Telescoping

Dennis Chen
MPP

1 Notation
You should know summation notation and product notation. If you don’t, that
should be fine; the notation is really obvious and intuitive once you learn it.
For the definitions below, c is constant, i is meant to represent the initial
term, and n can either be varying or constant, depending on the problem.

1.1 Summation Notation

The expression
n
X
f (i)
i=c

is equivalent to

f (c) + f (c + 1) + f (c + 2) + · · · + f (n − 1) + f (n).

1.2 Product Notation

The expression
n
Y
f (i)
i=c

is equivalent to
f (c)f (c + 1)f (c + 2) . . . f (n − 1)f (n).

1.3 Notational Examples

The f (i) might be intimidating, but it really just generally covers all functions
(expressions in terms) of i.
Example 1: Summation Notation

10
P
Expand i.
i=1

1
 Solution

Since f (i) is just i, c = 1, and n = 10, we have

10
X
i = f (1) + f (2) + · · · + f (10) = 1 + 2 + · · · + 10 = 55.
i=1

Q
Examples in notation should basically be equivalent to summation nota-
tion in terms of understandability, so we’ll only present one example.
Example 2: Product Notation

10
Q
Expand i.
i=1

Solution
It’s basically the same; instead, we have
10
Y
i = 1 · 2 · 3 · · · · · 10 = 10!
i=1

Note that we just swapped the addition signs for multiplication signs.

1.4 Notational Exercises

1. Write out the summation
n
X
i,
i=1

and provide a general formula for this value in terms of n.

2. Write n! in product notation.

∞
1
P
3. Expand 2n .
i=0

It’s acceptable to use a trailing . . . after giving two or three terms for something
that goes on infinitely!

2
2 Theory
Telescoping really is just expressing f (x) as an equivalent value that cancels
nicely. Since this is a heuristic method, we’ll mostly be teaching through prob-
lems, as the only ”theory” is arithmetic.
Here’s a trivial example.
Example 3: Trivial Telescoping
1 2 99
Find 2 · 3 · ··· · 100 .

Actually, I’m not even going to explain this ”example.” A natural extension
n
i
Q
would be simplifying i+1 in terms of n.
i=1

2.1 Partial Fraction Decomposition

The partial fraction decomposition of fg(x) (x) P fi (x)
can be expressed as gi (x) , where
gi (x) is a root of g(x) with a smaller degree.
It is not always necessary to fully decompose a fraction; there are cases where
going partway is fine. This is in the context of a problem; for the exercises, I
recommend fully decomposing them.
Here’s an example that will be relevant to telescoping.
Example 4: Inverted Triangle
1
Decompose n(n+1) .

Solution
K J
Note that we want to express this in the form of n + n+1 such that
K J K(n+1)+J(n) 1
n + n+1 = n(n+1) = n(n+1) . Coefficient matching yields the system
of equations
K +J =0
K = 1,
implying J = −1. This means that our partial fraction decomposition is

1 1
− .
n n+1

Generally, we will use coefficient matching to do partial fraction decom-

position. A large portion of telescoping problems will involve partial
fraction decomposition. As an exercise, find the partial fraction decom-
1
position of n(n+k) in terms of k.

3
 Example 5: Three Terms
1
Find the partial fraction decomposition of n(n+1)(n+2) .

Solution: L
I J K
et the decomposition be n + n+1 + n+2 . This implies that

I(n + 1)(n + 2) + J(n)(n + 2) + K(n)(n + 1) 1

= .
n(n + 1)(n + 2) n(n + 1)(n + 2)

We see that the following system results from co-efficient matching:

n2 (I + J + K) = 0 → I + J + K = 0

n(3I + 2J + K) = 0 → 3I + 2J + K = 0
2I = 1.
Solving gives us I = 1/2, J = −1, K = 1/2, which means our partial
fraction decomposition is

1/2 1 1/2
− + .
n n+1 n+2

As a warning, partial decomposition cannot be done on expressions such as

1
n2 because nothing differentiates nI from Jn . For fractions such as n2 (n+1)
1
, we
I J
would decompose it as n+1 + n2 .

