gMATHEMATICS 10

WEEK 6

TOPIC: HARMONIC SEQUENCE

OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lesson, the learners are expected to:
 illustrate harmonic sequence
 determine harmonic means and nth term of an harmonic sequence
 find the sum of terms of a given harmonic sequence

ACTIVITY 1: Study the picture below.

A cube is a three-dimensional solid object with 6 faces, 8 vertices, and 12 edges. According to
Pythagoras, a cube resembles a harmonic body because 6,8, and 12 are in harmonic progression or sequence.

ACTIVITY 2: Process Questions

1. What can you say about the number 6,8 and 12?
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2. What other harmonic bodies can you think of? Why do you say so?
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HARMONIC SEQUENCE
A harmonic sequence is a sequence of numbers whose terms are reciprocal of the terms of an arithmetic
sequence
1 1 1 1
, , ,…,
a1 a2 a3 an

To find the terms of a harmonic sequence, the corresponding terms in an arithmetic sequence should be
determined first, then the reciprocal are taken. Any term between two given terms of a harmonic sequence is
called harmonic mean. To find a harmonic mean between two terms of a harmonic sequence, first, take the
arithmetic mean of the reciprocals of the two terms, and then get its reciprocal the sum of the terms in a
harmonic sequence is called a harmonic series.

1 1 1 1
EXAMPLE 1: Find the 10th term of the harmonic sequence , , , ,…
2 4 6 8
Solution: The harmonic sequence gives the corresponding arithmetic sequence 2,4,6,8,…, where a 1=2∧d =2.
To get the 10th term of the harmonic sequence, first, solve for a 10 of the arithmetic sequence.
a n=a1 + ( n−1 ) d
a 10=2+ ( 10−1 ) (2)
a 10=2+ 9 ( 2 )
a 10 =2+ 18
a 10=20

1 1
The reciprocal of 20 is . Therefore, the 10th term of the sequence is .
20 20

−2 −1
EXAMPLE 2: Find the 5th term of the harmonic sequence if a 2= ∧a7= .
9 2
−9
Solution: The corresponding arithmetic sequence contains the terms a 2= ∧a7 =−2.
2
Solving for the common difference d of the arithmetic sequence using a 2∧a7 ,

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 9
a 2=a1 +d →− =a 1+ d
2
a 7=a1 +6 d →−2=a1 +6 d

Subtract the two equations to get

−5
=−5 d
2
1
d=
2

Now, solve for a 1 of the arithmetic sequence.

a 2=a1 +d
−9 1
=a 1+
2 2
−9 1
− =a
2 2 1
a 1=−5
Hence,
a n=a1 + ( n−1 ) d

a 5=−5+ ( 5−1 )( 12 )
a =−5+ ( 4 ) ( )
1
5
2
a 5=−5+2
a 5=−3
−1
Therefore, the 5th term of the harmonic sequence is .
3

ACTIVITY 3
Directions: Tell whether each sequence is harmonic or not.
1 1 1 1
1. 11 , 14 , 17 , 20 , …
1 1 3
2. 4 4 , 4 2 , 4 4 , 5 , …
1 1 1
3. 1, 2 , 4 , 8 ,…
10 11 13
4. 3 , 3 , 4 , 3 , …
3 3 1 3
5. 29 , 31 , 11 , 35 , …
1 1 1 1
6. 31 , 24 , 17 , 10 , …
2 4
7. 2 ,1 , 3 , 7 , …

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 1 6 3 2
8. 4 , 19 , 17 , 3
4 2 4
9. 1 , 5 , 3 , 7 , …
1 2 3
10. 6 , 7 5 , 8 5 , 9 6 , …

ACTIVITY 4
Directions: Find the indicated term of the harmonic sequence. Write your answer on the space
provided. Show your solution.
1 1
1. a 1= 11 , a3= 3 ; find 9 thterm .

1 1
2. a 2= 8 , a5 = 17 ;Find 10th term.

1 1
3. a 1= , a2= ; Find 10th term .
16 12

HARMONIC MEANS
The harmonic means are reciprocals of the arithmetic means.

1
∧1
EXAMPLE 3: Insert five harmonic means between 4 .
22
Solution: the arithmetic sequence derived from the harmonic sequence containing the given terms has the terms
a 1=4∧a 7=22. Using the process of finding arithmetic means to obtain d,

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 a 7=a1 + ( n−1 ) d
22=4+ (7−1 ) d
22=4+ 6 d
22−4=6 d
18=6 d
18 6 d
=
6 6
d=3

Therefore, the five arithmetic means are 7,10,10,13,16, and 19. The five harmonic means of the sequence are
1 1 1 1 1
simply the reciprocals of these arithmetic means, which are , , , , respectively.
7 10 13 16 19

ACTIVITY 5
Directions: Insert four harmonic means between each pair of harmonic terms. Write your answer on the space
provided.
1
∧1
1. 3
31

−1
∧1
2. 12
28

5
3. 5 a nd
76

−2∧4
4.
3

30
 2
∧1
5. 27
6

HARMONIC SERIES
The harmonic series is the sum of the terms in a harmonic sequence.

1 1 1 1 1
EXAMPLE 4: Find the sum of the terms of the harmonic sequence , , , , .
2 4 6 8 10
Solution: the harmonic series of the sequence is
1 1 1 1 1
+ + + + .
2 4 6 8 10

137
Performing the operation gives the sum of .
120

One of the applications of harmonic sequence was

found in music when Pythagoras made use of
special numbers- Pythagorean numbers- in the 6th
century BCE. However, it was Archytas of
Tarentum who discovered the idea of regular
numerical intervals and came up with a theory of
musical harmony and enharmonic method of tuning
musical instruments in the 4th century BCE

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ACTIVITY 6

Direction: Answer the following. Write your answer on the space provided. Show your solution.

A. Write HS if the given is a harmonic; otherwise, write NHS.

1 1 1 1
______________1. , , , ,…
4 8 12 16

9 19
______________2. 2 , , 7 , ,…
2 2

2 4 6
______________3. 1 , , , , …
3 5 7

1 1 6
______________4. , , ,…
6 3 2

1 1 1 1
_____________5. , , , ,…
5 7 9 11

B. Solve the following harmonic sequence problems.

−5 5
1. Find the 4th term of the harmonic sequence ,− ,−1 , …
21 13

2
2. Insert three harmonic means between ∧4.
5

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 −5 5
3. Find the sum of the first 7 terms of the harmonic sequence ,− ,−1 , …
21 13

C. ESSAY

1. How is harmonic sequence related to arithmetic sequence?

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2. How do you find the sum of the terms in a harmonic sequence? Is the harmonic series the reciprocal of
arithmetic series? Explain.

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