Sums & Series

Suppose a1 , a2 , ... is a sequence.

Sometimes we’ll want to sum the first k numbers (also known as terms)
that appear in a sequence. A shorter way to write a1 + a2 + a3 + · · · + ak is as
k
X
ai
i=1
P
There are four rules that are important to know when using . They are
listed below. In all of the rules, a1 , a2 , a3 , ... and b1 , b2 , b3 , ... are sequences
and c 2 R.

k
X k
X
Rule 1. c ai = cai
i=1 i=1

Rule #1 is the distributive law. It’s another way of writing the equation
c(a1 + a2 + · · · + ak ) = ca1 + ca2 + · · · + cak

k
X k
X k
X
Rule 2. ai + bi = (ai + bi )
i=1 i=1 i=1

This rule is essentially another form of the commutative law for addition.
It’s another way of writing that
(a1 + a2 + · · · + ak ) + (b1 + b2 + · · · + bk ) = (a1 + b1 ) + (a2 + b2 ) + · · · + (ak + bk )

k
X k
X k
X
Rule 3. ai bi = (ai bi )
i=1 i=1 i=1

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 Rule #3 is a combination of the first two rules. To see that, remember that
bi = ( 1)bi , so we can use Rule #1 (with c = 1) followed by Rule #2 to
derive Rule #3, as is shown below:

k
X k
X k
X k
X
ai bi = ai + bi
i=1 i=1 i=1 i=1
k
X
= (ai + ( bi ))
i=1
k
X
= (ai bi )
i=1

k
X
Rule 4. c = kc
i=1

The fourth rule can be

Pak little tricky. The number c does not depend on i
— it’s a constant — so i=1 c is taken to mean that you should add the first
k terms in the sequence c, c, c, c, .... That is to say that
k
X
c = c + c + · · · + c = kc
i=1

Examples.
P
• 5i=1 2 means that you should add the first 5 terms of the constant
sequence 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, . . .. That is,
5
X
2 = 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 5(2) = 10
i=1

P20
• i=1 3 = 20(3) = 60

* * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Sum of first k terms in an arithmetic sequence
If a1 , a2 , a3 , ... is an arithmetic sequence, then an+1 = an + d for some d 2 R.
We want to show that
Xk
k
ai = (a1 + an )
i=1
2
To show this, let’s write the sum in question in two di↵erent ways: front-to-
back, and back-to-front. That is,
k
X
ai = a1 + (a1 + d) + (a1 + 2d) + · · · + (ak 2d) + (ak d) + ak
i=1

and
k
X
ai = ak + (ak d) + (ak 2d) + · · · + (a1 + 2d) + (a1 + d) + a1
i=1

Add the two equations above “top-to-bottom” to get

k
X
2 ai = [a1 + ak ] + [a1 + ak ] + [a1 + ak ] + · · · + [a1 + ak ] + [a1 + ak ] + [a1 + ak ]
i=1

Count and check that there are exactly k of the [a1 + ak ] terms in the line
above being added. Thus,
k
X
2 ai = k[a1 + ak ]
i=1

which is equivalent to what we were trying to show:

k
X k
ai = (a1 + ak )
i=1
2

Example. What is the sum of the first 63 terms of the sequence 1, 2, 5, 8, ...?
The sequence above is arithmetic, because each term in the sequence is 3
plus the term before it, so d = 3. The first term of the sequence is 1, so
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a1 = 1. Our formula an = a1 +(n 1)d tells us that a63 = 1+(62)3 = 185.
Therefore,
X63
63 63
ai = ( 1 + 185) = (184) = 5, 796
i=1
2 2

Example. The sum of the first 201 terms of the sequence 10, 17, 24, 31, ...
equals 201 201
2 (10 + 1410) = 2 (1420) = 142, 710.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Geometric series
It usually doesn’t make any sense at all to talk about adding infinitely
many numbers. But if a1 , a2 , a3 , ... is a geometric sequence where an+1 = ran
and 1 < r < 1, then we can make sense of adding all of the terms of
the sequence together. (We’ll give some reason why this is in the chapter
“Geometric Series”, after we’ve looked at exponential functions.)
We will use the symbols
X1
ai
i=1
to represent adding all of the numbers in the sequence a1 , a2 , a3 , ..., and we
call this infinite “sum” a series.
For the moment, let S = a1 + a2 + a3 + a4 + · · ·. Remember that in a
geometric sequence an = rn 1 a1 , so we can rewrite S as
S = a1 + ra1 + r2 a1 + r3 a1 + · · ·
Using the distributive law we can multiply both sides of the line above by r:
rS = ra1 + r2 a1 + r3 a1 + · · ·
Now we can subtract rS from S. If we did, the ra1 terms in S and rS would
cancel. So would the r2 a1 terms, the r3 a1 terms, etc. Thus, S rS = a1 . Since
the distributive law tells us that S rS = S(1 r), we have S(1 r) = a1 ,
or in other words, S = 1a1r . We have shown that

