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$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty\frac{1}{n(n+3)(n+6)}$$ I did the partial fraction decomposition and also plugged in the values. I can't understand how the eleminating thing works, for example in cases like this where you don't know what to cancel what am I supposed to do?

I'm going to write it in simple math.

From the partial fraction decomposition I've got: S=1/18(1/n -2/(n+3) +1/(n+6))

Then Ive let the limit of the sum go to infinity or how does that go.

1- 1/2 +1/7 $$ 1/2- 2/5 +1/8$$ 1/3-1/3+1/9$$ .$$ .$$ .$$ 1/n-2/(n+3)+1/(n+6) So I cant find a pattern to cancel some of them and I dont know how that could go.

  • 2
    You should edit the question to show what you did so far: the partial fraction decomposition, plugging in the values, any other steps you did but haven't mentioned. That way people don't have to explain to you things you already know; but if there was a mistake in one of those steps (which would prevent you from getting a correct answer), someone may spot it.2017-01-16

3 Answers 3

5

We can write $$\frac{18}{n(n+3)(n+6)} = \frac 1n - \frac 2{n+3} + \frac 1{n+6}.$$

Now we have $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{n(n+3)(n+6)} = \frac{1}{18}\sum_{n=1}^\infty \left(\frac 1n - \frac 2{n+3} + \frac 1{n+6}\right)$$ and we can notice the pattern already; for some (large enough) positive integer $m$, fraction $\frac 1 m$ will appear in the above series three times, for $n = m$ as $\frac 1 n$, for $n = m-3$ as $-\frac 2{n+3}$ and for $n = m-6$ as $\frac 1{n+6}$, and thus will cancel. We can visualize this:

$$\begin{array}{ccccccc} \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \left(\frac 1n - \frac 2{n+3} + \frac 1{n+6}\right) &=& \left( \frac 1{1} - \frac 2{4} + \color{red}{\frac 1{7}} \right) &+& \left( \frac 1{2} - \frac 2{5} + \color{red}{\frac 1{8}} \right) &+& \left( \frac 1{3} - \frac 2{6} + \color{red}{\frac 1{9}} \right) \\ &+& \left( \frac 1{4} - \color{red}{\frac 2{7}} + \color{green}{\frac 1{10}} \right) &+& \left( \frac 1{5} - \color{red}{\frac 2{8}} + \color{green}{\frac 1{11}} \right) &+& \left( \frac 1{6} - \color{red}{\frac 2{9}} + \color{green}{\frac 1{12}} \right) \\ &+&\left( \color{red}{\frac 1{7}} - \color{green}{\frac 2{10}} + \color{blue}{\frac 1{13}} \right) &+& \left( \color{red}{\frac 1{8}} - \color{green}{\frac 2{11}} + \color{blue}{\frac 1{14}} \right) &+& \left( \color{red}{\frac 1{9}} - \color{green}{\frac 2{12}} + \color{blue}{\frac 1{15}} \right)\\ &+&\left( \color{green}{\frac 1{10}} - \color{blue}{\frac 2{13}} + \color{red}{\frac 1{16}} \right) &+& \left( \color{green}{\frac 1{11}} - \color{blue}{\frac 2{14}} + \color{red}{\frac 1{17}} \right) &+& \left( \color{green}{\frac 1{12}} - \color{blue}{\frac 2{15}} + \color{red}{\frac 1{18}} \right) \\ &+&\left( \color{blue}{\frac 1{13}} - \color{red}{\frac 2{16}} + \color{green}{\frac 1{19}} \right) &+& \left( \color{blue}{\frac 1{14}} - \color{red}{\frac 2{17}} + \color{green}{\frac 1{20}} \right) &+& \left( \color{blue}{\frac 1{15}} - \color{red}{\frac 2{18}} + \color{green}{\frac 1{21}} \right) \\ &+&\left( \color{red}{\frac 1{16}} - \color{green}{\frac 2{19}} + \color{blue}{\frac 1{22}} \right) &+& \left( \color{red}{\frac 1{17}} - \color{green}{\frac 2{20}} + \color{blue}{\frac 1{23}} \right) &+& \left( \color{red}{\frac 1{18}} - \color{green}{\frac 2{21}} + \color{blue}{\frac 1{24}} \right)\\ &+&\ \ldots \end{array}$$

