+1
X

f (x)dx

f (i)

i=m

(10)

i=m

n
X

n+1

f (x)dx
m1

(11)

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