Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Single Variable Calculus (MTH 111)
Exercise Sheet 2
1. To be discussed in the tutorial session
(1) Show that a real sequence can converge to at most one real number.
(2) Suppose that xn −−−→ x. Show that if x ̸= 0 then there exists N ∈ N such that ∀n ≥ N , xn
n→∞
has the same sign with that of x.
(3) Suppose xn −−−→ x, yn −−−→ y and α ∈ R. Then prove the following:
n→∞ n→∞
(a) |xn | −−−→ |x|.
n→∞
(b) If |xn | −−−→ |x|, does that always imply xn −−−→ x? If not, then can you provide a
n→∞ n→∞
sufficient condition for that?
(c) xn ± yn −−−→ x ± y.
n→∞
(d) xn yn −−−→ xy. (Hint Observe that |xn yn − xy| ≤ |xn ||yn − y| + |y||xn − x|. Recall that
n→∞
convergent sequences are bounded)
(e) αxn −−−→ αx.
n→∞  
xn x
1 1 
(f) If yn ̸= 0, for all n ∈ N and y ̸= 0 then, −−−→ yn y
. (Hint Observe that  −  =
  n→∞ yn y
 yn − y 
 yn y . From yn − −−→ y, can you get a lower bound for all |yn |, when n is sufficiently
 
n→∞
large?) √ √ √
√
(g) If xn ≥ 0, for all n ∈ N, then xn −−−→ x. (Hint Observe that | xn − x| =
n→∞
|xn − x| |x − x|
√ √ ≤ n√ .)
xn + x x
(h) If xn ≥ 0, for all n ∈ N, then x ≥ 0.
(4) Suppose that {xn }∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
n=1 , {yn }n=1 and {zn }n=1 are three sequence such that both {xn }n=1 and
∞
{zn }n=1 converges to ℓ ∈ R. Assume that, there exists N ∈ N such that ∀n ≥ N , one has
xn ≤ yn ≤ zn . Show that yn −−−→ ℓ.
n→∞
The above exercise (4) is referred to as the Sandwich theorem. This theorem is extremely useful in
many occasions to compute the limit of certain sequences.
def
(5) (a) Let 0 ≤ r < 1. Show that rn −−−→ 0. (Hint Put 1 + a = 1r , where a > 0 (why?). Now,
n→∞
for all n ∈ N, observe that (1 + a)n ≥ na.)
(b) Let r ∈ (−1, 1). Show that rn −−−→ 0.
n→∞
1 1
(c) Let a > 1. Show that a n −−−→ 1. (Hint a > 1 implies a n > 1, so that one can write
n→∞
1
a n = 1 + hn . Now show that hn −−−→ 0.)
n→∞
1 1 2
(d) Show that n −−−→ 1. (Hint Write n n = 1 + hn . Can you see h2n ≤
n
n−1
?)
n→∞
xn+1
(6) Ratio test: Let {xn }∞
n=1 be a sequence of positive real numbers and lim = λ. Then
n→∞ xn
show the following:
(a) If λ < 1, the lim xn = 0.
n→∞
(b) if λ > 1, then lim xn = ∞ (i.e., ∀M ∈ R ∃N ∈ N such that ∀n ≥ N, xn > M )
n→∞
(c) What can you say if λ = 1?
1
 2

(d) Do we need the positivity of xn ’s in the hypothesis of the ratio test? Explain your answer.
∞
(−1)n−1

1 1 1
(7) (a) Show that 1 − + − + · · · + is convergent.
2 3 4 n n=1
(b) Let {xn }∞
n=1 be a sequence. Assume that there exist C > 0 and a > 1 such that
C
∀n ∈ N, |xn+1 − xn | ≤ n .
a
∞
Show that {xn }n=1 is convergent.
(c) Suppose {xn }∞n=1 is a sequence and α ∈ (0, 1) is such that the following holds for all
n ∈ N:
|xn+2 − xn+1 | ≤ α|xn+1 − xn |, ∀n ∈ N.
Then show that {xn }∞ n=1 is convergent.
def
(8) Nested interval theorem: Let In = [an , bn ], ∀n ∈ N. Assume that, In+1 ⊆ In , for any
∞
\
n ∈ N and lim (bn − an ) = 0. Then, show that In contains only one point. (Hint Can
n→∞
n=1
you think of an exercise from the previous sheet which applies here?)
2. Additional exercises
(1)∗ Are the following statements equivalent for a real sequence {xn }∞
n=1 ?
∞
(a) {xn }n=1 is Cauchy; and
(b) For any ε > 0, there is N ∈ N such that ∀n ≥ N , |xn+1 − xn | < ε.
Justify your answer.
n
(2) (a) Let a ∈ R. Does { an! }∞
n=1 converge? If so, then can you find its limit?
1
(b) Show that (n!) n −−−→ ∞. (Hint You may use (2a).)
n→∞
1
(3) Let a, b ∈ R. Find lim (an + bn ) n .
n→∞

(4)∗ Let {rn }∞

n=1be an enumeration of all rational numbers in [0, 1]. Show that {rn }∞
n=1 is not
convergence.
(5)∗ Let a, b > 0. We define the following sequence recursively:
 
1 a
x1 = b, xn+1 = xn + , ∀n ∈ N.
2 xn
Is {xn }∞
n=1 convergence? If so, then can you find the limit?