Determine if this series converges or diverges

Once we prove the inequality $$\sin x > \frac{x}{1+x} \qquad (\star)$$ for $x \in (0,1]$, we can inductively show that $\sin^{[n]}(1) > \frac1n$ when $n\ge 2$. We have $\sin \sin 1 \approx 0.75 > \frac12$, and whenever $\sin^{[n]}(1) > \frac1n$, we have $$\sin^{[n+1]}(1) = \sin \sin^{[n]}(1) > \sin \frac1n > \frac{1/n}{1+1/n} = \frac1{n+1}.$$ Therefore, by the comparison test, $$\sum_{n=1}^\infty \sin^{[n]}(1) = \sin 1 + \sum_{n=2}^\infty \sin^{[n]}(1) > \sin 1 + \sum_{n=2}^\infty \frac1n,$$ which diverges.


To prove $(\star)$... well, to be honest, I just graphed both sides. But we can prove that $\sin x > x - \frac{x^3}{6}$ on the relevant interval by thinking about the error term in the Taylor series, and $x - \frac{x^3}{6} > \frac{x}{1+x}$ can be rearranged to $(x+1)(x -\frac{x^3}{6}) - x > 0$, which factors as $-\frac16 x^2(x-2)(x+3) > 0$.


Another possibility is to try to find an equivalent of the general term of this sequence : $\begin{cases} a_0=1\\ a_{n+1}=sin(a_n) \end{cases}$

Note that $f(x)=sin(x)$ has derivative $f'(x)=cos(x)$ which is positive on $[0,a_0]$ and also $<1$ on $]0,a_0[$ so $f$ is a contraction. From there it is easy to prove that $a_n\to 0$.

This means that $a_{n+1}\sim a_n$ when $n\to\infty$.


In this kind of problem we always search for an $\alpha$ such that $\mathbf{(a_{n+1})^\alpha-(a_n)^\alpha}$ does not depend of $\mathbf{a_n}$ (in the $\sim$ sense of the expression) so we are able to solve the recurrence.

From Taylor expansion $\displaystyle{(a_{n+1})^\alpha = \bigg(a_n - \frac{a_n^3}{6}+o(a_n^4)\bigg)^\alpha}=(a_n)^\alpha\bigg(1 - \frac{a_n^2}{6}+o(a_n^3)\bigg)^\alpha=(a_n)^\alpha\big(1-\frac{\alpha}{6}a_n^2+o(a_n^3)\big)$

So $(a_{n+1})^\alpha-(a_n)^\alpha=-\frac{\alpha}{6}(a_n)^{\alpha+2}+o((a_n)^{\alpha+3})\quad$ we see that we need $\alpha=-2$


Let's put $b_n=1/(a_n)^2,\qquad$ $b_n\to\infty$

We have $b_{n+1}-b_n=\frac 13+o(1/b_n)$ thus $b_n\sim\frac n3\qquad$

(more precisely $b_n=n/3+o(\ln(n))$ but it is not important at this point).


Finally $a_n\sim\sqrt\frac 3n,$ which is a term of a divergent serie so $\sum a_n$ diverges as well.