$$\lim_{n \to\infty} \frac{n!}{n^n}$$
I have a question: is it valid to use Stirling's Formula to prove convergence of the sequence?
Answer
There are two distinct questions here. The first one in the title is what the limit actually is. This is easy to see by writing out the expression as a product of $n$ positive factors:
$$\frac{n!}{n^n}=\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)\left(\frac{2}{n}\right)\left(\frac{3}{n}\right)\cdots\left(\frac{n}{n}\right).$$ Every one of the factors $k/n$, $k=1,2,3,\dots,n$, is less than or equal to $1$. Hence the product is $$\le\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)\cdot1\cdot1\cdots1=1/n.$$
But $1/n$ converges to $0$ as $n\to\infty$, so by the Squeeze theorem so does the original expression.
The second question is whether or not it's allowed to use Stirling's formula to derive the limit, which I believe Arturo's comment covers: there is no apparent circularity, but in the context of classwork the answer depends on whether or not you've formally learned the formula and are allowed to use it as a given.
No comments:
Post a Comment