CHAPTER 5

ARITHMETIC PROGRESSIONS

What is A.P
Some numbers arranged in a definite order, according to a definite rule, are said to
form a sequence. A sequence is called an arithmetic progression (A.P.), if the
difference of any of its terms and the preceding term is always the same.
i.e., t n+1 − t n = constant. The constant number is called the common difference of the
A.P.

If a is the first term and d the common difference of an AP, then the general form of
the AP is a, a + d, a + 2d, ....

Nth term of an A.P

Let a be the first term and d be the common difference of an AP. Then, its nth
term or general term is given by
t n = a + (n − 1)d . If l is the last term of the AP, then nth term from the end is the nth
term of an AP, whose first term is l and common difference is -d.

nth term from the end = Last term + (n - 1) (-d)

 nth term from the end = l - (n – 1) d

REMEMBER
If a, b, c, are in AP, then
1) (a + k), (b + k), (c + k) are in AP
2) (a - k), (b - k), (c - k) are in AP
3) ak, bk, ck, are in AP
a b c
4) , , are in AP. ( k  0 )
k k k
 Remember the following while working with consecutive terms in AP.
1) Three consecutive terms in an A.P. a - d, a, a + d
First term = a - d, common difference = d.

Their sum = a- d + a + a + d = 3a

2) Four consecutive terms in an AP. a - 3d, a - d, a + d, a + 3d

First term: a - 3d, common difference = 2d
Their sum = a- 3d + a - d + a + d+ a + 3d = 4a
3) Five consecutive terms in an A. P. a - 2d, a - d, a, a + d, a + 2d.
First term = a - 2d, common difference = d

▪ THE SUM OF n -TERMS

▪ The sum Sn up to n terms of an AP whose first term is a and common
difference d is given by Sn =
n
2a + (n − 1)d 
2

▪ If the first term and the last term of an AP are t1 and tn then
Sn =
n
(t1 + t n ) = n first term + last term 
2 2
▪ If t1 = a, the first term and tn = l, the last term, then Sn = (a + l )
n
2

▪ Sn –Sn-1 = tn

A. level
Multiple choice questions ( 1 Mark )

SECTION-A
1 Find the 10th term from the end of A.P 3, 8, 13, 18...253. C
a) 204 b) 208 c) 202 d) 206

2 Which term of the sequence 4,9,14...is 124? C

a) n=25 b) n= 24 c) n=26 d) n=23

3 For what value of K, the number x,2x+k,3x+6,are three consecutive terms U

of A.P

a) k=2 b) k=6 c) k=3 d ).k=4

4 How many numbers of two digits are divisible by 8? C

a)10 b) 11 c)12 d)13

5 Find the middle term of A.P: 1,8,15,...,505 U

a) 37th, middle term = 253 b) 36th, middle term = 246

c) 38th, middle term = 263 d) 35th, middle term = 263

6. Write next term of A.P √8, √18 ,√32 ,------ A

a) 32,42,52 b) 42,52,62 c) 52,62,72 d) 2,32,52

7 What is the common difference of an A.P in which a23 - a18 = 45 U

a) d = 9 b) d = 7 c) d=8 d) d=10

8. Find first three terms of an A.P whose nth term is -5 + 2n A

a) –2,0,2 b) –3,0,3 c) –3,-1,1 d) –5,0,5

9. In the given A.P, find the missing terms 0,_,-8,-12,_ C

a) -4,-16 b) -2,-24 c) -6,-14 d) -6,-18

10. Find the sum of all odd integers between 1 and 100 which are not multiples C
of 4

a) 2399 b) 2499 c)2599 d) 2699

11. The common difference of the A.P 3,1,-1,-3 is A

a) -2 b) 2 c) -1 d) 3

12. An A.P whose first term is 10 and common difference is 3is U

a)10,13,16, 19…… b) 5,7,9,11……. c)8,12,16,20…….d) All of these

13. The nth term of the A.P2,5,8…….is C

a)3n-1 b) 2n-1 c)3n-2 d) 2n-3

14. If first term of an A.P is 2 and common difference is -2, then 7th term is U

a) -8 b)-10 c)-5 d)10

15. Which term of the A.P 4, 9, 14, 19 , ……is109? U

a) 14th b) 18th c) 22nd d) c. 16th

A. Very Short Answer Questions (VSA) ( 1 Mark ) level

1 Form the A.P for the following situations C

i) Number of students left in the school from the total

strength of 1000 students when they leave the school in
batches of 25.

ii) The cost of digging a well for the first meter is Rs 150
and rises by Rs 20 for each succeeding meter.
2 Find the common difference af the A.P and write the next two terms C

i) 1.8,2.0,2.2,2.4,……………

ii) 0,1/4,1/2,3/4,…………….

