3.

SEQUENCES
DEFINITION
A sequence is a set of numbers in a definite order following a
certain rule.
3.1SEQUENCES

Example: 1, 2, 3, …

A series is the sum of the terms of a sequence. We write the

sum of the first n terms of a sequence as S n , where
S n  T1  T2 ...Tn
Example: 1+2+3+…

3, 5, 7, 9, . . .

1st term 2nd term 3rd term 4th term three dots
means goes on
forever (infinite)
(‘term”, “element” or “member” mean the same thing)

Example 1:
(a)Find the first five terms of the (b) Find the fifth terms of the
sequence sequence
SOLUTION
SOLUTION

Example 2

Page | 1
Example 2:

Find the nth term of a sequence below.

(a) 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, ...

n Sequence Pattern Tn

(b) −2, 4, −8, 16, −32, ...

n Sequence Pattern Tn

Odd numbers; Even numbers;

1,3,5,7,...2n  1 ( if n  1 ) 2,4,6…2n (if n=1)
1,3,5,7,...2n  1 ( if n  0 ) 2,4, 6,2n+2 (if n =0)
1,3,5,7,...2n  3 ( if n  1 )

tips

Page | 2
 HOSTELWORK 1

Find the general term of the sequence below.

(a) −7, 7, −7, 7, ...

n Sequence Pattern Tn

(b) 2, −1, −4, −7, …

n Sequence Pattern Tn

Page | 3
 1 3 5 7
(c) , , , , ....
2 4 6 8

n Sequence Pattern Tn

(d) 3,5,7,9, …

n Sequence Pattern Tn

Page | 4
 The Partial Sums of a Sequence
For the sequence, T1 , T2 , T3 ,...Tn ,...
The partial sums are,
S1  T1
S2  T1  T2
S3  T1  T2  T3
S n  T1  T2  T3  ...Tn Tn  S n  S n 1

S1 is called the first partial sum.

S2 is called the second partial sum and so on.
S1 , S 2 , S3 , S n are called sequences of partial sums.

Note

1. T1  T2  T3  T4  T5 is a finite series
2. T1  T2  T3  T4  T5  ... is an infinite series

Example 3:
th
Find the n of the sequence 1, 4, 7, … . Hence, find the T4 , T5 and
S 4  S5 .
SOLUTION
N

Page | 5
EXERCISES

1. Find the first four terms of the sequence.

(a) (b)

2. Find the nth term of sequence whose first several terms are given.
(a) (b) … (c)

Answer

1. (a) 2, 3, 4, 5 (b)

2. (a) (b) (c)

Page | 6
 3.2 ARITHMETIC SEQUENCES
An arithmetic sequence is a sequence of the form

a, a  d , a  2d , a  3d ,...

 a is the first term.

 d is the common difference of the sequence.
 The nth term of an arithmetic sequence is given by

Tn  a   n  1 d

Example 4:
Determine if each of the following sequence is an arithmetic sequence.

a) 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19 b) 1, 3, 9, 27, 81

Page | 7
 5 Find term of the arithmetic sequence below
, ...
EXAMPLE

Find the first six terms and the 300th term of the
6 arithmetic sequence 13,7,1, …
EXAMPLE

Page | 8
 HOSTELWORK 2

The 11th term of an arithmetic sequence is 52 and the 19th term is

I
1 92, find the 1000th term.
QUESTION

The difference between 20th and 40th term is 40. Find the 100th
2 term if the second term is 2.
QUESTION

Page | 9
 Given that the fourth term of an arithmetic sequence is 13 and its
3
eight term is 25, find the d, a term and the term of this
arithmetic sequence.
QUESTION

4 The of an arithmetic progression is six times the fourth term.

If two terms differ by 25, find the term.
QUESTION

Page | 10
 THE SUMS OF ARITHMETIC SEQUENCE

The sum of the first n term of an arithmetic sequence is

n
Sn  2a  n  1d 
2

It is also can be written as

n
Sn  a  l  where l is the last term.
2

Example 7:
Find the sum of the first 50 odd numbers.

Page | 11
Example 8:
How many terms of the arithmetic sequence 5, 7, 9, … must be
added to get 572.

Page | 12
 HOSTELWORK 3

The first term of an arithmetic series is a and its common differences is d. If

1 the sum of the first three terms of the arithmetic series is 15 and the product
of the first two terms is 10, find the values of a and d. Hence, calculate the
sum of the first eight terms of the arithmetic series.
QUESTION

2 In an arithmetic progression, the sum of the ten terms is 520 and the
t term is twice the term. Find a and d.
QUESTION

Page | 13
 The term of arithmetic progression is 32 and its term is 2. If the sum of
t3 the n term is 357, find the value of n. If the smallest term in the series which
exceeds 100 is the term, find the value of k.
QUESTION

4 The sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic sequence is .

(a) Write down the expression for the sum of the first terms.
(b) Find the first term and the common difference of the above sequence.
QUESTION

Page | 14
 3.3 Geometric Sequence
A Geometric Sequence (GS) is a sequence of numbers in which
any term can be obtained from the previous term by multiplying
by a certain number called the common ratio.

Common ratio, r is given by

T
r  n 1 for any integer n  1
Tn

A geometric sequence is a, ar, ar 2 , ar 3 ,..., ar n1 ,...

th
then the n term is :
Tn  ar n 1

Find the general term for the geometric sequence 8, 16, 32, 64, …

Page | 15
Find the term of the geometric sequence 27, 9, 3, …

n 1
2
The n
th
term of a sequence Tn   
3
(a) Show that the sequence is a geometric sequence.
256
(b) Find the value of n where Tn  6561

Page | 16
 THE SUMS OF GEOMETRIC SEQUENCE

a 1  r n 
If r 1, Sn 
1 r

If r  1, the formula may be written as

a  r n  1
Sn 
r 1

2
Find S5 of the geometric sequence in which a =27 and r = 3

Page | 17
 n 1
1
If Tn   1   for n = 1, 2, 3, …., show that Tn forms a
n

2
geometric sequence.

Given S n  93 , a = 3 and r = 2, find n.

Page | 18
 HOSTELWORK 4

1 1 1
Find the sum of a geometric series 1    ... 
2 4 256

The first term of a Geometric Series is 27 and its common ratio is

4
. Find the least number of terms the sequence can have if its sum
3
exceeds 550.

Page | 19
If the third of a geometric sequence is 128 and the sixth term of a
geometric sequences is 16, find the first term a, the common ratio
and the tenth terms.

If , find the smallest n so that

Page | 20