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Add- Maths: Chapter-13 Sequence & Series

Arithmetic progressions
At O' level you learnt that a number sequence is an ordered set of numbers that satisfy a rule
and that the numbers in the sequence are called the terms of the sequence. A number
sequence is also called a progression. The sequence 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, ... is called an arithmetic
progression. Each term differs from the term before by a constant. This constant is called the
common difference.
The notation used for arithmetic progressions is:
first term common difference last term
The first five terms of an arithmetic progression whose first term is a and whose common
difference is d are:
a a+d a + 2d a + 3d a + 4d
term 1 term 2 term 3 term 4 term 5
This leads to the formula:

The sum of an arithmetic progression

When the terms in a sequence are added together the resulting sum is called a series.

DISCUSSION
1+ 2+ 3+ 4+...+97 +98 +99 + 100 = ?
It is said that at the age of eight, the famous mathematician Carl Gauss was asked to find the
sum of the numbers from 1 to 100. His teacher expected this task to keep him occupied for
some time but Gauss surprised his teacher by writing down the correct answer after just a
couple of seconds. His method involved adding the numbers in pairs:
Can you complete his method to find the answer?
2 Use Gauss's method to find the sum of

3 Use Gauss's method to find an expression, in terms of n, for the sum

It can be shown that the sum of an arithmetic progression, S, can be written as:

[ ]

* { }
Prove that, [ ]

Proof:
Reversing:
Adding:

Using [ ]
It is useful to remember the following rule that applies for all progressions:

Example-1
In an arithmetic progression, the first term is 25, the 19th term is -38 and the last term is –87.
Find the sum of all the terms in the progression.
Answers
 (A) Practice question
1. An arithmetic progression has a second term of -14 and a sum to 21 terms of 84. Find the first term and
the 21st term of this progression. [5]
s20_qp_11 Q9

2. The sum of the first 4 terms of an arithmetic progression is 38 and the sum of the next 4 terms is 86. Find
the first term and the common difference. [5]
20w_qp_23 Q10
3. (a) The third term of an arithmetic progression is 10 and the sum of the first 8 terms is 116. Find the first
term and common difference. [5]
(b) Find the sum of nineteen terms of the progression, starting with the twelfth term. [4]
w22_qp_23-Q (10)

4. An arithmetic progression has twelve terms. The sum of the first three terms is -36 and the sum of the last
three terms is 72. Find the first term and the common difference. [5]
u23_qp_22-Q (8)
5. In an arithmetic progression, the sum of the first 30 terms is -1065.
The sum of the next 20 terms is -2210.
Find the first term and the common difference. [5]
s24_qp_21-Q (8)
6. Find the sum of all the integers between 100 and 400 that are multiples of 6.
C. B. Page-263; Ex.-11.3/Q-9

7. The eighth term in an arithmetic progression is three times the third term.

Show that the sum of the first eight terms is four times the sum of the first four terms.
C. B. Page-263; Ex.-11.3/Q-18
8. The 7th and 10th terms of an arithmetic progression are 158 and 149 respectively.
(a) Find the common difference and the first term of the progression. [3]

(b) Find the least number of terms of the progression for their sum to be negative. [3]
20w_qp_12 Q4

9. The first three terms of an arithmetic progression are where .

(a) Show that the sum to n terms of this arithmetic progression can be written as
where p is an integer. [4]
w22_qp_12-Q(11)
10. The first 3 terms of an arithmetic progression are . Find the sum to n terms,
giving your answer in the form , where k is in terms of n. [3]
u24_qp_13 Q(11)

11. An arithmetic progression has first term p and common difference 2. The qth term of this
progression is 14.
A different arithmetic progression has first term p and common difference 4. The sum of the first q terms of
this progression is 168.
Find the values of p and q. [6]
s22_qp_22-Q (10)
12. The first three terms of an arithmetic progression are and Find x and the common
difference. [4]
21w_qp_22 Q10

13. (a) The first three terms of an arithmetic progression are (2x+1), 4(2x+1) and 7(2x+1), where

(i) Show that the sum to n terms can be written in the form (2x+1)(An+B), where A and B are integers to
be found. [2]