1
X a1
ai =
i=1
1 r

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Examples.
• The sum of the terms in the sequence 1, 12 , 14 , 18 , ... equals 2. We know
the sequence is geometric, follows the rule an+1 = 12 an , and that the first term
in the sequence equals 1. Thus
1 1 1 1 1
1 + + + + ... = = 1 = 2
2 4 8 1 12 2

• The sum of the terms in the sequence 5, 53 , 59 , 27

5
, ... equals
5 5 15
1 = 2 =
1 3 3
2

Caution. If a1 , a2 , a3 , ... isn’t geometric, or if it is but either r 1 or r  1,

then 1
X
ai
i=1
probably doesn’t make sense.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

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 Exercises
3i + 2 describes a sequence. When i = 1, we have 3(1) + 2 = 5. When
i = 2, we have 3(2) + 2 = 8. When i = 3, we have 3(3) + 2 = 11. 3i + 2 is
the formula for the sequence 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, . . . .
The sum
X 4
(3i + 2)
i=1
is what you’d get by adding the first 4 terms of the sequence described by
3i + 2. That is,
X4
(3i + 2) = 5 + 8 + 11 + 14 = 38
i=1
The next three problems involve summing terms of formulas that are de-
scribed by the formulas 2i 1, i2 2, and i3 . Find the sums.

5
X 4
X 3
X
2
1.) (2i 1) 2.) (i 2) 3.) i3
i=1 i=1 i=1

Find the following sums using Rule #4 from page 26.

50
X 100
X 78
X
4.) 3 5.) 49 6.) ( 2)
i=1 i=1 i=1

Just as we used 3i + 2 at the top of the page as a formula for describing

a sequence, so too i is a formula for describing a sequence. The sequence
described by i is a very simple arithmetic sequence. The first term is 1, the
second term is 2, the third term is 3, and so on, so that the sequence is
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, . . .. Use the formula on page 27 to find the sums below, the
sums of the first 40, 100, and 900 terms of this arithmetic sequence.

40
X 100
X 900
X
7.) i 8.) i 9.) i
i=1 i=1 i=1

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 10.) What is the sum of the first 701 terms of the sequence 5, 1, 3, 7, ...?

11.) What is the sum of the first 53 terms of the sequence 140, 137, 134, 131, ...?

12.) What is the sum of the first 100 terms of the sequence 4, 9, 14, 19, ...?

13.) What is the sum of the first 80 terms of the sequence 53, 54, 55, 56, ...?

Notice that 62i is a formula for a geometric sequence. When i = 1, 62i =

2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2
61 = 3 . When i = 2, 6i = 62 = 18 . When i = 3, 6i = 63 = 54 . The formula 6i
describes the geometric sequence 13 , 18
1 1
, 54 , . . .. It’s a geometric sequence whose
1
fist term is 3 , and whose remaining terms are each found by multiplying the
preceding term by 16 . That is, this a geometric sequence where a1 = 13 and
r = 16 . Because 16 is between 1 and 1, we have a formula (on page 28) that
tells us how to find the geometric series asked for in #14 below. Find the
given geometric series in #14-16.

X1 X1 1
X
2 7 10
14.) 15.) 16.)
i=1
6i i=1
3i i=1
2i

The problems in #17-21 are asking you to find a geometric series. They are
the same type of problem as those in #14-16, they just perhaps look a little
di↵erent. Find the first term of the sequence (a1 ), find the number that each
term of the sequence is multiplied by to get the next term of the sequence
(r), and then use the same formula that you used in #14-16, as long as r is
a number between 1 and 1.

17.) Sum all of the terms of the geometric sequence 20, 5, 54 , 16

5
, ....

18.) Sum all of the terms of the geometric sequence 120, 90, 135 405
2 , 8 , ....

19.) Sum all of the terms of the geometric sequence 7, 14 28 56

3 , 9 , 27 , ....

20.) Sum all of the terms of the geometric sequence 25, 15, 9, 27
5 , ....

1 1 1
21.) Sum all of the terms of the geometric sequence 1, 2, 4, 8 , ....

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 22.) If the sum of the first 3976 terms of the sequence a1 , a2 , a3 , ... equals
114, then what is the sum of the first 3976 terms of the sequence 32 a1 , 32 a2 , 32 a3 , ...?

23.) If the sum of the first 20 terms of the sequence a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . equals

7, and the sum of the first 20 terms of the sequence b1 , b2 , b3 , . . . equals 13,
then what is the sum of the first 20 terms of the sequence
(a1 + b1 ), (a2 + b2 ), (a3 + b3 ), . . .?

24.) Suppose that you expect to pay $400 for gas for your car next year, and
that each year after that you plan your yearly gas expenditures will increase
by $20. How much will you spend on gas in the next 8 years?

25.) Suppose you are entertaining two di↵erent job o↵ers. Job A has a
starting salary of $20,000 and assures you of a raise of $1,000 per year. Job
B o↵ers you a starting salary of $23,000, with a yearly raise of $725. Which
job will pay you more over the first ten years? How much more?

26.) An oil well currently produces 5 million gallons of oil per year, but the
well is drying up, and each year it will produce 60% of what it did the year
before. How much oil can be produced from the well before it is completely
dry?

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