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Sequences and Series Exercises

This document covers topics on arithmetic and geometric sequences including their definitions, common differences, common ratios, and formulas to find sums of finite and infinite sequences. Several word problems are provided as examples requiring the use of these concepts.

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Chris Gan
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63 views7 pages

Sequences and Series Exercises

This document covers topics on arithmetic and geometric sequences including their definitions, common differences, common ratios, and formulas to find sums of finite and infinite sequences. Several word problems are provided as examples requiring the use of these concepts.

Uploaded by

Chris Gan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Topics: Sequence and Series

Learning Objective:
• Sigma Notation
• Arithmetic Sequence
• Geometric Sequence
• Sum of a finite arithmetic series
• Geometric Series
• Sum of a finite geometric series
• Infinite Geometric Series

1. An arithmetic sequence is given by 3, 5, 7, …


(a) Write down the value of the common difference, 𝑑.
(b) Find
(i) 𝑢10 ;
(ii) 𝑆10
(c) Given that 𝑢𝑛 = 253, find the value of 𝑛.

2. The first three terms of a geometric sequence are 𝑢1 = 0.4, 𝑢2 = 0.6, 𝑢3 = 0.9.
(a) Find the value of the common ratio, 𝑟.
(b) Find the sum of the first ten terms in the sequence.
(c) Find the greatest value of 𝑛 such that 𝑆𝑛 < 650.

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3. The 1st, 5th and 13th terms of an arithmetic sequence, with common difference 𝑑, 𝑑 ≠ 0,
are the first three terms of a geometric sequence, with common ratio 𝑟, 𝑟 ≠ 1. Given that
the 1st term of both sequences is 12, find the value of 𝑑 and the value of 𝑟.

4. Only one of the following four sequences is arithmetic and only one of them is geometric.

(a) State which sequence is arithmetic and find the common difference of the sequence.
(b) State which sequence is geometric and find the common ratio of the sequence.
(c) For the geometric sequence, find the exact value of the sixth term. Give your answer as
a fraction.

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5. Consider the infinite geometric sequence 4480, −3360, 2520, −1890, …
(a) Find the common ratio, 𝑟.
(b) Find the 20 term.
(c) Find the exact sum of the infinite sequence.

6. The first term of an arithmetic sequence is 24 and the common difference is 16.
(a) Find the value of the 62nd term of the sequence.

The first term of a geometric sequence is 8. The 4th term of the geometric sequence is
equal to the 13 term of the arithmetic sequence given above.
(b) Write down an equation using this information.
(c) Calculate the common ratio of the geometric sequence.

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7. The sum of the first three terms of a geometric sequence is 92.5, and the sum of the infinite
sequence is 160. Find the common ratio.

8. In a geometric sequence, 𝑢2 = 6, 𝑢5 = 20.25.


(a) Find the common ratio, 𝑟.
(b) Find 𝑢1 .
(c) Find the greatest value of 𝑛 such that 𝑢𝑛 < 200.

9. Let 𝑢𝑛 = 5𝑛 − 1, for 𝑛 ∈ ℤ+ .
(a)(i) Using sigma notation, write down an expression for 𝑢1 + 𝑢2 + 𝑢3 + ⋯ + 𝑢10 .
(ii) Find the value of the sum for part (a)(i).

A geometric sequence is defined by 𝑣𝑛 = 5 × 2𝑛−1 , for 𝑛 ∈ ℤ+ .


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(b) Find the value of the sum of the geometric series ෍ 𝑣𝑘 .


𝑘=1

4
𝑙

10. Consider the sum 𝑆 =෍(2𝑘 − 3) , where 𝑙 is a positive integer greater than 4.
𝑘=4
(a) Write down the first three terms of the series.
(b) Write down the number of terms in the series.
(c) Given that 𝑆 = 725, find the value of 𝑙.

11. The third term of an arithmetic sequence is equal to 7 and the sum of the first 8 terms is
20. Find the common difference and the first term.

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12. The first three terms of an infinite geometric sequence are 𝑘 − 4, 4, 𝑘 + 2, where 𝑘 ∈ ℤ.
(a)(i) Write down an expression for the common ratio, 𝑟.
(ii) Hence show that 𝑘 satisfies the equation 𝑘 2 − 2𝑘 − 24 = 0.

(b)(i) Find the possible values for 𝑘.


(ii) Find the possible values for 𝑟.

(c) The geometric sequence has an infinite sum.


(i) Which value of 𝑟 leads to this sum. Justify your answer.
(ii) Find the sum of the sequence.

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13. Given a sequence of integers, between 20 and 300, which are divisible by 9.
(a) Find their sum.
(b) Express this sum using sigma notation.

An arithmetic sequence has first term −500 and common difference of 8. The sum of the
first 𝑛 terms of this sequence is negative.
(c) Find the greatest value of 𝑛.

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