1.

2 - Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences and Series

An arithmetic sequence is formed from a linear equation. The defining
characteristic of an arithmetic sequence is that each term differs from the
previous one by the same fixed number. We call this number the
"common difference".

Developing the General Term

Since the common difference is constant throughout the entire sequence,

we can use this fact to derive the formula (or General Term) that will
give us any term number in the sequence that we wish.

Re-writing each in terms of the first term, and d we get:

We can see from this pattern that any term number is the first term
PLUS it's term number less one common differences.

We write this as:

Chapter 1 Page 1
Ex: Consider the sequence 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, …
(a) Show that the sequence is arithmetic
(b) Find a formula for the general term
(c) Find the 100th term of the sequence
(d) Is (i) 828 and (ii) 2341 a term of the sequence? If so, which term?

Ex: Find k given that and are consecutive terms of an

arithmetic sequence.

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Ex: Find the general term for an arithmetic sequence with and

Ex: Insert four numbers between 2 and 17 so that all six numbers are
in an arithmetic sequence.

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Ex: Ryan is a cartoonist. His comic strip has just been bought by a
newspaper, so he sends them the 28 comic strips he has drawn so far.
Each week after the first he mails 3 more comic strips to the newspaper.

(a) Find the total number of comic strips sent after 4 weeks.
(b) Find the number of comic strips sent on week 15.
(c) What is the first week that Ryan sends 121 comic strips?

Ex: Find the number of terms in the following arithmetic

sequences: (a) 20, 23, 26, … , 83 (b) 6a, 4a, 2a, … , -22a

Chapter 1 Page 4
Ex: Three numbers are consecutive terms of an arithmetic sequence.
The sum of the three numbers is 45, and their product is 3240. Find the
three numbers.

Exercise 1B Pg 15 #1(b,d), 2(b,c,d), 3(b, d), 5 - 8

Arithmetic Series

The addition of the terms of an arithmetic sequence is referred to as an

arithmetic series. The sum is actually an easy calculation. The formula
is in your data booklet but let's quickly look at how it was derived.

We know that the terms of the series are: and these

can be written in terms of the first term and the common
difference: .

So we can write that the sum, , which stands for the "sum of n
terms" is:

. We can then reverse the

terms and write them in terms of the last term, which gives us:

Chapter 1 Page 5
If we add the two equations on the previous page this gives us:

which leads to

If we use the general term for an arithmetic sequence for in this

formula we get a slight alteration for the formula for a sum.

which leads to

Both of these versions are in your data booklet.

When to use which formula?

If you have the first and last term, it is probably easier to use
Now you may have to use the general term to find out
how many terms you are adding, n, but I would still recommend using
this formula.

If you have the first term and the common difference, it is probably
easier to use . Again, you may need to find
how many terms, n, but this would be my recommendation.

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Ex: Find the sum of 2 + 9 + 16 + 23 + … to 30 terms

Ex: Find the sum of -3 + 1 + 5 + 9 + … + 317

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Ex: The first term of an arithmetic series is -7 and the fourth term is
23. The sum of the series is 689. Find the number of terms in the
series.

Ex: Find the value of

Chapter 1 Page 8
Ex: The sum of an arithmetic series is given by Find
the common difference and the first three terms of the series.

Exercise 1B Pg 15 #9b, 10(b,c), 12, 14

Chapter 1 Page 9
Geometric Sequences

A sequence is said to be geometric if each term can be found by

multiplying the previous term by a non-zero constant. We call this
number the "common ratio".

Geometric sequences are also sometimes called geometric progressions

however, geometric sequences is the more common terminology. These
types of sequences are generated by exponential functions.

Examples: 2, 4, 8, 16, … -2, 6, -18, 54, … 200, 100, 50, 25, …

Algebraically we say that a sequence is geometric if and only if .

So the above common ratios in the examples would be 2, -3, and
respectively.

The General Term Formula

Similar to the arithmetic formula we have a bunch of terms seen below.

If we write each term in terms of and r we get:

Therefore we can see that the general term for a geometric sequence is:

Chapter 1 Page 10
Ex: Consider the sequence , ...

(a) Show that the sequence is geometric (b) Find the general term,
(c) Hence, find the 12th term.

Ex: are consecutive terms of a geometric sequence.

Find k.

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Ex: Find the number of terms in the geometric sequence

Ex: A geometric sequence has and . Find its general

term.

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Ex: Find the first term of the sequence which
exceeds 1400.

Ex: The initial population of rabbits was 50. The population increased by
7% each week.
(a) How many rabbits were present after: (i) 15 weeks (ii) 30 weeks
(b) How long would it take for the population to reach 500?

Chapter 1 Page 13
Ex: $5000 is invested at 7% for 4 years compounded annually. What will
the future value be at the end of the term? Give your answer to the
nearest cent.

Ex: The fourth term of a geometric sequence is 54 and the sixth

term is 486. Find the general term.

Exercise 1C Pg 26 #1(a,b,c), 2, 3b, 5, 8

Chapter 1 Page 14
Geometric Series

A geometric series is the addition of the terms of a geometric sequence.

There is one notable difference from an arithmetic series however - we
can add up an infinite number of terms if the conditions permit.

A Finite Geometric Series

We can write out the sum of a finite geometric series as:

Multiplying each side by r yields

Now isolating for

or both of these are in the data booklet.

If we have a special case where all terms are the same and thus,

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Ex: Find the sum of the series

Ex: Find the sum of the first 5 terms of a geometric series with a
first term of 3 and a common ratio of 2.

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Ex: Find two possible geometric sequences where the sum of the first
two terms is 20 and the sum of the first four terms is 1640. Write out the
general term for each sequence.

Ex: The sum of the first n terms of a geometric sequence is

given by . Find the first term and the common ratio
of the sequence.

Chapter 1 Page 17
Ex: Determine how many terms are required for the sum of the

geometric series given by to exceed 1000.

Ex: Find the sum of

Chapter 1 Page 18
An Infinite Geometric Series

It is possible that we can use the formula when .

Obviously we can see that if (a number bigger than 1 or less
than -1) that the value of the sum will get larger in the positive or
negative direction (we say that the sum is diverging).

Both of these sums have terms that are getting HUGE

However, when , or , the infinite sum will have a

value, that is, it converges to a sum.

See how the terms of this series are getting small, being a bit more
precise, they are approaching (or converging) zero.

So if , then as , so turns into

.

This formula is in your data booklet as well.

Chapter 1 Page 19
Ex: Find the sum of

Ex: Express as a fraction

Ex: Use your GDC to evaluate

Chapter 1 Page 20
Ex: For what values of x does the series

converge? Find the sum when

Ex: A geometric series converges to 8. The second term of the series is

. Find the common ratio.

Exercise 1C Pg 26 #9(a, c), 10a, 11, 12, 13

Exercise 1D Pg 31 #1, 2, 3, 6, 7

Chapter 1 Page 21