Can I find $\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{k(k+1)}$ without using telescoping series method? I am interested to find
$$\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{k(k+1)}$$
without using telescoping series method. I tried very hard but still could not think of a way to find it without using telescoping series method. Can someone perhaps give me a hint?
 A: First, let us recall following integral representation:
$$\frac{1}{k(k+1)} = \int_0^1 \int_0^y x^{k-1} dx dy$$
We have
$$
\sum_{k=1}^n \frac{1}{k(k+1)}
= \int_0^1 \int_0^y \left( \sum_{k=1}^n x^{k-1} \right) dx dy
= \int_0^1 \int_0^y \left( \frac{1-x^n}{1-x} \right) dx dy\\
= \int_0^1 \int_x^1 \left( \frac{1-x^n}{1-x} \right) dy dx
 = \int_0^1 (1-x^n) dx
 = 1 - \frac{1}{n+1}
$$
A: One neat way you can do this is via generating functions but I think all it really does is obfuscate the fact that there is a telescoping happening. Nevertheless here's how it works. Let $s_n$ be the sum in question. Let $f(x)$ be the generating function of the the sequence in the sum, that is
$$f(x) = \sum_{k=1}^\infty \frac{x^k}{k(k+1)}$$
To get at $s_n$ you need the partial summations of coefficients of $f(x)$. This can be done by multiplying $f(x)$ by $1/(1-x)$, that is
$$\sum_{n=1}^\infty s_n x^n = \frac{f(x)}{1-x}$$
So all we need to do is find $f(x)$ itself. First note that
$$\frac{1}{k(k+1)}x^k = \frac{1}{x}\iint x^{k-1} dxdx$$
Then write $f(x)$ as 
$$f(x) =  \frac{1}{x}\iint \sum_{k=1}^\infty x^{k-1} dxdx = \frac{1}{x}\iint \frac{1}{1-x} dxdx$$
It's not too difficult to show that the integration leads to 
$$f(x) = \frac{1}{x}\left(x + (1-x)\log(1 - x)\right)$$
and finally
$$\frac{f(x)}{1-x} = \frac{1}{1 - x} + \frac{\log(1 - x)}{x}$$
If you expand each of the terms here the coefficient of $x^n$ in the first one is a 1 and in the second one it is $-1/(n+1)$, which yields
$$s_n = 1- \frac{1}{n+1}$$
the hard way.
A: By partial summation we have $$\sum_{k\leq n}\frac{1}{k\left(k+1\right)}=\frac{H_{n}}{N+1}-\sum_{k\leq n-1}H_{k}\left(\frac{1}{k+2}-\frac{1}{k+1}\right)
 $$ where $H_{k}
 $ is the $k-th
 $ armonic number. These sums have a closed form $$\sum_{k\leq n-1}\frac{H_{k}}{k+1}=\frac{1}{2}\left(H_{n}^{2}-H_{n}^{(2)}\right)
 $$ $$\sum_{k\leq n-1}\frac{H_{k}}{k+2}=\frac{1}{2}\left(H_{n+1}^{2}-H_{n+1}^{(2)}-\frac{2n}{n+1}\right)
 $$ where $H_{n}^{(r)}
 $ is the generalized harmonic number. Then $$\sum_{k\leq n-1}\frac{H_{k}}{k+1}-\sum_{k\leq n-1}\frac{H_{k}}{k+2}=\frac{1}{2}\left(H_{n}^{2}-H_{n}^{(2)}-H_{n+1}^{2}+H_{n+1}^{(2)}+\frac{2n}{n+1}\right)=\frac{n-H_{n}}{n+1}
 $$ and so $$\sum_{k\leq n}\frac{1}{k\left(k+1\right)}=\frac{n}{n+1}.
 $$