Now, this should immediately tell you the result, but it is hardly rigorous. So, we can do something like this:

$$\begin{align} \sum_{n=1}^m \left(\frac 1n - \frac 2{n+3} + \frac 1{n+6}\right) &= \sum_{n=1}^m \frac 1n-2\sum_{n=1}^m \frac 1{n+3}+\sum_{n=1}^m \frac 1{n+6}\\ &= \sum_{n=1}^m \frac 1n-2\sum_{n=4}^{m+3} \frac 1{n}+\sum_{n=7}^{m+6} \frac 1{n}\\ &=\ \, \left(\frac 11 +\frac 12+\frac 13+\frac 14+\frac 15+\frac 16+\sum_{n=7}^m\frac 1n\right)\\&-2\left(\frac 14+\frac 15+\frac 16+\sum_{n=7}^m\frac 1n +\frac 1{m+1}+\frac 1{m+2}+\frac 1{m+3}\right)\\&+\ \, \left(\sum_{n=7}^m\frac 1n+\frac 1{m+1}+\frac 1{m+2}+\frac 1{m+3}+\frac 1{m+4}+\frac 1{m+5}+\frac 1{m+6}\right)\\ &= \ \, \left(\frac 11 +\frac 12+\frac 13+\frac 14+\frac 15+\frac 16\right)\\&-2\left(\frac 14+\frac 15+\frac 16 +\frac 1{m+1}+\frac 1{m+2}+\frac 1{m+3}\right)\\&+\ \, \left(\frac 1{m+1}+\frac 1{m+2}+\frac 1{m+3}+\frac 1{m+4}+\frac 1{m+5}+\frac 1{m+6}\right) \end{align}$$

If we take limit as $m\to\infty$ on both sides, we get $$ \sum_{n=1}^\infty \left(\frac 1n - \frac 2{n+3} + \frac 1{n+6}\right) = \left(\frac 11 +\frac 12+\frac 13\right)-\left(\frac 14+\frac 15+\frac 16\right)=\frac{73}{60}$$

which implies that

$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{1}{n(n+3)(n+6)} = \frac{1}{18}\sum_{n=1}^\infty \left(\frac 1n - \frac 2{n+3} + \frac 1{n+6}\right) =\frac{73}{1080}$$

7

$$\dfrac6{n(n+3)(n+6)}=\dfrac{n+6-n}{n(n+3)(n+6)}=\dfrac1{n(n+3)}-\dfrac1{(n+3)(n+6)}=f(n)-f(n+3)$$

where $f(m)=\dfrac1{m(m+3)}$

7

For a brief understanding, let's just do a brief change of variables. the original partial fraction decomposition of your problem is

$$\frac{1}{n(n+3)(n+6)}=\frac{1}{18}\left[\frac{1}{n}-\frac{2}{n+3}+\frac{1}{n+6}\right]$$

Letting $n=3m$, we get

$$\frac{1}{n(n+3)(n+6)}=\frac{1}{54}\left[\frac{1}{n}-\frac{2}{n+1}+\frac{1}{n+2}\right]$$

Showing the sum as an array after factoring out the $1/54$,

$$ \begin{matrix} n=1: & 1/1 & -2/2 & \color\red{1/3} \\ n=2: & 1/2 & \color\red{-2/3} & \color\orange{1/4} \\ n=3: & \color\red{1/3} & \color\orange{-2/4} & \color\green{1/5} \\ n=4: & \color\orange{1/4} & \color\green{-2/5} & \color{blue}{1/6} \\ n=5: & \color\green{1/5} & \color{blue}{-2/6} & \vdots \\ n=6: & \color{blue}{1/6} & \vdots & \vdots \end{matrix} $$

