proving $\mathrm e <3$

Question

Well I am just asking myself if there's a more elegant way of proving $$2<\exp(1)=\mathrm e<3$$ than doing it by induction and using the fact of $\lim\limits_{n\rightarrow\infty}(1+\frac1n)^n=\mathrm e$, is there one (or some) alternative way(s)?

Answer 1

What answer you find most elegant may depend on what definition of $e$ you're starting with, as Dylan suggests, but I find this argument quite short and sweet: $$\begin{align} &\quad 1 + 1 &= 2\\ &\le 1 + 1 + \frac12 + \frac1{2\cdot3} + \frac1{2\cdot3\cdot4} + \cdots &= e \\ &\le 1 + 1 + \frac12 + \frac1{2\cdot2} + \frac1{2\cdot2\cdot2} + \cdots &= 3 \end{align}$$

Answer 2

It's equivalent to show that the natural logarithm of 3 is bigger than 1, but this is $$ \int_1^3 \frac{dx}{x}. $$ A right hand sum is guaranteed to underestimate this integral, so you just need to take a right hand sum with enough rectangles to get a value larger than 1.

Answer 3

You can use

$$e =\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1}{n!}= 2+\sum_{n=2}^\infty \frac{1}{n!}< 2+\sum_{n=2}^\infty \frac{1}{n(n-1)}=3 \,,$$

with the last equality following immediately from the fact that $\sum_{n=2}^\infty \frac{1}{n(n-1)}$ is telescopic.

Of course it depends on the way you define $e$, anyhow the equality

$$\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1}{n!}=\lim\limits_{n\rightarrow\infty}(1+\frac1n)^n$$ can be established easily using the binomial theorem.

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Second solution

You can use the fact that $a_n=(1+\frac{1}{n})^{n+1}$ is decreasing. The inequality $a_{n+1} < a_n$ is an immediate consequence of Bernoulli Inequality.

Note that this implies (induction hidden here) that $a_n \leq a_6 <3$ for all $n \geq 3$, and that

$$e =\lim a_n \leq a_6 <3 \,.$$

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Here is one more:

$$e^{-1}=1-\frac{1}{1!}+\frac{1}{2!}-\frac{1}{3!}+.. \,.$$

Since the series is alternating and $\frac{1}{n!}$ is decreasing, it is obvious (very easy to show) that the series oscilates around the limit and

$$s_{2n+1}=1-\frac{1}{1!}+\frac{1}{2!}-\frac{1}{3!}+....+\frac{1}{(2n)!}-\frac{1}{(2n+1)!} \leq \frac{1}{e} \leq 1-\frac{1}{1!}+\frac{1}{2!}-\frac{1}{3!}+....+\frac{1}{(2n)!}=s_{2n}$$

[ Actually in the proof of the Alternating series test, one proves the stronger statement that for such a series we have $s_{2n}$ decreasing, $s_{2n+1}$ increasing and $s_{2n+1} \leq s_{2n}$. ]

The inequality

$$1-\frac{1}{1!}+\frac{1}{2!}-\frac{1}{3!} < \frac{1}{e} < 1-\frac{1}{1!}+\frac{1}{2!}$$ is

$$\frac{1}{3} < \frac{1}{e} < \frac{1}{2} \,.$$

Answer 4

First let's consider a simple heuristic argument to show that $2<e<4$. It is easy to prove using the definition of the derivative that if $f(x)=2^x$ then $f'(x) = (\text{constant}\cdot 2^x$). The curve gets steeper as $x$ increases, and the average slope between $x=0$ an $x=1$ is $(2^1-2^0)/(1-0)= 1$. Therefore, the slope at $x=0$ is less than $1$; hence the "constant" is less than $1$. Now do the same with $g(x)=4^x$ on the interval from $x=-1/2$ and $x=0$, and conclude that the slope at $x=0$ is more than $1$; hence the "constant" you get there is more than $1$.

So $2$ is too small, and $4$ is too big, to serve as the base of the natural exponential function.

It's messier to do the same with $3$, but the interval from $x=-1/6$ to $x=0$ will do it, and you conclude $3$ is too big to be the base of the natural exponential function.