A Simple Math Question

[DivineNathicana]

Greetings. Alright, if anyone's bored enough to be on-line right now, what is the following simplified and how do you get it?

(1-1/2)(1-1/3)(1-1/4)(1-1/5)...(1-1/n)

Thanks for any help,

- Alisa

[Bo]

the answer is 1/n, and it can be obtained as follows:

rewrite your equation as:
(1/2)*(2/3)*(3/4)*...*((n-2)/(n-1))*((n-1)/n)

if you look at the last term, you see that the two (n-1) terms cancel each other. It can be easily seen that this works for all terms, except the first 1 and the last n, so your left with 1/n

Bo

[DivineNathicana]

Yeah, thanks Bo. I was doing this yesterday (or rather today) around 2 A.M. in the morning, so the thinking was pretty slow, but I got it right! Yay! hahaha

Thanks again,

- Alisa

[Bo]

no problem, just doing my job

What did you need the result for?

Bo

[DivineNathicana]

An arbitrary assignment from my rather odd math teacher required that I do it... And granted, I forgot about it until around 2 A.M. (go me!), when my thinking cap was long-retired. = )

- Alisa