You can see then by summing, the diagonals add to 0 and so all terms below the red diagonal will cancel by summation to 0. the slight difference with your sum is that your fraction decomposition shows that the cancellation occurs between terms separated by 3 units; your array would look like this after factoring out the $1/18$:

$$ \begin{matrix} n=1: & 1/1 & -2/4 & \color\red{1/7} \\ n=2: & 1/2 & -2/5 & \color\orange{1/8} \\ n=3: & 1/3 & -2/6 & \color{green}{1/9} \\ n=4: & 1/4 & \color\red{-2/7} & \color{blue}{1/10} \\ n=5: & 1/5 & \color\orange{-2/8} & \color{teal}{1/11} \\ n=6: & 1/6 & \color{green}{-2/9} & \color{aqua}{1/12} \\ n=7: & \color\red{1/7} & \color{blue}{-2/10} & \vdots \\ n=8: & \color\orange{1/8} & \color{teal}{-2/11} & \vdots \\ n=9: & \color{green}{1/9} & \color{aqua}{-2/12} & \vdots \\ n=10: & \color{blue}{1/10} & \vdots & \vdots \\ n=11: & \color{teal}{1/11} & \vdots & \vdots \\ n=10: & \color{aqua}{1/112} & \vdots & \vdots \\ \end{matrix} $$

Thus, the sum of your series is the remaining black terms at the top as every skewed diagonal in the picture sums to 0.

I will note, Lab's answer is the best here as it really simplifies the problem mathematically and once $n=3$, you can see the cancellation occur nicely...

EDIT: There is a nice way to look at a general case as well. Let

$$\prod_{j=0}^m \frac{1}{n+jk}$$

has its partial fraction decomposition as

$$\frac{1}{m!k^m}\left[\sum_{j=0}^m{(-1)^j\binom{m}{j}\frac{1}{n+jk}}\right]$$

The problem here is that we want to sum over $n$. So

$$S_{m,k}=\sum_{n=1}^\infty{\prod_{j=0}^m \frac{1}{n+jk}}={\frac{1}{m!k^m}\left[\sum_{n=1}^\infty\sum_{j=0}^m{(-1)^j\binom{m}{j}\frac{1}{n+jk}}\right]}$$

But now we can take advantage of the telescoping property of the sum. This then reduces from infinite sums to finite sums. We have for the bracketed double sum from above...

$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty\sum_{j=0}^m{(-1)^j\binom{m}{j}\frac{1}{n+jk}}=\sum_{i=1}^m\sum_{n=1}^{ik}\binom{m}{i}\frac{(-1)^{i-1}}{n}=\sum_{i=1}^m{(-1)^{i-1}}\binom{m}{i}\sum_{n=1}^{ik}\frac{1}{n}$$

Now using the $k$-th harmonic number formula,

$$H_k=\sum_{n=1}^k{\frac{1}{n}}$$

we see that

$$S_{m,k}=\frac{1}{m!k^m}\sum_{i=1}^m{(-1)^{i-1}}\binom{m}{i}H_{ik}$$

This agrees with the additional answer provided by since this case we have $m=2, k=3$, so

$$S_{2,3}=\frac{1}{2!3^2}\sum_{i=1}^2{(-1)^{i-1}}\binom{2}{i}H_{3i}=\frac{1}{18}\left(2H_3-H_6\right)=\frac{1}{18}\left(2\cdot\frac{11}{6}-\frac{49}{20}\right)=\frac{73}{1080}$$

  • 0
    Can you show me some more steps when you're letting n=3m and also how is the end result going to be?2017-01-16
  • 0
    I just made that transformation so you could see the diagonal terms cancel a little better. The real sum is the one without the substitution.2017-01-16