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I am finding the positive values of $x$ for which the following series is convergent $$ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}x^{\sqrt{n}}$$ It is sure that it is not convergent for $x\geq1$ as $n$-th term will not tend to zero. Now $x\in[0,1)$ how to check its convergence? Please help me to solve it. Thanks.

Did
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neelkanth
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2 Answers2

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Without the exponential:

If $0\le x <1$, we have: \begin{align*} \sum_{n\ge1}x^{\sqrt n}&\le\sum_{n\ge1}x^{\lfloor\sqrt n\rfloor}=3x+5x^2+7x^3+9x^4+\dotsm \\ &\le 2+4x+6x^2+8x^3+10x^4+\dotsm=2(1+2x+3x^2+4x^3+5x^4+\dotsm)\\ &= 2\biggl(\frac1{1-x}\biggr)'=\frac2{(1-x)^2} \end{align*} hence the series converges.

Bernard
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Let $x \in ]0,1[$; then $$x^{\sqrt{n}} = \exp(\sqrt{n} \log x) = \frac{1}{e^{\sqrt{n}|\log x|}} < \frac{1}{(\sqrt{n})^{3}} $$ for large $n$, so by the comparison test the desired series converges.

Yes
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