3 Convergent Series
n
P ∞
P
A quick test for if a quantity f (i) can be telescoped is if the quantity f (i)
i=c i=c
diverges or converges. (This is necessary, but not sufficient!)
6
1
P
Try telescoping something like i . (You can’t.) Why not? To put it
i=1
intuitively, if it goes to infinity, that means stuff isn’t cancelling out. That’s
∞
1
P
because i diverges, meaning that it doesn’t ever approach a finite value.
i=1

Theorem 3.1: Divergent Series

∞
1
P
The infinite series i diverges.
i=1

4
 This theorem is very well-known; if you already are familiar with it, you can
probably gloss over the rest of this section.
Proof
We note that
∞
X 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
=1+ + + ··· > 1 + + + + + + + + ....
i=1
i 2 3 4 2 4 4 8 8 8 8

The inequality can be trivially achieved by comparing individual terms,

and the second series is divergent because there are infinitely many
groups summing up to 12 .

There are two important rules when dealing with divergent series.
P P P P
1. If f (x) ≥ g(x) and g(x) diverges, then f (x) diverges.
P P P P
2. If f (x) ≤ g(x) and g(x) converges, then f (x) converges.
It goes without saying that these are infinite series.
∞
1 π2
P
Note that n2 converges (it converges to 6 ), so any reasonable expression
i=1
with a constant in the numerator and a degree ≥ 2 in the denominator should
be telescopable with partial fraction decomposition. In fact, for any real number
∞
1
P
n > 1, in will converge.
i=1

4 Examples
If you don’t know summation and product notation by now, you may have a
difficult time.
10
i
Q
1. Find i+2 .
i=3
3 4 5
Solution: We see this is 5 · 6 · 7 · . . . 10
12 . Canceling the numbers from 5 to
10 yields our answer as
3·4 1
= .
11 · 12 11
19
1
P
2. Find i(i+1) .
i=1
Solution: It would be really stupid to find this using arithmetic; we are all
already good enough at it. Instead we look for something clever we can
1
exploit; our technique comes from the fact that i(i+1) = 1i − i+1
1
. Then we
get
19 19 20
X 1 X 1 X1 1 19
= − =1− = .
i=1
i(i + 1) i=1
i i=2
i 20 20

5
 23
1
P
3. Find n(n+2) to the nearest integer.
n=1
Solution: We will abuse the fact that
1 1 1 1
= ( − ).
n(n + 2) 2 n n+2
The rest of the solution is just details.
This gives us
23
X 1 1
= (1 + 1/2 − 1/24 − 1/25).
n=1
n(n + 2) 2

Since
1/24, 1/25
are sufficiently small, we can state with confidence that 1 + 1/2 − 1/24 −
1/25 ≥ 1 → 12 (1 + 1/2 − 1/24 − 1/25) ≥ 1/2 implying that this sum rounds
to 1 .
1000
1
P
4. Find n2 −1 .
n=2
Solution: This can be rewritten as
999
X 1
,
n=1
n(n + 2)

which simplifies to
999 1001
1 X1 X 1 1 1499499
( − ) = (1 + 1/2 − 1/1000 − 1/1001) = .
2 n=1 n n=3 n 2 2002000

5. Simplify (1 + x)(1 + x2 )(1 + x4 )(1 + x8 )(1 + x16 ).

1−a2
Solution: Solution: Note that in general, 1 + a = 1−a . This means that
this expression is condensed into

1 − x2 1 − x4 1 − x8 1 − x16 1 − x32 1 − x32

· 2
· 4
· 8
· 16
= .
1−x 1−x 1−x 1−x 1−x 1−x
Some basic knowledge of division yields our answer as
31
X
xn .
n=0

Telescoping isn’t always straightforward! Be on the watch for clever ma-

nipulations.

6
 ∞
1
P
6. Find 2n .
n=0
Solution: We see that this is equivalent to 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + . . . . Note that
1 = 2 − 1, 1/2 = 1 − 1/2, 1/4 = 1/2 − 1/4 . . . . Substituting yields
∞ ∞ ∞
X 1 X 1 X 1
n
= n
− = 2.
n=0
2 n=−1
2 n=0
2n

With a little bit of creativity, you should be able to do this for other
infinite geometric series.

