Question 0510

Sigma Notation
2010 Paper 2 Question 2 Variant

Question

(a)
Prove by the method of differences that
r=2n1(r1)(r+1)=3412n12n+2.\sum_{r=2}^n \frac{1}{(r - 1) (r + 1)} = \frac{3}{4} - \frac{ 1 }{ 2 n } - \frac{ 1 }{ 2 n + 2 }.
[4]
(b)
Explain why r=21(r1)(r+1){\displaystyle \sum_{r=2}^\infty \frac{1}{(r - 1) (r + 1)}} is a convergent series, and state the value of the sum to infinity.
[2]

Answer