Prove sequence $a_n=n^{1/n}$ is convergent

Question

How to prove that the sequence $a_n=n^{1/n}$ is convergent using definition of convergence?

Answer 1

This is a well known limit. An elementary proof without the use of limits with continuous functions can be found here.

Answer 2

Noticing that $n^\frac{1}{n} > 1$ for all $n$, it all comes down to showing that for any $\epsilon > 0$, there is a $n$ such that $(1+\epsilon) \geq n^\frac{1}{n}$, or by rearranging, that

$$ (1+\epsilon)^n \geq n $$

Now, let's first of all choose an $m$ such that $(1+\epsilon)^{m}$ is some number bigger than 2, let's say the smallest number greater than $3$ that you can get. From here, swap $m$ for $2m$. This will make the left side a little over 3 times larger, and the right side 2 times larger. The next doubling will still double the right side, but the left side will increase roughly 9-fold. Repeating, we can easily see that the left side will at some point overtake the right side, and we have our $n$

Answer 3

So here is an outline of a proof:

Step 1: Notice that $n^\frac{1}{n}\geq 1$ for all $n$.

Step 2: Prove that $a_n$ is monotonically decreasing for $n\geq 3$. Equivalently we need to show that $n^{(n+1)}>(n+1)^n$.

Step 3: Show that there is a subsequence which converges to $1$. I managed to do this by considering $b_n={a_{2^{2^n}}}$. (It does not appear well in LaTeX as there are too many nested exponents. I had typed this part out, but decided to remove it)

From these three facts you can conclude that the limit is $1$.

Answer 4

Well, the easiest proof is that the sequence is decreasing and bounded below (by 1); thus it converges by the Monotone Convergence Theorem...

The proof from definition of convergence goes like this:

A sequence $a_{n}$ converges to a limit L in $\mathbb{R}$ if and only if $\forall \epsilon > 0 $, $\exists N\in\mathbb{N}$ such that $\left | L - a_{n} \right | < \epsilon$ for all $n \geq N $.

The proposition: $\lim_{n\to\infty} n^{1/n} = 1 $

Proof: Let $\epsilon > 0$ be given. Then by Archimedean property of the real numbers, there exists $M \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $M < \epsilon$ then find $x\in\mathbb{R}; x>2$ such that $1+M>x^{1/x}$ and let $P = \left \lceil x \right \rceil$. Then, since $f(x)=x^{1/x}$ is decreasing (for $x>e$) (trivial and left to the reader :D) take any $x\in\mathbb{N}$ such that $x>P$ and observe that (because of our choice and $M$ and $P$) we have $n^{1/n} \leq P^{1/P} \leq M \le 1 + \epsilon$ whenever $n\geq P$ and so $\left | 1 - a_{n} \right | < \epsilon$ whenever $n\geq P$. Thus $a_{n}$ converges (to 1).