Evaluate $$\lim_{n\to\infty} \left(\frac{1^p+2^p+3^p + \cdots + n^p}{n^p} - \frac{n}{p+1}\right)$$
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This is a nice little question. I am assuming that $p \in \mathbb{Z}^+$, though same could be said about it when $p \notin \mathbb{Z}^+$. Before getting to the answer lets experiment a bit for small positive integers $p$. To start off, you could try for some values $p$. For $p=1$, we get $$\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\frac{ \dfrac{n(n+1)}{2}}{n} - \frac{n}{1+1} \right) = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac12 = \frac12$$ For $p=2$, we get $$\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\frac{ \dfrac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6}}{n^2} - \frac{n}{2+1} \right) = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\frac{(n+1)(n+1/2)}{3n} - \frac{n}3 \right)\\ = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\frac{n}3 + \frac12 + \frac1{6n} - \frac{n}3 \right)= \frac12$$ For $p=3$, we get $$\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\frac{ \dfrac{n^2(n+1)^2}{4}}{n^3} - \frac{n}{3+1} \right) = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\frac{n^2 + 2n + 1}{4n} - \frac{n}4 \right)\\ = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\frac{n}4 + \frac12 + \frac1{4n} - \frac{n}4 \right)= \frac12$$ Hence, we would guess that it is $\dfrac12$ independent of $p$. And this turns out to be right. Let us denote $1^p + 2^p + \cdots n^p = P_p(n)$. This is a polynomial of degree $p+1$ and is given by $$P_p(n) = \frac1{p+1} \sum_{k=0}^p \dbinom{p+1}{k} B_k n^{p+1-k}$$ where $B_k$ are the Bernoulli numbers. These polynomials are related to the Bernoulli polynomials and there are some really nice results on these polynomials and more can be found here. Hence, $$\dfrac{P_p(n)}{n^{p}} = \dfrac1{p+1} \sum_{k=0}^p \dbinom{p+1}{k} B_k n^{1-k} = \dfrac1{p+1} \left(B_0 n + (p+1) B_1 + \mathcal{O} \left(\frac1n\right) \right)$$ where $B_0 = 1$ and $B_1 = \frac12$. What you are looking for is $$\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\dfrac{P_p(n)}{n^{p}} - \dfrac{n}{p+1} \right) = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(\dfrac1{p+1} \left(n + (p+1) B_1 + \mathcal{O} \left(\frac1n\right) \right) - \dfrac{n}{p+1} \right)\\ = \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \left(B_1 + \mathcal{O} \left(\dfrac1n \right)\right)= B_1 = \frac12$$ independent of $p$. Didier and Ragib Zaman have provided excellent solutions. You might also want to look at Euler–Maclaurin formula which is of significance in this context. |
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The result is more general.
For any real number $p\gt0$, if $f(x)=x^p$, one sees that $B=\frac1{p+1}$ and $C=1$, which is the result in the question. To prove the fact stated above, start from Taylor formula: for every $0\leqslant x\leqslant 1/n$ and $1\leqslant k\leqslant n$, $$ f(x+(k-1)/n)=f(k/n)-(1-x)f'(k/n)+u_{n,k}(x)/n, $$ where $u_{n,k}(x)\to0$ when $n\to\infty$, uniformly on $k$ and $x$, say $|u_{n,k}(x)|\leqslant v_n$ with $v_n\to0$. Integrating this on $[0,1/n]$ and summing from $k=1$ to $k=n$, one gets $$ \int_0^1f(x)\mathrm dx=\frac1n\sum_{k=1}^nf\left(\frac{k}n\right)-\frac1n\int_0^{1/n}u\mathrm du\cdot\sum_{k=1}^nf'\left(\frac{k}n\right)+\frac1nu_n, $$ where $|u_n|\leqslant v_n$. Reordering, this is $$ A_n=nB+\frac12\frac1n\sum_{k=1}^nf'\left(\frac{k}n\right)-u_n=nB+\frac12\int_0^1f'(x)\mathrm dx+r_n-u_n, $$ with $r_n\to0$, thanks to the Riemann integrability of the function $f'$ on $[0,1]$. The proof is complete since $r_n-u_n\to0$ and the last integral is $f(1)-f(0)=C$. |
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If we draw the graph of $x^p$ from $x=1$ to $x=n,$ divide it into unit length intervals and approximate each segment of area by a trapezium (this is known as the trapezoidal rule) then we see that $$\int^n_1 x^p dx \approx \sum_{k=1}^n k^p - \frac{n^p+1}{2}.$$ The integral on the left is precisely $\displaystyle \frac{n^{p+1} -1}{p+1},$ so for large $n$ (where the major contribution is from the dominant terms) we have $$\sum_{k=1}^n k^p \approx \frac{n^{p+1}}{p+1} + \frac{n^p}{2}$$ so your limit is $1/2.$ For a precise solution, we need the error term along with the trapezoidal rule, which is derived here. It gives : $$\int^b_a f(x) dx = \frac{b-a}{2} ( f(a) + f(b) ) - \frac{(b-a)^3 }{12} f''(\zeta) $$ for some $\zeta \in [a,b].$ For $f(x)=x^p$ we have $f''(x) = p (p-1)x^{p-2}$ which is largest at $x=b$, the right end point. So the sum of the error terms in our application of the trapezoidal rule is at largest $$\frac{p(p-1)}{12} (2^{p-2} + 3^{p-2} + \cdots + n^{p-2}).$$ The sum in the brackets is overestimated by $\int^{n+1}_1 x^{p-2} dx= \frac{(n+1)^{p-1}-1}{p-1},$ so we get that $$\sum_{k=1}^n k^p = \frac{n^{p+1}}{p+1} + \frac{n^p}{2} + E_n$$ where $E_n$ is an error term that satisfies $\displaystyle \lim_{n\to\infty} \frac{E_n}{n^p} = 0$ which proves your limit. |
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