On a proof that the harmonic series diverges

calculusconvergence-divergenceharmonic-numbersriemann-integrationsequences-and-series

I had a question on whether my proof that the harmonic series diverges or not; we wish to evaluate:
$$S=\lim_{n\to\infty}\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{k}$$
We will re-write the inner expression in the following fashion:
$$\sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{k}=\frac{1}{n}\sum_{k=1}^n\left(\frac{k}{n}\right)^{-1}$$
We thus recignise that our suum $S$ is in fact equal to the following integral via the definition of Riemann integrals:
$$S=\int_0^1\frac{1}{x}\ dx$$
Which obviously diverges to $+\infty$.

Is this proof correct and rigorous? I got the idea from reading a book I recently got on how to succeed in a CPGE class and it provoked me too getting more creative with using Riemann integration.

Best Answer

No it does not work because the theorem on convergence on Riemann sums requires $f$ to be continuous on a segment $[a,b]$, in your case you applied it to $x\mapsto\frac{1}{x}$ on $[0,1]$ which is not correct. Here is a way to correct your reasoning : let $\delta\in]0,1[$, on the one hand $$ \frac{1}{n}\sum_{k\geqslant\delta n}\left(\frac{k}{n}\right)^{-1}=\frac{1}{n}\sum_{k=0}^n\left(\frac{k}{n}\right)^{-1}\chi_{[\delta,1]}\left(\frac{k}{n}\right)\underset{n\rightarrow +\infty}\longrightarrow\int_{\delta}^1\frac{dx}{x}=-\log\delta. $$ On the other hand, $$ \frac{1}{n}\sum_{k\leqslant\delta n}\left(\frac{k}{n}\right)^{-1}\geqslant\frac{\lfloor\delta n\rfloor}{\delta n}. $$ Therefore, if $\delta$ is fixed, we have $$ \sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{k}\geqslant -\log\delta $$ for all $n$ large enough but since $\lim\limits_{\delta\rightarrow 0}\log\delta=-\infty$, $-\log\delta$ can be taken as large as you want which means that the harmonic series diverges.

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