p-series convergence

Show that if $p>1$, $\sum\frac{1}{n^{p}}$ converges and if $p<1$ it diverges for $p\in\mathbb{R}^{+}$.

Is there any way to show another series converges or diverges and then use the Comparison Test to prove this?

Solution 1:

Lemma 1 (Cauchy criterion). Let $(a_n)_{n=1}^\infty$ be a decreasing sequence of non-negative real numbers (so $a_n\ge0$ and $a_{n+1}\le a_n$ for all $n\ge 1$). Then the series $\sum_{n=1}^\infty a_n$ is convergent if and only is the series $$\sum_{k=0}^\infty2^ka_{2^k}=a_1+2a_2+4a_4+8a_8+\dotsb$$ is convergent.

Applying this lemma we can prove:

Proof. The sequence $(1/n^p)_{n=1}^\infty$ is non-negative and decreasing (why?), and so the Cauchy criterion applies. Thus this series is convergent if and only if $$\sum_{k=0}^\infty2^k\frac{1}{(2^k)^p}$$ is convergent. But by the laws of exponentiation we can write this as the geometric series (why?)$$\sum_{k=0}^\infty(2^{1-p})^k.$$

The geometric series $\sum_{k=0}^\infty x^k$ converges if and only if $|x|<1$ (why?). Thus the series $\sum_{n=1}^\infty1/n^p$ will converge if and only if $|2^{1-p}|<1$, which happens if and only if $p>1$ (why? Try to proving it just using the laws of exponentiation, and without using logarithms).