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Arithmetic Progression: Important Terms

An arithmetic progression is a sequence of numbers where the difference between consecutive terms is constant. The common difference is the fixed amount each term increases or decreases by. The general term of an arithmetic progression is given by tn = a + (n - 1)d, where a is the first term and d is the common difference. The sum of the first n terms is given by S = (n/2) * (2a + (n - 1)d). Three or more numbers are in arithmetic progression if the differences between consecutive terms are equal.

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178 views2 pages

Arithmetic Progression: Important Terms

An arithmetic progression is a sequence of numbers where the difference between consecutive terms is constant. The common difference is the fixed amount each term increases or decreases by. The general term of an arithmetic progression is given by tn = a + (n - 1)d, where a is the first term and d is the common difference. The sum of the first n terms is given by S = (n/2) * (2a + (n - 1)d). Three or more numbers are in arithmetic progression if the differences between consecutive terms are equal.

Uploaded by

Binu Kumar S
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Arithmetic Progression

Important Terms

1. A sequence is an arrangement of numbers in a definite order according to some rule.

2. The various numbers occurring in a sequence are called its terms. We denote the terms of a sequence by
a1, a2, a3…etc. Here, the subscripts denote the positions of the terms. In general, the number at the nth
place is called the nth term of the sequence and is denoted by an. The nth term is also called the general
term of the sequence.

3. A sequence having a finite number of terms is called a finite sequence.

4. A sequence which do not have a last term and which extends indefinitely is known as an infinite sequence.

Arithmetic Progression

An arithmetic progression is a list of numbers in which each term is obtained by adding a fixed number to
the preceding term, except the first term.

Each of the numbers of the sequence is called a term of an Arithmetic Progression. The fixed number by
which the successive terms differ is called the common difference. This common difference could be a
positive number, a negative number or even zero.

A list of numbers a1, a2, a3…… is an A.P., if the differences a2 – a1, a3 – a2, a4 – a3 … give the same value,
i.e., ak+1 – ak is same for all different values of k.

The general form of an A.P. is a, a + d, a + 2d, a + 3d…..

If the A.P a, a + d, a + 2d……… is reversed to , - d, - 2d………a, then the common difference


changes to negative of the common difference of the original sequence.

General Term of an A.P.


The general term of an A.P. is given by

tn = a + (n - 1)d
where ‘a’ is the first term and d is the common difference.

Sum of n terms of an A.P.


n n
S
2
2a  (n  1)d OR S
2
a  
where ‘a’ is the first term, d is the common difference, l is the last term and n is the total number of terms.

The nth term of an A.P is the difference of the sum to first n terms and the sum to first (n - 1) terms of
it. That is, tn  Sn  Sn1
Three or More Terms in A.P.
Sometimes we require certain number of terms in A.P. The following ways of selecting terms are generally
very convenient.

Number Terms Common


of difference
terms
3 a – d, a, a + d d
4 a – 3d, a – d, a + d, a + 3d 2d
5 a – 2d, a – d, a, a + d, a + 2d d
6 a – 5d, a – 3d, a – d, a + d, a + 3d, 2d
a + 5d

It should be noted that in case of an odd number of terms, the middle term is ‘a’ and the common difference
is ‘d’ while in case of an even number of terms the middle terms are a – d, a + d and the common
differences is 2d.

Arithmetic Mean
If three number a, b, c (in order) are in A.P. Then,
b  a  Common difference  c  b
 ba  c b
 2b  a  c

Thus a, b, c are in A.P., if and only if 2b = a + c. In this case, b is called the arithmetic mean of a and c.

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