∫Calc Practice

Series convergence tests

Problem 7.160 · easy

Does \( \displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} 4^{- n} n \) converge or diverge?
  1. Use the ratio test.
    Reviewed
  2. \[ \frac{4^{n} 4^{- n - 1} \left(n + 1\right)}{n} = \frac{n + 1}{4 n} \]
    a_(n+1)/a_n.✓ Proved
  3. \[ \lim_{n \to \infty}\left(\frac{n + 1}{4 n}\right) = \frac{1}{4} \]
    The limit is 1/4, < 1: converges.✓ Proved
Answer \( \text{converges} \)

Lines: 2 proved, 1 reviewed. The answer was also checked a second way, without looking at the solution. The reviewers disagree about how one step is explained; every verdict is in the receipt.

The full receipt
LineStatusChecked byDetail
1Reviewedreviewers: gpt-oss:20b, qwen3.6:27b-mlxa sentence; read, not computed
2✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
3✓ Provedsympy 1.14.0simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
answer, a second way✓ Checked independentlysympy 1.14.0 + mpmath 1.3.0SymPy's own convergence decision (Sum.is_convergent) agrees

Reviewers

  • gpt-oss:20b: pass
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass
Every verdict on record (4)
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass 2026-09-27
  • gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-09-27
  • qwen3.6:27b-mlx: inconclusive 2026-09-27 — reviewer response could not be parsed: { "verdict": "fail", "severity": "error", "notes": "The algebraic simplification in line 2 is incorrect. The term 4**n * 4**(-n-1) simplifies to 4**(-1) = 1/4, but the solution writes (n+1)/(4*n), imp
  • gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-09-27

Proved: SymPy reduced the difference between the two sides to zero. Checked independently: a separate method, named above, confirmed it. Checked numerically: the two sides agree at every sampled point, which is evidence, not proof. Reviewed: a model or a person read it; that is all a sentence can have. Solution by generator:structured/series_convergence, checked 2026-09-27 with SymPy 1.14.0.