[Math] How to prove a recursive sequence converges

convergence-divergencesequences-and-series

I need some help with finding the limit of a recursive sequence.

Specifically,
$a_1 = 3$ and $a_{n+1} = \frac{3(1+a_n)}{3+a_n}$, which should approach $3^{\frac{1}{2}}$.

However, I would appreciate any example which demonstrates this concept.

My thought was to try and find the explicit form of the equation and then find the limit of that equation, but I am having trouble finding this equation.

Any hints would be great!

Best Answer

You need to investigate first whether $a_{n}$ is convergent or not. One way is by finding out whether it is bounded below/above and monotonically decreasing/increasing respectively (for $n>M$, for some $M$).

If you do have concluded that $a_{n}$ do converge to a value, say $a$. Then you can find $a$ by solving

$$ a = 3\frac{1+a}{3+a}$$

This is because in the long run (for large values of $n$), each sequence value will be 'the same' and equal to the limit.

Hope this helps.

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