how does sqrt(n)/n equal 1/sqrt(n)?
I'm working through a probability book where the following is stated (chapter 3):
Definition 3.3
Let $a_n$ and $b_n$ be two sequences of numbers.
We say $a_n$ is asymptotically equal to $b_n$, and write $a_n \sim b_n$, if ...
$\lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{a_n}{b_n} = 1$
Example 3.4
If $a_n = n + \sqrt{n}$ and $b_n = n$ then, since $\frac{a_n}{b_n} = 1 + 1/\sqrt{n}$ and this ratio tends to 1 as $n$ tends to infinity, we have $a_n \sim b_n$
My math is very rusty (15+ years), so I'm confused how the following is arrived at:
$\frac{a_n}{b_n} = 1 + \frac{1}{\sqrt{n}}$
I expected it to be the following ...
$\frac{a_n}{b_n} = \frac{\sqrt{n} + n}{n} = 1 + \frac{\sqrt{n}}{n}$
Simple answers will be preferred over complex answers.
Edit:
Checking with sympy, it seems that both the book and my version are the same:
>>> a, b, n = symbols('a b n')
>>> a = n + sqrt(n)
>>> b = n
>>> simplify( (a/b) - (1 + 1/sqrt(n)) ) == 0
True
>>> simplify( (a/b) - (1 + sqrt(n)/n) ) == 0
True
# Double check equality
>>> simplify( (1 + sqrt(n)/n) - (1 + 1/sqrt(n)) ) == 0
True
# and ...
>>> simplify( (sqrt(n)/n) - (1/sqrt(n)) ) == 0
True
# and ...
>>> simplify( (sqrt(n)/n) )
1 / sqrt(n)
# Double check I'm not doing something stupid
>>> simplify( (a/b) - (1) ) == 0
False
So my question becomes how can I derive my equation from the book equation.
Solution 1:
$n = \sqrt{n}^2$
So in your result you can simplify both numerator and denominator by $\sqrt{n}$ and get the book's result. Or, starting from the book's result, you just have to multiply both by $\sqrt{n}$.