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I'm trying to do my Maths assignment but I can't get this done. I can do other questions but this one is different. This is a picture of the question.

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(source: gyazo.com)

My usual first step is to proof it when n = 1. But the problem is, that I don't know what x is. It says x is not equal to 1, but I still don't know what to do next.

Thank you.

  • 1
    Yes, so the left side is $x^0+x^1$, which is $1+x$.2012-10-31

4 Answers 4

1

For $n=1$, the right hand side is

$\begin{align*} \frac{1 - x^2}{1-x} &= \frac{(1-x)(1+x)}{1-x} \\ &= 1+x, \quad x \ne 1 \end{align*}$

which is identical to the right hand side.

  • 0
    The left hand side for $n=1$ expands to $x^0+x^1 = 1 + x, x \ne 0$2012-10-31
3

It doesn't matter what $x$ is, as long as it isn't $1$ (so $1-x$ isn't $0$, and you can divide by it). Just treat it as a normal inductive proof:

Suppose $\sum_{i=0}^{n}{x^{i}}=\frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x}$. Then

$\sum_{i=0}^{n+1}{x^{i}}=\sum_{i=0}^{n}{x^{i}}+x^{n+1}=\frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x}+x^{n+1}=\frac{(1-x^{n+1})+(1-x)x^{n+1}}{1-x}$

$=\frac{1-x^{n+2}}{1-x},$

which completes the inductive step.

The base case $n=0$ is LHS=$x^{0}+x^{1}=1+x$ (no matter what $x$ is), RHS=$\frac{1-x^{2}}{1-x}=1+x$, so it's true for all $n$.

2

You need to let $x$ be an arbitrary number, which is just not $1$.

For the base case ($n = 0$): We have $x^0 = 1 = \frac{1-x}{1-x} = \frac{1-x^{0+1}}{1-x}$ So the theorem holds in the base case.

For the inductive step: $\sum_{i=0}^{n+1} x^i = \sum_{i=0}^{n} x^i + x^{n+1}$

And by induction we know $\sum_{i=0}^n x^i = \frac{1 - x^{n+1}}{1-x}$, so plugging this in we get $\sum_{i=0}^{n+1}x^i = \frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x} + x^{n+1} = \frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x} + \frac{(1-x)x^{n+1}}{1-x} = \frac{1 - x^{n+2}}{1-x}.$

So by induction we're done.

One can also note that there is another proof, without induction that is neater.

$(\sum_{i=0}^{n} x^i) (1-x) = \sum_{i=0}^{n} x^i - \sum_{i=0}^{n} x^{i+1} = 1 - x^{n+1}$ because all the terms in the middle cancel out.

2

Induction involving $x$ is no different from other types of induction. Just treat $x$ normally and we can still prove it for the general case.

Let $P_n:=\sum_{i=0}^nx^i=\frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x}$

Then for the base case i.e. $n=0$ we have $\sum_{i=0}^0x^i=\frac{1-x^{1+0}}{1-x}$ $1=\frac{1-x}{1-x}$ $1=1$

He have esablished the RHS=LHS and so $P_0$ is true.

Now assume that the statement is true for n. $\sum_{i=0}^nx^i=\frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x}$

We must show that it is also true for $n+1$.

For the RHS we have $RHS=\frac{1-x^{(n+1)+1}}{1-x}=\frac{1-x^{n+2}}{1-x}$

And for the LHS we have $LHS=\sum_{i=0}^{n+1}x^i=\sum_{i=0}^{n}x^i+x^{n+1}=\frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x}+x^{n+1}=\frac{1-x^{n+1}}{1-x}+\frac{x^{n+1}(1-x)}{(1-x)}$ $=\frac{1-x^{n+1}+x^{n+1}(1-x)}{1-x}=\frac{1-x^{n+1}+x^{n+1}-x^{n+2}}{1-x}=\frac{1-x^{n+2}}{1-x}$ Since LHS=RHS $P_{n+1}$ is true. The rest follows.

  • 1
    Did you notice that this was an assignment problem? Did you not want to leave anything for OP to do?2012-10-31