Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.

Definition and Basic Examples of Arithmetic Sequence

An arithmetic sequence is a list of numbers with a definite pattern. If you take any number in the
sequence then subtract it by the previous one, and the result is always the same or constant then it is an
arithmetic sequence.

The constant difference in all pairs of consecutive numbers in a sequence is called common difference,
denoted by the letter “d“. We use the common difference to go from one term to another. How? Take the
current term and add the common difference to get to the next term, and so on. That is how the terms in
the sequence are generated.

 If the common difference between consecutive terms is positive, we say that the sequence is
increasing.
 On the other hand, when the difference is negative we say that the sequence is decreasing.

Illustrative Examples of Increasing and Decreasing Arithmetic

Sequences
Here are two examples of arithmetic sequences. Observe their common differences.

With this basic idea in mind, you can now solve basic arithmetic sequence problems.

Examples of How to Apply the Concept of Arithmetic Sequence

Example 1: Find the next term in the sequence .

First, find the common difference of each pair of consecutive numbers.

15−7 = 8

23−15 = 8

31−23 = 8
Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

Since the common difference is 8 or written as d = 8, we can find the next term after 31 by adding 8 to it.
Therefore, we have 31 + 8 = 39.

Example 2: Find the next term in the sequence .

Observe that the sequence is decreasing. We expect to have a common difference that is negative in
value.

24−31 = −7

17−24 = −7

10−17 = −7

To get to the next term, we will add this common difference of d = −7 to the last term in the sequence.
Therefore, 10 + (−7) = 3.

Example 3: Find the next three terms in .

Be careful here. Don’t assume that if the terms in the sequence are all negative numbers, it is a decreasing
sequence. Remember, it is decreasing whenever the common difference is negative. So let’s find the
common difference by taking each term and subtracting it by the term that comes before it.

The common difference here is positive four (+ 4) which makes this an increasing arithmetic sequence.
We can obtain the next three terms by adding the last term by this common difference. Whatever is the
result, add again by 4, and do it one more time.

Here’s the calculation:

The next three terms in the sequence are shown in underlined.

Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

Example 4: Find the seventh term (7th) in the sequence

Sometimes you may encounter a problem in an arithmetic sequence that involves fractions. So be ready
to use your previous knowledge on how to add or subtract fractions.

Also, always make sure that you understand what the question is asking so that you can have the correct
strategy to approach the problem.

In this example, we are asked to find the seventh term, not simply the next term. It is a good practice to
write all the terms in the sequence and label them, if possible.

Now we have a clear understanding on how to work this out. Find the common difference, and use this to
find the seventh term.

Finding the common difference,

Then we find the 7th term by adding the common difference of starting with the 4th term, and
so on. Here’s the complete calculation.

Therefore, the seventh term of the sequence is zero (0). We can write the final answer as,
Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

Example 5: Find the 35th term in the arithmetic sequence 3, 9, 15, 21, …

You can solve this problem by listing the successive terms using the common difference. This method is
tedious because you will have to keep adding the common difference (which is 6) thirty-five times
starting with the last term in the sequence.

You don’t have to do this because it is cumbersome. And not only that, it is easy to commit a careless
error during the repetitive addition process.

If you decide to find the 35th term of the sequence using this “successive addition” method, your solution
will look similar below. The “dot dot dot” means that there are calculations there but not shown as it can
easily occupy the entire page.
Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

The Formula of Arithmetic Sequence

If you wish to find any term (also known as the nth term) in the arithmetic sequence, the arithmetic
sequence formula should help you to do so. The critical step is to be able to identify or extract known
values from the problem that will eventually be substituted into the formula itself.

Let’s start by examining the essential parts of the formula:

Parts of the Arithmetic Sequence Formula

Where:

an = the term that you want to find

a1 = first term in the list of ordered numbers

n = the term position (ex: for 5th term, n = 5 )

d = common difference of any pair of consecutive numbers

Let’s put this formula in action!

Examples of How to Apply the Arithmetic Sequence Formula

Example 1: Find the 35th term in the arithmetic sequence 3, 9, 15, 21, …

There are three things needed in order to find the 35th term using the formula:

 the first term ( a1 )

Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

 the common difference between consecutive terms ( d )

 and the term position ( n )

From the given sequence, we can easily read off the first term and common difference. The term position
is just the “n” value in the nth term, thus in the 35th term, n=35.

Therefore, the known values that we will substitute in the arithmetic formula are

So the solution to finding the missing term is,

Example 2: Find the 125th term in the arithmetic sequence 4, −1, −6, −11, …

This arithmetic sequence has the first term a1= 4, and a common difference of −5.
Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

Since we want to find the 125th term, the “n” value would be n = 125. The following are the known
values we will plug into the formula:

The missing term in the sequence is calculated as,

Example 3: If one term in the arithmetic sequence is a21 = –17 and the common difference is d = –3.
Find the following:

a) Write a rule that can find any term in the sequence.

b) Find the twelfth term (a12) and eighty-second term (a82) term.

Solution to part a)

Because we know a term in the sequence which is a21 = –17 and the common difference d = –3, the only
missing value in the formula which we can easily solve is the first term a1.
Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

Since a1 = 43 and d = –3, the rule to find any term in the sequence is

How do we really know if the rule is correct? What I would do is verify it with the given information in
the problem that a21 = –17.

So we ask ourselves, what is a21 = ?

We already know the answer though but we want to see if the rule would give us −17.

Since a1= 43, n = 21 and d = −3

Which it does! Great.

Solution to part b)

To answer the second part of the problem, use the rule that we found in part a) which is

Here are the calculations side-by-side.

Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

Example 4: Given two terms in the arithmetic sequence, a5 = –8 and a25 = 72,

a) Write a rule that can find any term in the sequence.

b) Find the 100th term (a100).

Solution to part a)

The problem tells us that there is an arithmetic sequence with two known terms which are a5 = –8 and
a25 = 72. The first step is to use the information of each term and substitute its value in the arithmetic
formula. We have two terms so we will do it twice.

This is wonderful because we have two equations and two unknown variables. We can solve this system
of linear equations either by Substitution Method or Elimination Method. You should agree that the
Elimination Method is the better choice for this.

Place the two equations on top of each other while aligning the similar terms.

We can eliminate the term a1 by multiplying Equation # 1 by the number −1 and adding them together.
Lea_AIMO_HandOUT_MAthIsFUN_Ms.O

Since we already know the value of one of the two missing unknowns which is d = 4, it is now easy to
find the other value. We can find the value of a1 by substituting the value of d on any of the two
equations. For this, let’s use Equation #1.

After knowing the values of both the first term (a1) and the common difference (d), we can finally write
the general formula of the sequence.

Solution to part b)

To find the 100th term (a100) of the sequence, use the formula found in part a)