TITLE: Find lim sup lim inf
QUESTION [8 upvotes]: How do I find $\lim \sup\text{ or } \lim \inf$ of $ \sin (\frac{n\pi}{5})$ ?
I know the $\sin$ function normally oscillates between $-1$ and $1$ but that obviously is not the answer for $\lim  \inf$ and $\lim \sup$.

REPLY [2 votes]: First, you need to know the definition of $lim sup$ and $lim inf$. Given a bounded sequence $ \sin (\frac{n\pi}{5})$. Let's name it $\{a_j\}$. We define
$$A_1=inf\{a_1,a_2,a_3,...\}$$
$$A_2=inf\{a_2,a_3,a_4,...\}$$
$$A_3=inf\{a_3,a_4,a_5,...\}$$
...
$$A_n=inf\{a_n,a_{n+1},...\}$$
It's easy to find the above lines shares the same infimum, because sin function is  periodical. But it's not obvious to see which is the infimum (here is also minimum.) Hence, I use R to help me find:
x <- seq(pi/5, 2*pi, by = pi/5)
min(sin(x))

R gives me -0.9510565.
Hence,
$$lim inf{a_j}=limA_n=-0.9510565$$
Similarly,
$$lim sup{a_j}=limB_n=0.9510565$$, where $B_n=sup\{a_n,a_{n+1},...\}$