A (probably trivial) induction problem: $\sum_2^nk^{-2}\lt1$

So I'm a bit stuck on the following problem I'm attempting to solve. Essentially, I'm required to prove that $\frac{1}{2^2}+\frac{1}{3^2}+\cdots+\frac{1}{n^2} < 1$ for all $n$. I've been toiling with some algebraic gymnastics for a while now, but I can't seem to get the proof right. Proving it using calculus isn't a problem, but I'm struggling hither.

Solution 1:

As often happens with induction proofs, the easiest approach to proving this statement (which doesn't seem inducable at all - after all, how does knowing the sum for $n$ is less than $1$ tell you anything about the sum for $n+1$?) via induction is to transform it into a stronger one: $$\mathrm{For\ all\ } n\geq2, \frac{1}{2^2}+\frac{1}{3^2}+\ldots+\frac{1}{n^2} \lt 1-\frac{1}{n}.$$

Now, the answer becomes a matter of simple algebra:

$$\sum_{i=2}^{n+1} \frac{1}{i^2} = \sum_{i=2}^{n} \frac{1}{i^2} +\frac{1}{(n+1)^2}\lt 1-\frac{1}{n}+\frac{1}{(n+1)^2}\lt 1-\frac{1}{n}+\frac{1}{n(n+1)} = 1-\frac{1}{n+1}.$$

Solution 2:

Another proof is by comparison: note that

$$ {1 \over k^2} < {1 \over (k-1)k} $$

for all integers $k \ge 2$. Therefore

$$ {1 \over 2^2} + {1 \over 3^2} + \cdots + {1 \over n^2} < {1 \over 1 \times 2} + {1 \over 2 \times 3} + \cdots + {1 \over (n-1) \times n} $$

and now you need to find the sum on the right-hand side. But you can actually write

$$ {1 \over (k-1)k} = {1 \over k-1} - {1 \over k} $$

(this is just the usual partial fraction decomposition) and therefore

$$ {1 \over 1 \times 2} + {1 \over 2 \times 3} + \cdots + {1 \over (n-1) \times n} = \left( {1 \over 1} - {1 \over 2} \right) + \left( {1 \over 2} - {1 \over 3} \right) + \cdots + \left( {1 \over n-1} - {1 \over n} \right) $$

and the right-hand side what's called a ``telescoping sum'' -- that is, the pairs of terms $-1/2$ and $+1/2$, $-1/3$ and $+1/3$, and so on cancel. So the right-hand side is $1 - 1/n$, which is less than 1.

This came to mind pretty much immediately for me, because I happened to know that $\sum_{k \ge 2}^\infty 1/(k(k-1)) = 1$, but if you didn't know that ahead of time it would be a bit tricky to discover.