Solutions to Practice Problems

Exercise 1.14
Consider the√sequence of numbers {a1 , a2 , · · · } defined recursively by a1 = 1
and an+1 = 2 + an for all n ∈ N. Show that an ≤ 2 for all n ∈ N.

Solution.
The proof is by induction on n. For n = √ 1 = 1 ≤ 2. Suppose that
1 we have a√
ak ≤ 2 for k = 1, 2, · · · , n. Then an+1 = 2 + an ≤ 2 + 2 = 2

Exercise 1.15
Consider the sequence of numbers defined by
1 1 1
an = √ + √ + · · · + √ .
1 2 n
√
Show that an ≥ n for all n ∈ N.

Solution. √ √
By induction on n. If n = 1 we have a1 = √11 = 1. Suppose that ak ≥ k for
√ √ √ √ √
1
k = 1, 2, · · · , n. Then an+1 ≥ n + √n+1 = n√n+1n+1+1 n n+1
≥ √ = √n+1 =
√ n+1 n+1
n+1

Exercise 1.16
Consider the sequence of numbers {a1 , a2 , · · · } defined recursively by a1 = 32
and an+1 = 12 an + 1 for n ≥ 1. Show by induction on n ≥ 1, that an+1 =
1
an + 2n+1 .

Solution.
For n = 1, we have a2 = 12 a1 + 1 = 43 + 1 = 47 = 32 + 41 = a1 + 212 . Suppose that
1
ak+1 = ak
+ 2k+1 for k = 1, · · · , n. Then an+2 = 21 an+1 + 1 = 12 an + 2n+2
1
+1 =
1 1 1
a + 1 + 2n+2 = an+1 + 2n+2
2 n

Exercise 1.17
Consider the sequence of numbers {a1 , a2 , · · · } defined recursively as follows

a1 = 2 and 7an+1 = 2a2n + 3 for all n ∈ N.

1
Show that 2
< an < 3 for all n ∈ N.

1
Solution.
We prove this by induction on n. If n = 1 then 21 < 2 = a1 < 3. Suppose
that 21 < ak < 3 for k = 1, 2, · · · , n. Then 72 < 7an+1 < 21 → 12 < an+1 < 3

Exercise 1.18
an
Consider the sequence defined recursively by a1 = 1 and an+1 = 3 + 2
for
all n ∈ N. Show that an ≤ 6 for all n ∈ N.

Solution.
We use induction. If n = 1 we have a1 = 1 < 6. Suppose that ak ≤ 6 for
k = 1, 2, · · · , n. Then an+1 = 3 + a2n ≤ 3 + 62 = 6

Exercise 1.19
(a) Show that if a is an odd positive integer so is a3 .
(b) Show that if a is a positive integer such that a3 is even then so is a.
(c) Use the method of proof by contradiction to prove that the cube root of
2 is irrational.

Solution.
(a) If a ∈ N is odd then a = 2k + 1 with k ∈ N ∪ {0}. Hence, a3 = 2(4k 3 +
6k 2 + 3k) + 1 which is odd.
(b) Let a ∈ N such that a3 = 2k. If a is odd then by (a), a3 would be odd.
Thus, a must be even. √
(c) Suppose the contrary. That is, suppose that 3 2 = ab where a and b are
positive integers with no common divisors different from 1. Then a3 = 2b3
and this implies that a3 is even. By (b), a must be even. That is, a = 2k
for some k ∈ N. In this case, b3 = 4k 3 which means that b3 (and therefore
b) is even. Thus, a and b have a common divisor 2. This contradicts the
assumptions on a and b

Exercise 1.20
Use the method of proof by contradiction to prove that if a is a rational
number and b is an irrational number, then a + b is an irrational number.

Solution.
Suppose that a+b is a rational number c. Then b = c−a ∈ Q, a contradiction
since the difference of two rational numbers is a rational number

2
Exercise 1.21
Use the proof by contradiction to show that if a product of two positive real
numbers is greater than 100, then at least one of the numbers is greater than
10.

Solution.
Suppose that a and b are positive real numbers such that ab > 100. If both
are less than or equal to 10 we must have ab ≤ 100, a contradiction

Exercise 1.22 √
Use Bernoulli’s inequality to show that √n ≤ 2 − 1 for all non-negative
2n
integer n.

Solution. √ √ √
Letting x = 2 − 1 in Bernoulli’s inequality we find 2n ≥ 1 + n( 2 − 1) ≥
√
n( 2 − 1). Thus,
n √
0≤ √ ≤ 2−1
2n
Exercise 1.23
Let x ∈ R.
(a) Show that x + x1 xn + x1n = xn+1 + xn+1 1 1



+ xn−1 + xn−1 for all n ∈ N.
1 n 1
(b) Show that if x + x is an integer then x + xn is an integer for all n ∈ N.

Solution.
(a) This is clear by the distributive property of the real numbers.
(b) We use induction on n. The result is true for n = 1. Suppose that the
result is true for k = 1, 2, · · · , n. Then
    
n+1 1 1 n 1 n−1 1
x + n+1 = x + x + n − x + n−1 .
x x x x

By the induction hypothesis, the righthand side is an integer