A sequence is a discrete structure used to represent an
ordered list. For example, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 is a sequence with
five terms and 1, 3, 9, 27, 81..., 3n... is an infinite
sequence.
A sequence is a function from a subset of the set of
integers to a set S. We use the notation an to denote the
image of the integer n. We call an a term of the
sequence.
Example:
a. Consider the sequence an where an = 1/n,
determine the first five terms of this sequence.
b. Find formulae for the sequences with the
following first five terms: (a) 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16
(b) 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 (c) 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
A geometric progression is a sequence of the form a,
ar, ar2..., arn... where the initial term a and the common
ratio r are real numbers.
A geometric progression is a discrete analogue of the
exponential function f (x) = arx.
Example:
Determine the initial term, common ratio and the first five
terms (start at n = 0) for the following:
a. cn = 2 5n
b. dn = 6 (1/3)n
c. bn = (1)n
Determine the next term for the sequence:
a. 2, 10, 50, 250, 1250, _____ ;
b. 6, 2, 2/3, 2/9, 2/27, ______;
An arithmetic progression is a sequence of the form a,
a + d, a + 2d... a + nd... where the initial term a and the
common difference d are real numbers.
An arithmetic progression is a discrete analogue of the
linear function f (x) = dx + a.
Example:
Determine the initial term, common difference and the
first five terms (start at n = 0) for the following:
a. sn = 1 + 4n
b. tn = 7 3n
Recurrence Relations
A recurrence relation for the sequence {an} is an
equation that expresses an in terms of one or more of the
previous terms of the sequence, namely, a0, a1, . . . , an1,
for all integers n with n n0, where n0 is a nonnegative
integer. A sequence is called a solution of a recurrence
relation if its terms satisfy the recurrence relation.
Example:
a. Let {an} be a sequence that satisfies the
recurrence relation an = an1 + 3 for n = 1, 2,
3. . . And suppose that a0 = 2. What are a1, a2,
and a3?
b. Let {an} be a sequence that satisfies the
recurrence relation an = an1 an2 for n = 2, 3, 4.
. . And suppose that a0 = 3 and a1 = 5. What are
a2, a3, a4 and a5?
c. The Fibonacci sequence, f0, f1, f2... is defined
by the initial conditions f0 = 0, f1 = 1 and the
recurrence relation fn = fn1 + fn2 for n = 2, 3, 4...
Find the Fibonacci numbers f2, f3, f4, f5, and f6.
d. How can we produce the terms of a sequence if
the first 10 terms are 5, 11, 17, 23, 29, 35, 41,
47, 53, and 59?
e. How can we produce the terms of a sequence if
the first 10 terms are 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47,
76, and 123?
Some useful sequences
nth term
2
n
n3
First 10 terms
1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, . . .
1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, 729,
1000, . . .
1, 16, 81, 256, 625, 1296, 2401, 4096,
6561, 10000, . . .
2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, . .
.
3, 9, 27, 81, 243, 729, 2187, 6561, 19683,
59049, . . .
1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, 5040, 40320,
362880, 3628800, . . .
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, . . .
n4
2n
3n
n!
fn
Summations
Summation or sigma notation is a convenient and
simple form of shorthand used to give a concise
expression for a sum of the values of a variable. Let
x1, x2, x3 xi denote a set of n numbers. xi is the
first number in the set. xi represents the ith number
in the set.
Example:
5
1.
xi
2.
i=1
k=1
3 j+ x
( )
3.
j=1
4.
( )
3k
k=1
10
(3 j + 4 k )
5.
k=0 j=5
6. Data
i
Xi
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
a.
Find x i
b.
Find x i
c.
Find
i=1
4
i=1
( )
xi
i=1
d) 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192 . . .
e) 15, 8, 1, 6, 13, 20, 27 . . .
f) 3, 5, 8, 12, 17, 23, 30, 38, 47 . . .
g) 2, 16, 54, 128, 250, 432, 686 . . .
h) 2, 3, 7, 25, 121, 721, 5041, 40321 . . .
j) 3, 6, 11, 18, 27, 38, 51, 66, 83, 102 . . .
k) 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, 35, 39, 43 . . .
l) 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 1010. . .
m) 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 . . .
n) 0, 2, 8, 26, 80, 242, 728, 2186, 6560, 19682 . . .
o) 1, 3, 15, 105, 945, 10395, 135135, 2027025. . .
p) 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 . . .
q) 2, 4, 16, 256, 65536, 4294967296 . . .
2. Find the first five terms of the sequence defined by
each of these recurrence relations and initial conditions.
a) an = 6an1, a0 = 2
b) an = a2n1, a1 = 2
c) an = an1 + 3an2, a0 = 1, a1 = 2
d) an = nan1 + n2an2, a0 = 1, a1 = 1
e) an = an1 + an3, a0 = 1, a1 = 2, a2 = 0
3. Suppose that the number of bacteria in a colony
triples every hour.
a) Set up a recurrence relation for the number of
bacteria after n hours have elapsed.
b) If 100 bacteria are used to begin a new colony, how
many bacteria will be in the colony in 10 hours?
4. A factory makes custom sports cars at an increasing
rate. In the first month only one car is made, in the
second month two cars are made, and so on, with n cars
made in the nth month.
a) Set up a recurrence relation for the number of cars
produced in the first n months by this factory.
b) How many cars are produced in the first year?
c) Find an explicit formula for the number of cars
produced in the first n months by this factory.
100
7.
5. What are the values of these sums?
k=1
150
8.
5k2
j=1
6. What are the values of these sums, where S = {1, 3,
5, 7}?
99
9.
8 j2+5 j
10.
5i3
j=1
120
i=50
Exercise:
1. Determine the next three terms of the sequence.
a) 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1 . . .
b) 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8 . . .
c) 1, 0, 2, 0, 4, 0, 8, 0, 16, 0 . . .
7. What is the value of each of these sums of terms of a
geometric progression?
8. Compute each of these double sums.
that succeeding terms are multiplied instead of
added:
What are the values of the following products?
Pi Notation ()
is a capital letter from the Greek alphabet call
Pi. It is used in mathematics to represent the
product of a bunch of terms It is used in the same
way as the Sigma notation described above, except
