AQA Core 2 Sequences and series
1 of 1 28/10/13 MEI
Section 3: Geometric sequences and series
Exercise
1. Find the 10
th
term of the geometric sequence 20, 16, 12.8,
2. The first term of a geometric sequence is 1 and the common ratio is 3.
(i) Find the 7
th
term.
(ii) Find the sum of the first 8 terms.
3. A geometric sequence has first term 2 and common ratio 0.75.
(i) Find the 4
th
term.
(ii) Find the sum of the first 5 terms.
(iii) Find the sum to infinity of the sequence.
4. A geometric sequence has 3
rd
term 18 and 6
th
term -60.75. Find the first term and
the common ratio.
5. A geometric series has first term 2 and sum to infinity 5.
(i) Find the common ratio.
(ii) Find the sum of the first 10 terms of the series.
(iii) How many terms are needed for the sum of the series to exceed 4.99?
6. The numbers 5x + 1, 4x 4 and 3x 5 form three consecutive terms of a
geometric sequence.
(i) Find the two possible values of x.
(ii) Find the common ratio corresponding to each possible value of x.
7. The infinite recurring decimal 0.45 0.454545... can be written as the infinite
geometric series 0.45 + 0.0045 + 0.000045 +
(i) Write down the first term and the common ratio of this geometric series.
(ii) Find the sum to infinity of the series and hence express 0.45 as an exact
fraction in its lowest terms.
8. Using the same method as in Question 7, express the recurring decimal 0.407 as
an exact fraction in its lowest terms.
9. Aisha works for the same company for 10 years. Her starting salary is 18000,
and each year she receives a pay rise of 4%.
(i) How much does Aisha earn in the 10
th
year?
(ii) How much has she earned in total over the 10 year period?
10. A ball is dropped from a height of 2 metres. After each bounce it rebounds to a
height 0.8 times the height that it reached after the last bounce.
(i) After how many bounces does the ball first rebound to less than 10 cm from
the ground?
(ii) Find the total distance travelled by the ball before it comes to rest.
(iii) After how many bounces has the ball travelled more than 99% of the total
distance it travels before coming to rest?
