Question 0510

Sigma Notation
2010 Paper 2 Question 2 Variant

Question

(a)
Prove by the method of differences that
r=4n1(r3)(r1)=3412n412n2.\sum_{r=4}^n \frac{1}{(r - 3) (r - 1)} = \frac{3}{4} - \frac{ 1 }{ 2 n - 4 } - \frac{ 1 }{ 2 n - 2 }.
[4]
(b)
Explain why r=41(r3)(r1){\displaystyle \sum_{r=4}^\infty \frac{1}{(r - 3) (r - 1)}} is a convergent series, and state the value of the sum to infinity.
[2]

Answer