10

MATHEMATICS
Quarter 1 - Module 4:
Solving Problems Involving
Sequences

AIRs - LM
LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4
 10
MATHEMATICS
Quarter 1 - Module 4:
Solving Problems Involving
Sequences

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4
 Target

During this corona virus pandemic, fake news is putting lives at risk, unreliable
information is spreading around the world and the rate of spread is unbelievable.
Consider a fake news spread via chain text message. If a person sends the message
to five people and the message says that each has to send it to another five people.
How many recipients will there be? If this continues how many recipients of the
message be after the 6th sending?
The above situation shows an example of a sequence applied in real life. This
module focuses on the application of sequence and series and how the concept is
utilized in our daily life.

In going over this module, you are expected to:

Learning Competency
• Solves problems involving sequences(M10AL-If-2)

Learning Objectives:
1. classify a given sequence whether arithmetic or geometric sequence
2. identify the type of sequence involved in a word problem and the formula to be
applied
3. solve problems involving sequences

Before we start the lesson, find out how much you already know about
this module by answering the pre – assessment on the subsequent page.

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PRE - ASSESSMENT

Directions: Read and answer each statement below carefully. After taking and
checking this short test, take note of the items that you were not able to answer
correctly and look for the right answer as you go through this module. Write your
answers in a separate sheet of paper.

1. A car travels 300 m the first minute, 420 m the next minute, 540 m the third
minute, and so on in an arithmetic sequence. What’ s the total distance the car
travels in 5 minutes?
A.1200 m B.2500 m C.2700 m D.3000 m
2. The sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180º, of a quadrilateral is 360º and
of a pentagon is 540º. Assuming this pattern continues, find the sum of the
interior angles of a dodecagon (12 sides).
A.1,8000 B.9000 C.8200 D.7200
3. A culture of bacteria doubles every 2 hours. If there are 500 bacteria at the
beginning, how many bacteria will there be after 12 hours?
A.20,000 B.32,000 C.40,000 D.42,000
4. An auditorium has 20 seats on the first row, 24 seats on the second row, 28 seats
on the third row, and so on and has 30 rows of seats. How many seats are in the
theatre?
A.2340 B.2450 C.2550 D.2620
5. A fruit vendor owes a Cooperative P4200 and agrees to pay it by monthly
installment. If she pays P350 the first month, P400 the second month,P450 the
third month, and so on, how long will it take her to pay the debt? How much will
be her last payment?
A.6 months, P550 B.7 months, P650
C.7 months, P700 D.8 months, P600
6. Ten days before Valentine’s Day, Pepe decided to give Pilar flowers. On the first
day, he sent one red rose, on the second day, two red roses, on the third day,4
red roses, and so on. How many roses did Pilar receive during the tenth day?
A. 512 B. 511 C.510 D. 509
7. Suppose person X was infected by a virus and it gets to infect three persons in a
day. Each of these infected persons gets to infect three other persons. If these cycle
goes on, then how many persons will be infected within 5 days including person X?
A.120 B.121 C. 130 D.131
8. A snail is crawling straight up a wall. The first hour it climbs 16 inches, the second
hour it climbs 12 inches and each succeeding hour, it climbs only three fourths the
distance it climbed the previous hour. How far does the snail climb during the
seventh hour?
256 256 729 14 197
A. B. C. D.
14 197 727 256 256
9. Max bought a car P 600,000. The yearly depreciation of his car is 10% of its value
at the start of the year. What is its value after 4 years?
A. ₱438,000 B. ₱437,400 C. ₱393,660 D. ₱378,000
10. A mine worker discovers an ore sample containing 500 mg radioactive material.
It was discovered that the radioactive material has a half-life of 1 day. About how
much of the radioactive material will be present after 7 days?
A.3.9 mg B.7.8 mg C. 15.6 mg D. 31.2 mg

Now, let us take a look first on the given activity below. This activity will
surely a big help to you in understanding the lesson.

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4 2
 Jumpstart
Can you still recall what
you have learned in the previous modules about sequences? Let us see how well
you can still remember them.
Answer the activity below.
Activity 1:What Am I?
Which animal has a tongue that is one and a half times the length of its
body?
Direction: Identify whether each of the following sequence whether arithmetic,
geometric or neither. Copy the letter under your answer, then write the letter in the
answer box where you can find the item number. Good luck!

