The Thinking Board

Prove that the harmonic series diverges

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The problem

Show that

does not converge.

The terms go to zero, and the partial sums are in no hurry. They first pass at around , and first pass somewhere near . Every number you can actually compute suggests the thing is settling down. It is not.

So the theorem is easy to state, easy to prove, and very hard to believe from the evidence. Post a proof — and if you can, post one where the slowness falls out of the same argument, rather than sitting beside it as an embarrassment.

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