Arithmetic
Sequence
VDJ
Objective:
At the end of the period, I can….
▪illustrate arithmetic sequence;
▪determine the nth or general term of the
arithmetic sequence, arithmetic means and
arithmetic series;
▪find the sum of the terms of given
arithmetic sequence; and
▪solve problems involving arithmetic
sequence.
Arithmetic Sequence
- It is a sequence of numbers such that
the difference between two consecutive
terms is a constant.
- The constant number for the difference
between 2 consecutive terms is called
common difference (d).
- In formula, we can obtained d by:
d = an – a(n – 1)
Arithmetic Sequence
Examples:
Determine the common difference?
a) {2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, …} d = 3
b) {-26, -21, -16, -11, …} d=5
c) {9, 7, 5, 3, 1, …} d = -2
Arithmetic Sequence is a sequence with
nth Term a common difference (d) that when
of the added to the previous term you can get
the next term.
Arithmetic For example:
Sequence Write the first five terms of a sequence
with first term is 2 and a common
difference (d) of 3.
(General Term) The common difference (d) can be
obtained by
an d = a4 – a3 or d = a2 – a1
Thus, the sequence is…
{ 2, 5, 8, 11, 14 }
What if I wanted to find the 50th (a50) term of the
sequence {2, 5, 8, 11, 14, …}?
Do I really want to add 3 continually until I get
there?
So if I wanted to find a50 then how many times
would I have to add 3?
If I wanted to find a193 how many times would I
add 3?
Then, is there is a way for finding the nth term?
Using the GENERAL TERM/Nth TERM of an
ARITHMETIC SEQUENCE (an)
General Term of an ARITHMETIC SEQUENCE (an)
First Term: a1
Second Term: a2 = a1 + d
Third Term: a3 = a1 + 2d
Fourth Term: a4 = a1 + 3d
Fifth Term: a5 = a1 + 4d
nth Term: an = a1 + (n – 1)d
General or Nth Term (Formula) of the ARITHMETIC
Sequence can be computed:
an = a1 + (n – 1)d
an = nth term of the arithmetic sequence
a1 = first term of the arithmetic sequence
n = position of unknown or known terms
d = common difference If we know any
three (3) of these
we will be able to
find the fourth.
Example #1:
Given: { 79, 75, 71, 67, 63, . . .}
Find: a32
Identify the value of the known variables (given).
Solution:
?
Example #2:
Given: { 79, 75, 71, 67, 63, . . . }
Find: What term number is -169?
Given: Solution:
Example #3: a10 = 3.25 Find: d
a12 = 4.25
Given: Solution:
?
Example #4: a10 = 3.25 Find: a1
a12 = 4.25
Given: Solution:
?
Arithmetic Means
It is the terms found between extremes (any two
nonconsecutive terms) of an arithmetic sequence.
Example: 10, 3, - 4, - 11, - 18, …
Between 10 and -18 there are three arithmetic means 3,
- 4, - 11.
Note:
If only one arithmetic mean is needed or required, then
the arithmetic mean is the average of the given
numbers.
Find three arithmetic means between 8 and 14.
So our sequence must look like
8, 9.5
__ , __
11 , 12.5
__ , 14.
In order to find the means we need to know
the difference. We can use our formula, an =
a1 + d(n-1)
Given: Solution:
a1 = 8 14 = 8+ (5 – 1)d
a5 = 14 14 = 8 + 4d
14 – 8 = 4d
n=5
6 = 4d
d=?
4 4 d = 1.5
Example #1:
1. Find the 4 arithmetic means in the
sequence 37, 44.2
___, 51.4
___, ___,___,
58.6 65.8 73.
Given: Solution:
a1 = 37 an = a1 + (n-1)d
a6 = 73 73 = 37 + (6-1)d
73 = 37 + 5d
n= 6 73 -37 = 5d
d =? 36 = 5d
5 5
d = 7.2
Example #2:
1. Find the arithmetic means of the sequence12,
___, ___, ___, ___,45.
It’s seatwork time!!!
Arithmetic Series
VDJ
Arithmetic Series
It is the sum of the terms in an
arithmetic sequence.
Sn is the symbol used to represent
the first ‘n’ terms of a series.
Given the sequence 1, 11, 21, 31,
41, 51, 61, 71, … find S4
We add the first four terms 1 + 11 +
21 + 31 = 64
Real life example of Arithmetic Series:
➢During fiesta celebration, it involves the lighting
of candles every night for nine nights. The first
night one candle is lit and blown out.
➢The second night a new candle and the candle
from the first night are lit and blown out. The third
night a new candle and the two candles from the
second night are lit and blown out.
➢This process continues for the nine nights.
➢We want to know the total number of lightings
during the nine nights of celebration.
To compute, we will analyze it.
The first night one candle was lit, the 2nd
night two candles were lit, the 3rd night 3
candles were lit, etc.
So to find the total number of lightings we
would add:
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45
The formula is
To find the
Sum of Sn = n(a1 + an)
Finite
Arithmetic 2
Series
In the given formula,
Sn = n(a1 + an)
2
Sn is the sum of arithmetic sequence
n is the position of the terms
a1 is the first term
an is the nth term or last term
Example #1:
Find the sum of the first 10
terms of the arithmetic
sequence with a1 = 6 and a10 =51.
S10 =?
n = 10
a1 =6
an =51
Example #2:
Find the sum of the first 50
terms of an arithmetic series
with a1 = 28 and d = -4
We need to know n, a1, and a50.
n= 50, a1 = 28, a50 = ??