(ii) Given that the sum to n terms is (54n+37) (2x+1), find the value of n. [2]
(iii) Given also that the sum to n terms in part (ii) is equal to 1017.5, find the value of x. [2]
$23_qp_12-Q (10)

14. The sum of the first n terms, of a particular arithmetic progression is given by
Find the first term and the common difference.
C. B. Page-263; Ex.-11.3/Q-14

15. An arithmetic progression has first term a and common difference d. The third term is 13 and the tenth
term is 41.
(a) Find the value of a and of d. [4]
(b) Find the number of terms required to give a sum of 2555. [4]

(c) Given that , is the sum to n terms, show that [4]

21w_qp_23 Q9
16. The first 3 terms of an arithmetic progression are 3 sin 2x, 5 sin 2x, 7 sin 2x.
(i) Show that the sum to n terms of this arithmetic progression can be written in the form n(n+a) sin 2x,
where a is a constant. [3]

(ii) Given that find the exact sum of the first 20 terms. [2]
s24_qp_12-Q(10)

17. The first 3 terms of an arithmetic progression are 2 tan 2x, 5 tan 2x, 8 tan 2x. Find the values of x,
where for which the sum to 30 terms is √ . [5]
u24_qp_12-Q(14)
18. Rafiu buys a boat for $15500. He pays for this boat by making monthly payments that are in arithmetic
progression. The first payment that he makes is $140 and the debt is fully repaid after 31 payments. Find the
fifth payment.
C. B. Page-263; Ex.-11.3/Q-11

19. A circle is divided into twelve sectors. The sizes of the angles of the sectors are in arithmetic
progression. The angle of the largest sector is 6.5 the angle of the smallest sector. Find the angle of the
smallest sector.
C. B. Page-263; Ex.-11.3/Q-16
Geometric progressions
The sequence 7, 14, 28, 56, 112,… is called a geometric progression. Each term is
double the preceding term. The constant multiple is called the common ratio.
Other examples of geometric progressions are:
Progression Common ratio
1, -2, 4, -8, 16, -32, ...
81, 54, 36, 24, 16,

-8, 4, -2, 1,
The notation used for a geometric progression is:
a = first term r= common ratio
The first five terms of a geometric progression whose first term is a and whose common ratio
is r are:

term 1 term 2 term 3 term 4 term 5

This leads to the formula:

Example-2
The third term of a geometric progression is 144 and the common ratio is
Find the seventh term and an expression for the nth term.

Answers

( )

Seventh term ( )

( )
Example -3
In the geometric sequence 2, 6, 18, 54, ….. which is the first term to exceed 1000000?
Answers

The 13th term is the first to exceed 1000000.

Discussion
In this discussion you are not allowed to use a calculator.
1 Consider the sum of the first 10 terms. of a geometric progression
with

a Multiply both sides of the equation above by the common ratio, 5, and complete the
following statement.

b What happens when you subtract the equation for from the equation for ?
c Can you find an alternative way of expressing the sum ?
2 Use the method from question 1 to find an alternative way of expressing each of the
following
a
b ( ) ( )
c

It can be shown that the sum of a geometric progression, , can be written as:

*
 (B) Practice question
1. The sixth and 13th terms of a geometric progression are and 320 respectively.

Find the common ratio, the first term and the 10th term of this progression.
C. B. Page-269; Ex.-11.4/Q-6

2. The 7th and 9th terms of a geometric progression are 27 and 243 respectively. Given that the geometric
progression has a positive common ratio, find
(i) this common ratio, [2]

(ii) the 30th term, giving your answer as a power of 3. [2]

21s_qp_12 Q9

3. A geometric progression has first term a and common ratio r, where . The second term of this
progression is 8. The sum of the third and fourth terms is 160.
(i) Show that r satisfies the equation [4]
(ii) Find the value of a. [3]
s22_qp_22-Q (10)

4. The first three terms of a geometric progression are and , where p is a positive integer. Find
the nth term of this progression giving your answer in the form [3]
s23_qp_11-Q (9)
5. The first three terms of a geometric progression are and 8y +2.
(i) Find the two possible values of y. [4]

