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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Find the answer

Estimate N=n=1nn1.25N=\prod_{n=1}^{\infty} n^{n^{-1.25}}. An estimate of E>0E>0 will receive 22min(N/E,E/N)\lfloor 22 \min (N / E, E / N)\rfloor points.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

We approximate lnN=n=1lnnn5/4\ln N=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{\ln n}{n^{5 / 4}} with an integral as 1lnxx5/4dx=(4x1/4lnx16x1/4)1=16\int_{1}^{\infty} \frac{\ln x}{x^{5 / 4}} d x =\left.\left(-4 x^{-1 / 4} \ln x-16 x^{-1 / 4}\right)\right|_{1} ^{\infty} =16. Therefore e16e^{16} is a good approximation. We can estimate e16e^{16} by repeated squaring: e2.72e \approx 2.72, e27.4e^{2} \approx 7.4, e455e^{4} \approx 55, e83000e^{8} \approx 3000, e169000000e^{16} \approx 9000000. The true value of e16e^{16} is around 8886111, which is reasonably close to the value of NN. Both e16e^{16} and 9000000 would be worth 20 points.

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