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Arithmetic Progression

An arithmetic progression (AP) is a sequence of numbers where each term is derived by adding a fixed common difference to the preceding term. The nth term can be calculated using the formula an = a + (n - 1)d, and the sum of the first n terms is given by S = [2a + (n - 1)d]/2. Properties of AP include that adding or subtracting a fixed number from each term or multiplying/dividing each term by a non-zero number results in another AP.

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Piupa Banerjee
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12 views2 pages

Arithmetic Progression

An arithmetic progression (AP) is a sequence of numbers where each term is derived by adding a fixed common difference to the preceding term. The nth term can be calculated using the formula an = a + (n - 1)d, and the sum of the first n terms is given by S = [2a + (n - 1)d]/2. Properties of AP include that adding or subtracting a fixed number from each term or multiplying/dividing each term by a non-zero number results in another AP.

Uploaded by

Piupa Banerjee
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Arithmetic Progression

Arithmetic progression:
An arithmetic progression is a list of numbers in which each term is obtained by adding a fixed
number to the preceding term, except the first term.
This fixed number is called the common difference of the AP. It can be positive, negative or
zero
E.g.: 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . is an arithmetic progression.
Each of the numbers in the list is called a term.
The common difference in this case is equal to 1 = 2 – 1= 3 – 2 = 4 – 3 = ….
An arithmetic progression having finite number of terms is called a finite arithmetic
progression.
An arithmetic progression having infinite number of terms is called an infinite arithmetic
progression.
General form of an A.P.
For an arithmetic progression (AP) 𝑎1 , 𝑎2 , 𝑎3 … 𝑎𝑛 , we know that
𝑎2 − 𝑎1 = 𝑎3 − 𝑎2 = ⋯ = 𝑎𝑛 − 𝑎𝑛−1 = 𝑑, where d is the common difference.
In general, for an AP 𝑎1 , 𝑎2 , 𝑎3 … 𝑎𝑛 ∶
𝑑 = 𝑎𝑘+1 − 𝑎𝑘 , 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑘+1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑘 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 (𝑘 + 1)𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘 𝑡ℎ terms respectively
To obtain the common difference d in a given AP, it is enough to find any one of the
differences.
An AP can be written as 𝑎1 , 𝑎1 + 𝑑, 𝑎1 + 2𝑑, 𝑎1 + 3𝑑 … which is the general form of the AP
The nth term an of the AP with first term a and common difference d is given by
𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎 + (𝑛 − 1)𝑑
 The second term is 𝑎2 = 𝑎 + (2 − 1)𝑑 = 𝑎 + 𝑑
 The third term is 𝑎3 = 𝑎 + (3 − 1)𝑑 = 𝑎 + 2𝑑
 𝑎𝑛 is also called the general term of the AP
Infinite APs do not have a last term. For instance, if the first term a is 6 and the common
difference d is 3 then the infinite AP is 6, 9, 12, 15, . . .

1
Formula for finding the sum of first n terms of an AP
𝑛 𝑛
 The sum S = [2a + (n – 1) d] or, S = (a + 1) where,
2 2

 a is the first term.


 n is the number of terms of the AP.
 l is the last term of the AP.
 d is the common difference.
 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑆𝑛 − 𝑆𝑛−1 where
 𝑎𝑛 is the 𝑛𝑡ℎ term of the AP,
 𝑆𝑛 is the sum of the first n terms,
 𝑆𝑛−1 is the sum of the first (n – 1) terms
𝑛(𝑛+1)
 Sum of the first n positive integers, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + …. + n =
2

Arithmetic Mean
 If three numbers a, A and b are in arithmetic progression, then A is called arithmetic
mean (A.M.) between a and b.
 Arithmetic mean between a and b is (a + b) ÷ 2.
Properties of an A.P.
Property 1:
If same fixed non-zero number is added or subtracted from each term of an A.P., the resulting
sequence is also an A.P.
e.g., (i) 5, 8, 11, 14, ……… are in A.P.
⇒ 5 + 7, 8 + 7, 11 + 7, 14 + 7, …… are in A.P. (Adding 7 to each term)
and, 5 – 7, 8 – 7, 11 – 7, 14 – 7, …… are in A.P. (Subtracting 7 from each term)
Property 2:
If each term of a given A.P. is multiplied or divided by a given non-zero fixed number, the
resulting sequence is an A.P.
e.g., (i) 5, 8, 11, 14, ……… are in A.P.
⇒ 5 x 8, 8 x 8, 11 x 8, 14 x 8, ……. are also in A.P. (Multiplying each term by 8)

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