Sequences in Rn

Ankush Garg, JSGP

Euclidean Structure of Rn
Consider the n-dimensional real space Rn = {(x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) : x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ∈ R}. In the Linear Algebra
module, we have seen that Rn is a vector space over R under the operations:

(x1 , . . . , xn ) + (y1 , . . . , yn ) = (x1 + y1 , . . . , xn + yn ) and α(x1 , . . . , xn ) = (αx1 , . . . , αxn ),

for all (x1 , . . . , xn ), (y1 , . . . , yn ) ∈ Rn and α ∈ R. Any element of this space is called a vector.

Definition 1
Norm: The norm of a vector x = (x1 , . . . , xn ) is defined as:
q
||x|| = x21 + . . . + x2n .

Vector space Rn together with above defined norm, is called Normed Vector Space.

Definition 2
Euclidean Distance: Let d : Rn x Rn → R be defined as
p
d(x, y) = (x1 − y1 )2 + (x2 − y2 )2 + ........ + (xn − yn )2 .

Then d(x, y) is called Euclidean distance between two points, x and y in Rn . d satisfies the following for
all x, y, z ∈ Rn :

1. d(x, y) ≥ 0 with d(x, y) = 0 if and only if x = y

2. d(x, y) = d(y, x)

3. d(x, y) ≤ d(x, z) + d(z, y) – triangle inequality

Rn together with the distance d, that is, (Rn , d) is called a Euclidean Space.

Notice that d(x, y) = ||x − y|| for all x, y ∈ Rn . That is, the Euclidean distance between any two points
in Rn is same as the norm of the difference of two points in Rn .

Definition 3
Open-neighbourhood: Let x ∈ Rn and let  > 0 be a real number. The set:

V (x) = {y ∈ Rn : d(x, y) < }

is called the open-neighbourhood of x.

1
Definition 4
A sequence in Rn is a function f : N → Rn . As was the case for sequences in R, we let xn = f (n) and
we will use the notation

{xn } or (xk )k∈N or (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , ......)

to denote sequences in Rn , where xk = (xk1 , . . . , xkn ) is a vector in Rn for each k ∈ N. Another

convenient way of writing the sequences in Rn is

xn = (x(1) (2) (n)

n , xn , ...., xn )
(j)
where each xn is j th component sequence in R

Examples
Some sequences {xn } in R2 and R3 :
1. xn = (e, n2 ) = ((e, 0), (e, 1), (e, 4), (e, 9), ......)
 
1
2. xn = n+1 , n21+1 = ()(1, 1), (1/2, 1/2), (1/3, 1/5), (1/4, 1/10), .........)
 
1 1 1
3. xn = n+1 , n2 +1 , n3 +1 = ((1, 1, 1), (1/2, 1/2, 1/2), (1/3, 1/5, 1/9), (1/4, 1/10, 1/28), .........)
√ √ √ √
4. xn = (1, −1, 2) = ((1, −1, 2), (1, −1, 2), (1, −1, 2), .......)

Theorem 1
Let (xk )k∈N = (x1 , x2 , x3 . . .) be a sequence in Rn , and let p = (p1 , . . . , pn ) ∈ Rn . Then (xk )k∈N → p as
k → ∞ if and only if for each j = 1, . . . , n, xkj → pj as k → ∞.

That is, a sequence in Rn converges to a point p ∈ Rn if and only if, j th components of elements of this
sequence converge to j th components of point p for all j = 1, 2, 3, ...., n.

Proof
If part:
Let (xk )k∈N → p as k → ∞. Let xkj denote the jth component of xk . Then

|xkj − pj | ≤ ||xk − p|| for j = 1, 2, . . . , n and for all k ∈ N

Then it follows directly from the definition of convergence that ||xk − p|| → 0 as k → ∞. Combining
with the above inequality gives xkj → pj as k → ∞.

Only if part:
Suppose that for each integer j between 1 and n, xkj → pj as k → +∞. Let  > 0 be given. Then
there exist positive integers N1 , N2 , . . . , Nn such that |xkj − pj | < √n whenever k ≥ Nj . Let N be the
maximum of N1 , N2 , . . . , Nn . If k ≥ N , then k ≥ Ni for j = 1, 2, . . . , n, and therefore:
n  2
X 
||xk − p||2 = (xkj − pj )2 < n √ = 2 .
j=1
n

Since this holds for any given  > 0, however small, we have xj → p as k → ∞, as required.

2
Examples
n

1 (−1)
1. Show that the sequence xn = n, n in R2 is convergent. Find its limit.

(1) (2)
Solution: A sequence xn = (xn , xn ) converges if and only if each of its component sequences
converges in R.

(1)
The first component is xn = 1/n. We know, 1/n → 0 as n → ∞. This is beacuse, given any
 > 0, choose N > 1 . Then for all n ≥ N , we have

1 1
n> =⇒ 1/n <  =⇒ −0 <
 n

Hence, 1/n → 0 as n → ∞.

n n
(2)
The second component is xn = (−1) n . We know,
(−1)
n → 0 as n → ∞. This is because given any
1
 > 0, we choose N >  . Then for all n ≥ N , we have

1 (−1)n (−1)n
n> =⇒ 1/n <  =⇒ = −0 <
 n n
(−1)n
Hence, n → 0 as n → ∞

Since each component of xn converges to zero, it follows that the sequence xn → (0, 0) ∈ R2 .

n
1 (−1) 1


2. Let xn = n2 , n ,1 + n in R3 . Prove that the sequwnce converges and find its limit.

(1) (2) (3)

Solution: A sequence xn = (xn , xn ), xn ) converges if and only if each of its component sequences
converges in R.

(1)
The first component is xn = n12 . We know n12 → 0 as n → ∞. This is because given any  > 0,
choose N > √1 . Then for all n ≥ N , we have

1 1
n > √ =⇒ 2 = |1/n2 − 0| < 
 n
1
Hence, n2 → 0 as n → ∞.

n n
(2)
The second component is xn = (−1) n . We know,
(−1)
n → 0 as n → ∞. This is beacuse given any
1
 > 0, choose N >  . Then for all n ≥ N , we have

1 (−1)n (−1)n
n> =⇒ 1/n <  =⇒ = −0 <
 n n
(−1)n
Hence, n → 0 as n → ∞

(3)
The third component is (xn = 1 + n1 . We know, 1 + n1 → 1 as n → ∞. This is beacuse given any
 > 0, choose N > 1 . Then for all n ≥ N , we have
 
1 1
n> =⇒ 1/n <  =⇒ 1+ − 1 < .
 n
1
Hence, n+1 → 1 as n → ∞.

n
In conclusion, for the given sequence, we have xn = ( n12 , (−1) 1
n , 1 + n ) → (0, 0, 1).