Lesson 8.

Columbia College
Pre-Calculus 12
Lesson 8.1

Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences

Arithmetic Sequence: a list of numbers (called terms) which has the same common difference,
d, between consecutive terms.
i.e. 2, 5, 8, 11, …… (d = 3)
12, 5, -2, -9, …… (d = -7)

Explicit Formula (Arithmetic): an = a1 + ( n − 1)  d , where d is the common difference, n is the

number of terms in the sequence, a1 is the 1st term, and an is the nth term.
This formula comes from adding the common difference n – 1 times to the first term to get the
nth term and is a linear function.

Geometric Sequence: a list of numbers which has the same common ratio, r, between
consecutive terms.
i.e. 2, 4, 8, 16, …… (r = 2)
81, -27, 9, -3, …… (r = -1/3)

Explicit Formula (Geometric): an = a1  r n −1 , where r is the common ratio, n is the number of

terms in the sequence, a1 is the 1st term, and an is the nth term.
This formula comes from multiplying the common ratio n – 1 times to the first term to get the
nth term and is an exponential function.

Examples:

1. Find the explicit formula for the sequence -8, -13, -18, ……

Answer:

This sequence is arithmetic because there appears to be a common difference, d = −5 .

To find the formula, we treat an as our output, just like y when graphing, and n as our
input, just like x when graphing. So leave those alone, plug in for d and a1 , and simplify.
 an = a1 + ( n − 1)  d
an = ( −8 ) + ( n − 1)  ( −5 )
an = −8 − 5n + 5
an = −5n − 3

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 Lesson 8.1

2. Find the explicit formula for the sequence 4, 8, 16, ……

Answer:

This sequence is geometric because r = 2 . Using the formula for geometric, we get
 an = a1  r n −1
an = ( 4 )  ( 2 )
n −1

an = 4  2n −1

3. Find the missing term(s) in the sequence 3, __, 12, …… if the sequence is
i) arithmetic
ii) geometric

Answers:

i) For arithmetic, we can find the difference in 12 and 3 and divide by 2 because we
need to add d twice to go from 3 to 12.
 2d = 12 − 3
9
d = = 4.5
2
Then to get the missing term, we can add the common difference to 3.
 3 + 4.5 = 7.5
 3, 7.5, 12, ……

ii) For geometric, we find the ratio of 12 and 3 and square root because we need to
multiply r two times (essentially “squaring” r) to go from 3 to 12.
12
 r2 =
3
r= 4
r = 2
Then to get the possible missing terms, we can multiply the common ratios to 3.
 3  2 = 6 and 3  ( −2 ) = −6
 3, ±6, 12, ……

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 Lesson 8.1

4. Find the missing terms in the sequence 81, __, ___, 3, …… if the sequence is
i) arithmetic
ii) geometric

Answers:

i) Do same as the previous example, but we add d 3 times to go from 81 to 3.

 3d = 3 − 81
−78
d= = −26
3
 81, 55, 29, 3, ……

ii) Do same as the previous example, be multiply r 3 times to go from 81 to 3.

3
 r3 =
81
1
r=3
27
1
r=
3
 81, 27, 9, 3, ……

5. Find the explicit formula for the arithmetic sequence with a3 = 7 and a10 = 28 .

Answer:

To go from the 3rd term to the 10th term we need to add d 7 times (10 – 3).
 7d = 28 − 7
21
d= =3
7
Now from here, we need to find the a1 , which is 2 d’s below a3 , so we can subtract 2 d’s.
 a1 = a3 − 2d
a1 = 7 − 2 ( 3)
a1 = 1
 an = a1 + ( n − 1)  d
an = (1) + ( n − 1)  ( 3)
an = 1 + 3n − 3
an = 3n − 2

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 Lesson 8.1

6. Find the explicit formula for the geometric sequence with a5 = 16 and a11 = 128 .

Answer:

To go from the 5th term to the 11th term we need to multiply r 6 times (11 – 5).
128
 r6 =
16
r = 6 8
r =  6 23
3
r = 2 6
r = 2 2
1

r= 2
Now from here, we need to find the a1 , which is 4 r’s below a5 , so we can divide 4 r’s.
a
 a1 = 45
r
16
a1 =
( )
4
2
16
a1 =
16
16
a1 = = 4
4
 an = a1  r n −1

( )
n −1
an = ( 4 )   2

( )
n −1
an = 4  2