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Show that the series obtained from a generalization of the decimal expansion converges

by RoRi

We may generalize the decimal expansion of a number by replacing the integer 10 with any integer b> 1. If x > 0, let a_0 denote the greatest integer greater than x. Assuming the integers a_0, a_1, \ldots, a_{n-1} have been defined, let a, denote the largest integer such that

    \[ \sum_{k=0}^n \frac{a_k}{b^k} \leq x. \]

Show that the series

    \[ \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{a_k}{b^k} \]

converges and has sum x.

Proof. Since a_k \leq b-1 we have

    \[ \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{a_k}{b^k} \leq \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{b-1}{b^k} < \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{b}{b^k} = b \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{1}{b^k} = b \left( \frac{1}{1 - \frac{1}{b}} \right). \]

Since

    \[ 0 \leq \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{a_k}{b^k} < \frac{b^2}{b-1} \]

we have established the convergence of

    \[ \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{a_k}{b^k}. \qquad \blacksquare \]

2 comments

  1. Artem says:

    There is a mistake here: the leftmost sum should run from 1, not from zero. It can be shown following the same reasoning as on page 393

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