Sequence arithmetic geometric neither

1.6,18,54,162,… M L S
2.4,10,16,22,… A T E
3.1,1,2,3,5,8,… V D C
4.625,125,25,5,… R O W
5.1/2,1/4,1/6,1/8,… M D E
6.5,8,13,21,34,… U C M
7.-1296,216,-36,6,… S E I
8.8.2,8,7.8,7.6,… N S A
9.11,2,-7,-16,… H O P

Answer Box

3 9 2 6 5 1 7 4 8

Did you enjoy the activity?

Having a thorough understanding of the sequences will help you solve real
life problems involving them.

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4 3
 Discover

Do you know that sequences are used to model and solve many mathematical
ideas and real-life situations? Sequences are useful in our daily lives as well as in
higher mathematics.
Let’s remember the lessons in your previous modules about sequence and
series. We will focus on arithmetic and geometric sequence and series formula.
A sequence is a set of numbers that are arranged in a specific order.

By definition, arithmetic sequence whose consecutive terms have a

common difference (d) while a geometric sequence is a sequence whose
consecutive terms have a common ratio(r).

The nth term of an arithmetic sequence with a1 as the first term and d
as the common difference is given by the following formula:
an= a1 + (n-1)d

The nth term of a geometric sequence with a1 as the first term and r as
the common difference is given by the following formula:

an= a1 ∙ rn-1
A series is the sum of the terms of a sequence.
By definition, an arithmetic series is the sum of the terms of an
arithmetic sequence while a geometric series is the sum of the terms of
geometric sequence.
The sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic sequence is given by :

𝑛 (𝑎1 + 𝑎𝑛 )
Sn =
2
where a1 is the first term and an is the nth term of the sequence.

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 Alternately, the equation may also be written as follows:

𝑛[2𝑎 + (𝑛−1)𝑑]
Sn = 1
2
The sum of the first n terms of a geometric sequence is given by the
following formula:

𝑎1 (1−𝑟 𝑛 )
Sn =
1−𝑟

where a1 is in the first term and r is the common ratio.

The sum of an infinite geometric sequence is given by:

𝑎1
S = 1−𝑟

where a1 is the first term and r is the common ratio.

Now, let us take a look first on some illustrative examples. These examples
will surely help you in understanding the lesson.

Example 1: The Prize is Right

To motivate her online class learners, Teacher Mathilda asks a question
for a prize of ₱150. If the learner being asked does not answer correctly, the prize
money is increased by ₱100 each attempt until someone correctly answers the
question. Someone finally got the correct answer on the 10 th attempt. How much
would be the prize?
Solution:
Let us first illustrate using a table of values.
Attempts 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Prize 150 250 350 450 550

Continue listing until the 10th attempt. Did you get P1050? That is right!
Now, listing can be a tedious process. There must be a shorter way of
solving such type of problem.
a.) Identify the type of sequence the table illustrates.
There is a common difference of P 100.It must be an arithmetic
sequence.
b.) Determine what is asked.
The question asks for the prize on the 10th attempt. It is asking for the
10th term.
c.) Decide on what formula to be used.

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4 5
 The formula in finding the nth term of arithmetic sequence is :
an= a1 + (n-1)d
d.) Substituting in the formula,
a10= 150 + (10-1) 100
= 150 + 9(100)
= 150 + 900
a10 = 1050

The prize on the 10th attempt is ₱1,050.

Example 2 : Fake News
Matheo is scrolling his messages. In a minute, he receives a fake news that
purports to be true out of rumors regarding coronavirus situation. After a minute,
he sends this message to three other accounts through messenger. Every minute, an
account who receives this message forwards it to three other accounts. Assuming
this pattern continues where every account receives it only once, how many accounts
receive the message on the fifth minute?
Solution:
Let us start by illustrating the situation through a table of values.
No. of Minutes 1st 2nd 3rd
No. of Accounts 1 3 9
a.) What type of sequence is illustrated?
The table shows a geometric sequence since there is a common ratio of 3.
3 9
That is r = = =3
1 3

b.) What is asked in the problem?

The problem is looking for the number of accounts received the fake news on
the 5th minute. Therefore, the problem requires a5.
c.) What formula will be used?