(ii) For each of these values of y, find the corresponding value of the common ratio. [2]
21w_qp_22 Q10

6. The first three terms of a geometric progression are and , where

.
Given that the nth term of the progression is equal to 4 times the (n+2)th term, find the possible values of y,
giving your answers as fractions. [4]
s23_qp_12-Q (10)
7. The first 3 terms of a geometric progression are In2y, ,
(i) Find the nth term of this geometric progression. [2]

(ii) Find the sum to n terms of this geometric progression, giving your answer in its simplest
form. [2]
s24_qp_12-Q (10)

8. Suzma is training for a marathon. In the first week she runs 10km. Then each week she runs a distance
that is 10% greater than the week before.
The total distance that Suzma has run by the end of n whole weeks is more than 200km. Find the smallest
possible value of n. [4]
u24_qp_23-Q(10)
9. A ball is thrown vertically upwards from the ground. The ball rises to a height of 10m and then falls and
bounces. After each bounce it rises to of the height of the previous bounce.

a Write down an expression. In terms of n, for the height that the ball rises after the nth impact with the
ground

b Find the total distance that the ball travels from the first throw to the fifth impact with the ground.
C. B. Page-269; Ex.-11.4/Q-13
 (C) Practice question

1. The second term of a geometric progression is -96 and the fifth term is .

a Find the common ratio and the first term.

b Find the sum to infinity.

C. B. Page-272; Ex.-11.5/Q-8

2. A geometric progression has a second term of and a fifth term of . The common ratio, r, is such
that
(i) Find r in terms of p. [2]
(ii) Hence find, in terms of p, the sum to infinity of the progression. [3]

(iii) Given that the sum to infinity is 81, find the value of p. [2]
s20_qp_11 Q9

3. The first 5 terms of a sequence are given below.

4 -2 1 -0.5 0.25
(i) Find the 20th term of the sequence. [2]

(ii) Explain why the sum to infinity exists for this sequence and find the value of this sum. [2]
20s_qp_22 Q10
4. A geometric progression is such that its sum to 4 terms is 17 times its sum to 2 terms. It is given that the
common ratio of this geometric progression is positive and not equal to 1.
(a) Find the common ratio of this geometric progression. [3]

(b) Given that the 6th term of the geometric progression is 64, find the first term. [2]

(c) Explain why this geometric progression does not have a sum to infinity. [1]
21u_qp_13 Q5

5. The first 3 terms of a different geometric progression are ( ) ( ) ( )

Find the values of w for which this geometric progression has a sum to infinity. [3]
s24_qp_12-Q (10)
6. A geometric progression has a first term of 3 and a second term of 2.4. For this progression, find
(a) the sum of the first 8 terms, [3]

(b) the sum to infinity, [1]

(c) the least number of terms for which the sum is greater than 95% of the sum to infinity. [4]
20w_qp_22 Q7
7. DO NOT USE A CALCULATOR IN THIS PART OF THE QUESTION.
The first three terms of a geometric progression are In 256, In 16, In4. Find the sum to infinity of this
progression, giving your answer in the form p ln 2. [4]
s22_qp_11-Q76

8. Explain why the geometric progression 1, , where is in

radians, has a sum to infinity. [2]
21s_qp_12 Q9
9. The first three terms of a different geometric progression are
Find the values of for which the progression has a sum to infinity. [3]
s23_qp_12-Q(10)

10. The first 3 terms of a geometric progression are

Find the values of for which this geometric progression has a sum to infinity. [4]
u24_qp_13 Q(11)
11. The first 3 terms of a geometric progression are
( ) ( ) ( ) where
Find the values of for which this geometric progression has a sum to infinity. [6]
w24_qp_12-Q(14)
12. a Write the recurring decimal ̇ ̇ as the sum of a geometric progression.

b Use your answer to part a to show that ̇ ̇ can be written as

C. B. Page-272; Ex.-11.5/Q-5
 (D) Practice question (Mixed)
1. The first, second and third terms of a geometric progression are the first, fifth and 11 th
terms respectively of an arithmetic progression. Given that the first term in each progression
is 48 and the common ratio of the geometric progression is r, where find

a the value of r b the sixth term of each progression.

