Arithmetic Progression (AP)
If you look around, you will see various things that follow a pattern.
The dates on the calendar, your roll numbers, the compound interest
your bank calculates etc. All these things can be said to follow a
sequence or a series. Here we are going to learn about one type of
such sequence, called Arithmetic Sequence or Arithmetic Progression.
What is Arithmetic Progression?
Arithmetic Progression is a sequence in which the difference between
one term and the next is constant. This difference is called the
common difference and is denoted by a “d”.
Example:
Look at this series: 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18….
As you can see, these are all even numbers. But did you know this is
also an Arithmetic Progression? See the difference between two
adjacent numbers. For every instance, the difference is 2, which is
called the common difference. Therefore, this is an arithmetic
progression.
Finite Arithmetic Sequence
If something is finite then it has a limit, an ending. So if the number of
terms in an Arithmetic Progression has a limit, then the sequence is
called a finite sequence, and the AP is called a Finite AP.
Example : 2,4,6,8
This sequence has 4 numbers, it’s a Finite AP.
Infinite Arithmetic Sequence
When the number of terms in a sequence is no limit, it goes on, then
such a sequence is an infinite sequence and the AP is called an Infinite
AP.
Example : 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15…….
As you can see, the sequence does not have a limited number of terms,
hence it’s an Infinite AP.
nth Term of an Arithmetic Progression
Here we are going to learn how to derive the nth term of an Arithmetic
Progression whose first term is a1 and the common difference is d.
Now let us look at the following Arithmetic progression
a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6………..an
So here we will notice that to arrive at the next term we add the
common difference.
a1 = a1
a2 = a1+d
a3 = a1+2d
a10 = a1+ 9d
an = a1 + (n-1)d
Sum of first n terms of an Arithmetic Progression
Now let us derive the formula to calculate the sum of n terms in an
AP.
As we already know, nth term of an AP is a1 + (n-1)d. So the sum,
represented by “S” can be derived as follows
S = a1 + a2 + a3…… + an
S = a1 + (a1+d) + (a1+2d) + …… a1 + (n-1)d
…(I)
Now we write the terms in reverse order to arrive at S
S = a1 + (n-1)d + a1 + (n-2)d + a1 + (n-3)d…….+ a1
…(II)
Adding equation (I) and (II), we get
2S = [2a+(n-1)d] + [2a+(n-1)d] + ……. [2a+(n-1)d] (n terms)
2S = n [2a+(n-1)d]
S = n/2 [2a+(n-1)d]
Solved Example for You
Q : Find the sum of all integers between 1 and 100, that are divisible
by 2 or 5.
Sol : So here we will find the sum of all integers from 1 to 100 that are
divisible by 2 or 5
S = (Sum of all integers divisible by 2) + (Sum of all integers divisible
by 5) – (Sum of all integers divisible by 2 and 5 )
The AP of all numbers divisible by 2 is 2,4,6,8…. 100.
n = (an-a)/d + 1
n = (100 – 2)/2 + 1
n = 50
S = n/2 [2a+(n-1)d]
S = 50/2 [102]
S= 2550
…(I)
The AP of all the numbers divisible by 5 is 5,10,15….100
n = [(an-a)/d ]+ 1
n = [(100 – 5)/5] + 1
n = 20
S = n/2 [2a+(n-1)d]
S = 20/2 [105]
S = 1050
…(II)
The AP of all numbers divisible by both 2 and 5 is 10,20….100
n = 10
S = n/2 [2a+(n-1)d]
S = 10/2 [110]
S = 550
…(III)
Hence the required sum = 2550 + 1050 – 550 = 3050
