9

Is this statement always true?

For any real number $x$, there exists a natural number $n$, such that $\frac{x^n}{n!} < 1$.

I reach this conclusion observing the series form of '$e^x$'. I observe that for larger value of $n$, $\frac{x^n}{n!}$ changes the numeric value of $e^x$ right side of decimal point.

Please provide the proof or link of the proof.

MathMajor
  • 6,628
  • 4
  • 27
  • 45
DEEP
  • 526

5 Answers5

11

You are pretty spot on with your observation concerning the power series expansion of $e^x$; in fact, you are so nearly close to a proof that it's quite surprising you haven't finished it yourself! Because I believe that you'll learn more if you have to work out the appropriate gritty details, I'm only going to provide an outline, but I promise that the legwork on filling in the gaps will be worth it.

1) We know that $e^x$ has a power series expansion given by $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{x^n}{n!}$.

2)By the ratio test, you can determine the radius of convergence of this series, finding that it converges on all of $\mathbb{R}$.

3) Since $\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{x^n}{n!}$ converges for all $x$, you know that the terms tend to $0$ in the limit as $n \rightarrow \infty$, and therefore are eventually smaller than any fixed positive constant you choose.

Hopefully that skeleton helps you flesh out the proof you are looking for!

Tenno
  • 253
  • 1
    I'm a bit intrigued as to why this received a down vote. Would the down voter care to enlighten me as to why this is not a suitable answer? – Tenno Nov 02 '15 at 08:38
  • thank u for your point "3)".... I know that but didn't think in this way... thank u for opening my eyes.. :-) – DEEP Nov 02 '15 at 08:50
  • I downvoted this (I'm not the original downvoter). The power series and the 'ratio test' is a complete red herring here. Instead convergence to 0 can and should be proved directly. If you can prove the condition of the ratio test, then the fact that the limit is below 1 follows immediately. – jwg Nov 02 '15 at 12:03
  • 1
    @jwg I wonder if Tenno intended this answer to be partly educational, and in that sense, it's sometimes helpful to go through a less concise process of "proof", to aid in understanding of how the different aspects fit together. The power series expansion of $e^x$ is explicitly a reference to the question, and thereby this answer is building off of something we know the asker understands already. – Todd Wilcox Nov 02 '15 at 14:28
  • I understand this @ToddWilcox but I think that on balance it is confusing to take this approach, especially for someone who is learning about RA proofs. – jwg Nov 02 '15 at 16:10
7

Fix $x$ and let $n > 2\lceil x\rceil$, then $$\frac{x^n}{n!} \le \frac{\lceil x\rceil^n}{n!} = \color{blue}{\frac{\lceil x\rceil}{1}\frac{\lceil x\rceil}{2} \cdots \frac{\lceil x\rceil}{2 \lceil x\rceil}} \color{green}{\frac{\lceil x\rceil}{2\lceil x\rceil + 1} \cdots \frac{\lceil x\rceil}{n}}.$$ Notice that the product of the terms in $\color{blue}{\text{blue}}$ does not depend on $n$, while each of the terms in $\color{green}{\text{green}}$ is smaller than $\frac 12$. Then

$$\frac{x^n}{n!} \le \color{blue}{M(\lceil x\rceil)}\color{green}{\Big(\frac 12\Big)^{n - 2\lceil x\rceil}},$$ hence $$\lim_{n \to \infty}\frac{x^n}{n!} \le \lim_{n \to \infty}M(\lceil x\rceil)\Big(\frac 12\Big)^{n - 2\lceil x\rceil} = M(\lceil x\rceil)2^{2\lceil x\rceil} \lim_{n \to \infty}\Big(\frac 12\Big)^n = 0.$$

Giovanni
  • 6,569
3

Note for $n$ even that $n! \geq (\frac{n}{2})^{\frac{n}{2}}$ since first $\frac{n}{2}$ terms of $n\cdot (n-1)...2\cdot 1$ are greater than or equal to $\frac{n}{2}$. Therefore since $n$ is eventually bigger than $2x^2$ it follows that $\frac{n}{2} > x^2$ and hence $(\frac{n}{2})^{\frac{1}{2}} > |x|$. Therefore $n! \geq ((\frac{n}{2})^{\frac{1}{2}})^{n} > |x|^n \geq x^{n}$.

Nex
  • 3,922
3

Method 1: the series $e^x=\sum_{n\geq 0}\frac{x^n}{n!}$ is convergent for all real numbers $x$, so by the Divergence Test, $\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{x^n}{n!}=0$. This means that $\frac{x^n}{n!}<1$ for all $n$ large enough.


Method 2: Let $x_n=\frac{x^n}{n!}$. Since $|x_n|=\frac{|x|^n}{n!}$, we can assume without any loss of generality that $x>0$. We choose $N>x$. Then, for $n>N$, we have

$$ x_n=\frac{x}{n}\times\dots\times\frac{x}{N}\times\frac{x}{N-1}\times\dots\times\frac{x}{2}\times\frac{x}{1} $$

so $$0< x_n\leqslant C\cdot\left(\frac{x}{N}\right)^{n+1-N}$$

where $C$ is the constant $C=\frac{x}{N-1}\times\dots\times\frac{x}{1}$.

Since $r=\frac{x}{N}\in(-1,1)$, the theory of geometric sequences imply that $Cr^{n+1-N}$ converges to $0$. By Squeeze Theorem, $\{x_n\}_n$ also converges to $0$.

Taladris
  • 12,203
  • 5
  • 35
  • 61
1

This is equivalent to showing that $x_n < n!$ for all $n \ge n_0$ for some $n_0 \ge 1$. Proceed by induction on $n$. For the base case $n=n_0$, we want $x^{n_0} < 1!$ and so we pick $n_0 > \left| \frac{1}{\log x} \right|$. Fixing this value $n_0$ we have

$$x^{n+1} = xx^n < xn! <(n+1)n! < (n+1)! \quad \text{for} \quad n \ge n_0$$

as desired.

MathMajor
  • 6,628
  • 4
  • 27
  • 45