The formula to be used is an= a1 ∙ n-1 where a1 = 1 , n =5 and r = 3.

r

d.) Substituting in the formula,

a5 = 1 • 35-1
a5 = 1 • 34
a5 = 1 • 81
a5 = 81
There are 81 accounts that receive the fake news. If this continues in an
hour, imagine how many accounts would receive it?
Example 3 : Smart Ako

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 For her online class, Jenny wanted to buy a smart phone that costs ₱6,000. She
decided to save money and started with ₱500 on the first week, P 550 on the second
week , ₱605 on the third week, and so on. If this goes on, how much would Jenny’s
savings be on the 8th week? How much did she save all in all? Is it enough to buy her
the smart phone?
Solution:
Let us start by illustrating Jenny’s savings in a table.
1st week 2nd week 3rd week
₱500 ₱550 ₱605
The table above shows a geometric sequence since it has no common
difference, instead a common ratio that is:
550 605 11
r = = 550 =
500 10
The above situation gives us the following data:
a1 = ₱500 n= 8

a.) Using the nth term of a geometric sequence, an= a1 ∙ rn-1 , where
11
a1 = 500, r = where r ≠ 1 and n=8,then
10

11 8−1
By substitution; a8 = 500 [(10) ], gives 974.40

Therefore, Jenny’s savings on the 8th week is ₱974.40.

b.) To find out the sum of all her savings, let’s use the sum of finite
geometric series.
𝑎 (1−𝑟 𝑛 )
Sn = 1 ,
1−𝑟
By substitution,
11 8
500[1−(10) ]
S8= 11 gives 5717.90
1−10
Therefore, Jenny must have saved ₱5,717.90 for the whole 8 weeks and
this is not enough to buy her the smartphone.

Now, it’s your time to answer on your own. Answer the activity, taking note
of the guide questions you had in the previous examples.

Activity 1: Complete Me!

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 1. Face Mask is a Must!
Aling Mathring makes face masks for our front liners. She has 12 face
masks left over from last day, and she plans to make 10 more each day .
If she decided to finish it for 15 days, how many face masks will she have
to make?
Let us start by illustrating the number of Aling Mathring’s face mask in
a table.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
12 22 32 42 52

a. What type of sequence is illustrated? _______________

b. How many face masks will Aling Mathring make on the
6th day? ___________
12th day? ___________
15th day? ___________
Aside from listing method, the number of face masks Aling Mathring
will make on the 15th day can also be found using the formula:
an= a1 + (n-1)d
where a1 = 12, n= 15 and d = 10
Substituting in the formula, what did you get? Did you arrive at the same
answer?

Nice work! Now you are ready to discover more about solving word
problems on sequences.

2. It’s Pandemic!
Suppose patient 1 was infected by a virus and it gets to infect three
persons in a day. Each of these infected persons gets to infect three other
persons. If these cycle goes on, then how many persons will be infected
within 8 days including patient 1?
Solution:
a. Assuming that the number of infected persons continues to increase in
the same manner, how many persons were expected to be infected with
the virus on the 5th day?
Illustrating using a table of values,

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4 8
 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
1 3 9 27

b. What kind of sequence is illustrated by the situation? _______________

Now, continue listing until the 8th day.
c. How many infected persons were expected on the 8 th day? _______________
Add all the number of infected persons from day 1 to day 8.
d. How many persons in all were infected on the 8 th day? ______________
To determine the number of infected persons on the 8 th day, the formula below
will be used:
an= a1 ∙ rn-1
where a1 = 1 , n= 8 and r = 3

To determine how many persons in all were infected on the 8 th day, the formula
below will be used:
𝑎 (1−𝑟 𝑛 )
Sn = 1
1−𝑟
Did you arrive at the same answer?

In solving problems involving sequences and series the following pointers can
be of help.
POINTS TO CONSIDER
1.Understand the problem.
2.List or illustrate the given data.
3.Determine the sequence illustrated whether arithmetic or geometric
sequence.
4.Identify the formula for each unknown.
5.Solve for what is asked by substituting the needed values in the formula.

NOTE:
There is no best strategy in solving problems on sequences but it is
important to stick with the concept.

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4 9
 Explore

At this point you already know some essential ideas about solving problems on
sequences. Here are some enrichment activities for you to work on to master and
strengthen the basic concepts you have learned from this lesson.

Activity 1: Log In !
There are 28 logs in the bottom layer of a pile of logs, 27 in the next
layer, 26 in the next, and so on to the top which has one log.
a.) How many logs are there in the 15th layer?
b.) How many logs are there all in the pile?

Activity 2: Double this, Double That!

A research lab is to begin experimentation with a bacterium that doubles
every 4 hours. The lab starts with 200 bacteria.
a.) How many bacteria will be present at the end of the 12th hour?
b.) How many bacteria will be present at the end of one day?

Activity 3: Jog for Life!

