# √c+√c+√c+⋯\sqrt{c+\sqrt{c+\sqrt{c+\cdots}}}, or the limit of the sequence xn+1=√c+xnx_{n+1} = \sqrt{c+x_n}

(Fitzpatrick Advanced Calculus 2e, Sec. 2.4 #12)

For $c \gt 0$, consider the quadratic equation
$x^2 - x - c = 0, x > 0$.

Define the sequence $\{x_n\}$ recursively by fixing $|x_1| \lt c$ and then, if $n$ is an index for which $x_n$ has been defined, defining

Prove that the sequence $\{x_n\}$ converges monotonically to the solution of the above equation.

Note: The answers below might assume $x_1 \gt 0$, but they still work, as we have $x_3 \gt 0$.

This is being repurposed in an effort to cut down on duplicates, see here: Coping with abstract duplicate questions.

and here: List of abstract duplicates.

Assuming that you know that a monotone, bounded sequence converges, you want to do two things. First, show that $\langle x_n:n\in\mathbb{Z}^+\rangle$ is monotone and bounded, and then show that its limit is the positive root of $x^2-x-c=0$.

If $c=x_1=1$, $x_2=\sqrt2>x_1$, while if $c=1$ and $x_1=2$, $x_2=\sqrt3, so if the sequence is monotonic, the direction in which it’s monotonic must depend on $c$ and $x_1$. A good first step would be to try to figure out how this dependence works.

The positive root of the quadratic is $\frac12(1+\sqrt{1+4c})$, which I’ll denote by $r$. If $x_n\to r$, as claimed, and does so monotonically, it must be the case that the sequence increases monotonically if $x_1 and decreases monotonically if $x_1>r$. In the examples in the last paragraph, $r=\frac12(1+\sqrt5)\approx 1.618$, so they behave as predicted.

This suggests that your first step should be to show that if $x_n, then $x_n, while if $x_n>r$, $x_n>x_{n+1}>r$; that would be enough to show that $\langle x_n:n\in\mathbb{Z}^+\rangle$ is both monotone and bounded and hence that it has a limit.

Suppose that $0\le x_n; you can easily check that $x_n^2-x_n-c<0$, i.e., that $x_n^2. On the other hand, $x_{n+1}^2=c+x_n$, so $x_{n+1}^2>x_n^2$, and therefore $x_{n+1}>x_n$. Is it possible that $x_{n+1}\ge r$? That would require that $x_{n+1}^2-x_{n+1}-c\ge 0$ (why?) and hence that which is clearly impossible. Thus, if $0\le x_n, we must have $x_n, as desired. I leave the case $x_n>r$ to you.

Once this is done, you still have to show that the limit of the sequence really is $r$. Let $f(x)=\sqrt{c+x}$; clearly $f$ is continuous, so if the sequence converges to $L$, we have and from there it’s trivial to check that $L=r$.

Added: Note that although the problem gave us $x_1>0$, this isn’t actually necessary: all that’s needed is that $x_1\ge -c$, so that $x_2$ is defined, since $x_2=\sqrt{c+x_1}\ge 0$ automatically.