Test the following improper integral for convergence:
The integral diverges.
Proof. First, we show that for all
. To do this let
This derivative is 0 at and is less than 0 for
and greater than 0 for
. Hence,
has a minimum at
. But,
(since
implies
). So,
has a minimum at
and is positive there; thus, it is positive for all
, or
So, since we know
But then, consider the limit
Therefore, by the limit comparison test (Theorem 10.25), the convergence of would imply the convergence of
(for any
), but we know by Example 5 that this integral diverges. Hence, we must also have the divergence of