STANDARD LIMITS.

MARCUS CARLSSON

The following theorem contains 4 standard limits, and most more intricate limits
can be found by knowing these, the “algebra of limits”-theorem 2.27, and the
sandwich theorem 2.34.
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Theorem 0.1. 1. Given α ą 0 we have limnÑ8 nα “0
2. Given r P p´1, 1q we have limnÑ8 rn “ 0
3. Given a ą 0 we have limnÑ8 a1{n “ 1
4. limnÑ8 lnnn “ 0
Proof. 1. Actually, we have not yet defined what we mean by nα for α P RzQ, so
therefore we satisfy with a proof for the particular case α “ 1{M where M P N.
Let  ą 0 be fixed. Clearly, x ÞÑ x1{M is an increasing positive function (see the
definition in Sec. 1.5) so therefore the sequence 1{n1{M is decreasing and positive.
Pick N P N such that N ą 1{M . For n ą N we then have
1 1 1
ď 1{M ď “ .
n1{M N p1{M q1{M
Since also 1{n1{M ě 0, we conclude that
1 1
| 1{M ´ 0| “ 1{M ď 
n n
for all n ą N , and so
1
lim “ 0,
nÑ8 n1{M
by definition.
To get an idea of a proof for the general case, note that given any α ą 0 we
can pick M P N such that α ą 1{M . We now accept (on faith) that the function
x ÞÑ nx is increasing for every fixed n P N. Therefore
0 ď 1{nα ď 1{n1{M .
The sequence which is identically zero clearly has limit 0, which also holds for
p1{n1{M q8
n“1 by what we already have established. Thus
1
lim α “ 0
nÑ8 n
by the sandwich theorem.
2. One proof is given in Example 2.35. A more intuitive proof was given during
exercises for r “ 2{3, but the argument used properties of the exponential function,
which I’d like to avoid since we have not yet formally introduced it. So I provide
an alternative proof based on contradiction instead...
Note that |rn ´ 0| “ |r|n , so it suffices to show that limnÑ8 |r|n “ 0. In other
words, we may assume that r ą 0, which we do from now on. The sequence prn q8 n“1

Date: September 15, 2014.

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2 MARCUS CARLSSON

is clearly decreasing, since rn`1 “ r ¨ rn ă rn . It is also positive, and therefore

bounded. Thus the limit exists by Theorem 2.21. Let us call the limit L and note
that L ě 0 (since the sequence is positive). Suppose L ą 0. Since L{r ą L, there
must exist some n P N for which rn ă L{r (for otherwise the sequence could never
get close to L). But this is the same as rn`1 ă L, which is impossible since prn q8n“1
is a decreasing sequence whose limit is supposed to be L. This contradiction shows
that L ą 0 is impossible, and hence L “ 0 is the only remaining option.
3. See Example 2.36
4. Ok, since we have not yet formally introduced the natural logarithm ln, this
part may be skipped if you like. I provide a proof below using the facts that x ÞÑ ln x
is concave and has derivative 1{x, which will be proven later in this course...
Let  ą 0 be arbitrary and set x0 “ 2{. By the above mentioned properties, we
have
1
ln x ď ln x0 ` px ´ x0 q
x0
for any x P p0, 8q. Pick N P N so large that lnpx0 q{N ă {2. For n ą N we then
have
ln n ln x0 ` x10 pn ´ x0 q ln x0 1 pn ´ x0 q
ď “ ` .
n n n x0 n
For the first term we have the estimate lnpx0 q{n ď lnpx0 q{N ă {2 and for the
second we have
1 pn ´ x0 q 1 
ď “ ,
x0 n x0 2
since n ´ x0 ă n. Finally, note that lnnn is positive for all n P N. Summing up, we
have that
ln n ln n
| ´ 0| “ ă
n n
whenever n ą N , which as to be shown.