After a knee surgery, your trainer tells you to return to your jogging
program slowly. He suggests jogging for 15 minutes each day for the first
week. Each week, thereafter, he suggests that you increase that time by 15
minutes per day.
a.) On what week will it be before you are up to jogging 2 hours per day?
b.) How many hours have you spent jogging for those weeks?

Activity 4: Mathsubishi!
Mr. Mathias bought a car for P 500,000. The yearly depreciation of his car
is 10% of its value at the start of the year. What is its value after 5 years?
Activity 5: Sky Fall!

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 During a free- fall, a skydiver jumps 16 feet, 48 feet and 80 feet on the
first, second and third fall, respectively. If he continues to jump at this rate,
how many feet will he have jumped during the 10th fall?

Since you already know the important notes about solving

problems involving arithmetic and geometric sequence, let us go
deeper.

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4 11
 Gauge

I. Multiple Choice:

Direction: Choose the letter of the best answer from the given choices. Write your
answers on a separate sheet of paper. (1 point each)

1.There are 20 rows of seats in a concert hall with 20 seats in the first row, 21 seats
in the second row,22 seats in the third row, and so on. In total, how many seats are
there in the concert hall?
A. 450 B. 590 C. 650 D. 680
2.A rocket rises 30 feet after 1 second,85 feet after 2 seconds and 140 feet after 3
seconds. If it continues to rise at this rate, how many feet will it rise after 16 seconds?
A. 780 feet B. 830 feet C. 855 feet D. 910 feet
3.Ramilo is the track and field representative of La Union in R1AA. He begins training
by running 5 miles during the first week, 6.5 miles during the second week, and 8
miles on the third week. Assume the pattern continues, how far will he run on the
10th week?
A. 18.5 miles B. 20 miles C.21.5 miles D. 23 miles
4.A culture of bacteria doubles every 2 hours. If there are 300 bacteria at the
beginning, how many bacteria will there be after 8 hours?
A.4,800 B.1,600 C.600 D.150
5. Lanie has decided to add strength training to her exercise program. Her trainer
suggests that she add weight lifting for 5 minutes during her routine for the first
week. Each week thereafter, she is to increase the weight lifting time by 2 minutes.
If Lanie continues with this increase in weight lifting time, how many minutes will
she be devoting to weight lifting in week 10?
A.23 B.25 C.32 D.52
6. Mr. Corpuz suffers from allergies. When allergy season arrives, his doctor
recommends that he take 300 mg of his medication the first day, and decrease the
dosage by one half each day for one week.
To the nearest milligram, what is the amount of medication Mr. Corpuz will take on
the 7th day?

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 A.5 mg B.9 mg C.19 mg D.38 mg
7. The summer Olympics occur every four years. Starting with 2016, in which year
will the 12th summer Olympics occur?
A.2056 B.2058 C.2060 D.2068
8. Each hour, a grandfather clock chimes the number of times that corresponds to
the time of day. For example, at 3:00, it will chime 3 times. How many times does
the clock chime in a day?
A. 24 B. 42 C. 156 D. 165
9. On the first day, 42 liters of water are poured into a tank. Every day thereafter,
three times as much water is poured into the tank as was poured on the previous
day. On which day are 1,134 liters poured into the tank?
A. 4th B.5th C.8th D.10th
10. A ball is dropped from a height of 16 feet. Each time it drops, it rebounds 80% of
the height from which it is falling. Find the total distance traveled in 15 bounces.
A. 77.2 feet B. 82.7 feet C.98.4 feet D. 102.3 feet

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 15 LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4
Pre-Assessment Jumpstart
1.C 1.L
2.A 2.A
3.B 3.C Activity 2:Complete Me!
4.A 4.O 1.a) arithmetic
5.D 5.E b) 62,122,152
6.A 6.M 2.a)81
7.B 7.E b) geometric
8.A 8.N c)2,187
9.D 9.H d)3,280
10.B
Explore Gauge
Deepen
1.a) 14
b)315
2.a) 800
b) 64,000
3.a) 8th week
b) 9 hrs
4. P 295,245
5.304 ft
Answer Key
 For inquiries or feedback, please write or call:

Department of Education – SDO La Union

Curriclum Implementation Division
Learning Resource Management Section
Flores St. Catbangen, San Fernando City La Union 2500
Telephone: (072) 607 - 8127
Telefax: (072) 205 - 0046
Email Address:
[email protected]
[email protected]

LU_Q1_Mathematics10_Module4 17