C. B. Page-275; Ex.-11.6/Q-3

2. The 2nd, 8th and 44th terms of an arithmetic progression form the first three terms of a geometric
progression. In the arithmetic progression, the first term is 1 and the common difference is positive.
(a) (i) Show that the common difference of the arithmetic progression is 5. [5]
(ii) Find the sum of the first 20 terms of the arithmetic progression. [2]

(b) (i) Find the 5th term of the geometric progression. [2]

(ii) Explain whether or not the sum to infinity of this geometric progression exists. [1]
21s_qp_21 Q11

3. (a) In an arithmetic progression the 5th term is 11. The 7th term is three times the 2nd term. Find the 1st
term and the common difference. [4]
(b) A different arithmetic progression (AP) and a geometric progression (GP) have the following properties.
 The 1st terms of the AP and GP are both 3.
 The 2nd term of the AP is the same as the 3rd term of the GP.
 The 6th term of the AP is the same as the 5th term of the GP.
 The common ratio of the GP is greater than 1.

Find the common difference of the AP and the common ratio of the GP. [6]
u23_qp_23-Q (10)
 Sequence & Series (Non-Selected Maths)
(A) Practice question
1. The tenth term of an arithmetic progression is 15 times the second term. The sum of the first 6 terms of the
progression is 87.
(i) Find the common difference of the progression. [4]
(ii) For this progression, the nth term is 6990. Find the value of n. [3]
20s_qp_22 Q10
2. The first three terms of an arithmetic progression are lg3, 3 lg 3, 5 lg3. Given that the sum to n terms of this
progression can be written as 256 lg 81, find the value of n. [5]
s22_qp_11-Q76
3. The first three terms of an arithmetic progression are where q is a positive constant. The sum
to n terms of this progression is 4845 Inq. Find the value of n. [3]
s23_qp_11-Q (9)
4. (a) Hence find the value of n for which the sum to n terms is equal to 4950 lgx. [2]
(b) Given that this sum to n terms is also equal to -14850, find the exact value of x. [2]
w22_qp_12-Q(11)
5. The first three terms of an arithmetic progression are -4, 8, 20. Find the smallest number of terms for which the sum
of this arithmetic progression is greater than 2000. [4]
21s_qp_12 Q9
(B) Practice question
1. The third term of a geometric progression is 12 and the sixth term is -96. Find the sum of the first 10 terms of this
progression. [6]
20w_qp_23 Q10
2. (a) A geometric progression has third term 4.5 and sixth term 15.1875. Find the first term and the common ratio.
[4]
(b) Find the sum of ten terms of the progression, starting with the sixteenth term. Give your answer to the nearest
integer. [4]
u22_qp_22-Q (10)

3. A geometric progression is such that the fifteenth term is equal to of the twelfth term. The sum to
infinity is 5.
(a) Find the first term and the common ratio. [4]
(b) Find the least number of terms needed for the sum of the geometric progression to be greater than 4.999.
[3]
u22_qp_13-Q (5)

4. The first three terms of a geometric progression are 1, 1.2 and 1.44. Find the smallest value of n such that the sum
of the first n terms is greater than 500. [5]
u23_qp_22-Q(8)
(C) Practice question
1. The first three terms of geometric progression are k + 15, k and k – 12 respectively.
Find
a the value of k b the sum to infinity.
C. B. Page-272; Ex.-11.5/Q-11
2. A geometric progression is such that the first term is 4 and the sum of the first three terms is 7. Find the two
possible values of the common ratio and find the sum to infinity for the convergent progression. [5]
s24_qp_21-Q(8)
3. The first three terms of a different geometric progression are
Find the set of values of for which this progression has a sum to infinity. [5]
s23_qp_11-Q (9)
(D) Practice question (Mixed)
1. A geometric progression has 1st term a and common ratio r, where and . The 1st, 2nd and 3rd terms of
the geometric progression are the 1st, 3rd and 7th terms of an arithmetic progression. Find the value of r.
[4]
u24_qp_23-Q (10)