3 How many terms of A.P 18, 16, 14...Should be taken so that their sum is U
zero?

4 Find the value of x for which 8x+4,6x-2 and 2x+7 are in A.P C

5 If the 10th term of an A.P is 47 and first term is 2, find the sum of the first U
15 term
6 Which term of A.P 121,117,113....is the first negative term? HOT

B Short Answer Questions (SA) ( 2 marks ) level

1 How many multiples of 4 lie between 10 and 250? U

2 If a, b, c are in A.P then show that 1/bc,1/ca,1/ab are in A.P HOT

3 U

Solve the equation 2+5+8...+x = 155

4 Which term of the A.P 72,68,64,60,…….is 0. U

C Long Answer Questions (LA) ( 3 Marks )

1 Find four numbers in A.P whose sum is 20 and the sum of whose squares is HOT
120

2 Find the sum of the following A.P U U

( x-y)2 ,( x2 +y2),(x+y)2 ,…….to n terms.

3 If the 8th term of an A.P is 0 prove that its 20th term is thrice its 12th term U

4 Find the 6th term from the end of the A.P 17,14,11,…………,-40 HOT

5 HOT
If the pth terms of an A.P is q and the qth terms is p,then the find the
(p+q)th term of the A.P

6 Which term of the A.P 5,15,25,………….will be 130 more than its 31st term. U

7 If the sum of n terms of an A.P is n2 +2n, find the A.P and the 20th term. U
8 For what values of n, nth term of the series 3, 10, 17...and 63,65,67...are U
equal?

9 Which term of the A.P 8,14,20,26,………….will be 72 more than its 41 st U

term.
D. SECTION -D ( 4 Marks )
1 C
A manufacturer of radio sets produced 600 units in the third year and 700
units in the 7th year .Assuming that the production increases uniformly by a
fixed number every year find

i) the production in the first year.

ii) the total production in 7 years.

iii) the production in the 10th year.

2 HOT
If S1, S 2, S 3 are the sum of n,2n,3n terms respectively of an A.P

then prove that S3 = 3 (S2 - S1)

3 If the sum of p terms of an A.P is same as the sum of q terms then show HOT
that the sum of

(p+q) terms is 0.

4 Sum of three numbers in A.P is 27 and their product is 405. Find the HOT
numbers

5 U
Sum of three numbers in A.P is 21 and their product is 231.Find the
numbers

6 U
2 2 2
If a ,b ,c are in A.P then prove that 1/b+c, 1/c+a, 1/a+b are in A.P

7 The sum of the 4th and 8th term of an A.P is 24 and the sum of 6th and 10th U
term is 44.Find the first three terms of the A.P.

8 If seven times the seventh term of an A.P is equal to 11 times the eleventh U
term, show that 18th term of an A.P is zero.

9 U
th th
If 9 term of an A.P is 0, prove that 29 term is double of
the 19th term

10 Determine the A.P whose third term is 16 and when 5th term is subtracted U
from 7th ,we get 12
11 HOT
Divide 32 into four parts which are in A.P.such that the product of
extremes is to the product of means is 7:15.

12 The ratio of the sums of m and n terms of an A.P is HOT

m2 : n2. Show that the ratio of the mth term and the
nth terms is (2m-1) : (2n-1)

ARITHMETIC PROGRESSION

ANSWERS

SECTION A

1) b 2) a 3) c 4) b 5) a 6) c 7) a 8) c 9) a 10) b

11) a 12) a 13) a 14) b 15)c

1) 1000, 975, 950…..,150,170,190….

2) d=.2, 2.6,2.8, d= ¼,1,5/4
3) 19
4) 15/2
5) 555
6) 32nd

SECTION B 1) 60 3) 29 4) 9th

SECTION C 1) 2,4,6,8 2) n{(x-y)2+(n-1)xy} 4) -25

5) 0 6) 44th 7) 3,5.7,9,….;41 8) n=13.
9.) 53rd
SECTION D 1) 550,4375,775 4) 3,9,15. 5) 3,7,11.
7) -13,-8,-3 . . 10) 4,10,16,22.
11).2,6,10,14