5 Exercises
c
n
Q
1. Find a general formula for n+1 for integer c ≥ 1 in terms of c.
n=1

1 2 3 4 5
2. Find 1·2 + 2·4 + 4·7 + 7·11 + 11·16 .

1000
n
Q
3. Find n+2 .
n=1

b
1
P
4. Simplify n(n+k) for constant a, b, k.
n=a

50
x2
Q
5. If f (x) = x2 −1 , find f (n).
n=3

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
6. Find 4 + 10 + 18 + 28 + 40 + 54 + 70 + 88 + 108 .

13 n
1
P P
7. Find t(n) , where t(n) = i (t(n) is the nth triangular number).
n=1 i=1

100
r 2 −1
Q
8. Find r 2 −4 .
r=3
P∞ n
9. Evaluate the infinite sum n=1 n4 +4 .

132
√1
P
10. Find the exact value of √ .
i=1 3i+1+ 3(i+1)+1

∞
1
P
11. What does n(n+1)(n+2) converge to?
n=1

∞
1
Q
12. What does (1 − n2 ) converge to?
n=2

7
 n n
i−1 1
· (−1)i−1 and have g(n) = · (−1)i−1 . Find
P P
13. Have f (n) = i i
i=2 i=2

49 49
X 1 X 1
+ .
n=1
f (2n + 1) n=1
g(2n + 1)

n n
i−1 1
· (−1)i−1 and have g(n) = · (−1)i−1 . Find
P P
14. Have f (n) = i i
i=2 i=2

100
X 100
X
f (n) + g(n).
n=2 n=2

200
5n(−1)200−n .
P
15. Find
n=1

n n2 +n+1
P2000
16. Find the value n=1 (−1) ( n! ).
17. Find
∞
X n2 + n − 1
.
n=1
(n + 2)!

18. Compute
9800
X 1
p √ .
n=1 n+ n2 − 1
10000
1
P
19. Find the integer that is closest to 1000 n2 −4 .
n=3
n
4k
P
20. Evaluate 4k4 +1 .
k=1
n
P k2 −1/2
21. Find k4 +1/4 .
k=1
m
√1 √
P
22. Evaluate (k+1) k+k k+1
.
k=1
∞
6k
P
23. Evaluate (3k −2k )(3k+1 −2k+1 )
.
k=1

1999
P q 1 1
24. Find 1+ n2 + (n+1)2 .
n=1

25. For a positive integer m, let f (m) = m2 + m + 1. Find the largest positive
integer n such that

1000f (12 )f (22 ) · · · f (n2 ) ≥ f (1)2 f (2)2 · · · f (n)2 .

8
 ∞
2n+1
P
26. Compute 8·4n −6·2n +1 .
n=1

∞
32a
P
27. Find 16a4 +24a2 +25 .
a=1

28. Let a = π/2008. Find the smallest positive integer n such that

2[cos(a) sin(a) + cos(4a) sin(2a) + cos(9a) sin(3a) + · · · + cos(n2 a) sin(na)]

is an integer.
29. Define a sequence a0 , a1 , a2 , · · · by

ai = |1 ·{z
· · 1} 0| ·{z
· · 0} 12 ,
2i 1’s (2i −1) 0’s

where ai is expressed in binary. Let S be the sum of the digits when

a0 · a1 · · · · · a10 is expressed in binary. Find the remainder when S is
divided by 1000.
30. Find the least positive integer n such that
1 1 1 1
+ + ··· + = .
sin 45◦ sin 46◦ sin 47◦ sin 48◦ sin 133◦ sin 134◦ sin n◦

31. The sum

∞
X 2k
2k
5 +1
k=0
p
can be written in the form q where p and q are relatively prime positive
integers. Find p + q.
kπ
32. Prove that for every natural number n, and for every real number x 6= 2t
(t = 0, 1, . . . , n; k any integer)
1 1 1
+ + ··· + = cot x − cot 2n x.
sin 2x sin 4x sin 2n x