NUMBERS

Useful Websites:
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SEQUENCE AND SERIES

Terminologies and Notations

A "sequence" (or "progression", in British English) is an ordered list of numbers; the numbers in this
ordered list are called "elements" or "terms". A "series" is the value you get when you add up all the terms
of a sequence; this value is called the "sum". For instance, "1, 2, 3, 4" is a sequence, with terms "1", "2",
"3", and "4"; the corresponding series is the sum "1 + 2 + 3 + 4", and the value of the series is 10.

A sequence may be named or referred to as "A" or "An". The terms of a sequence are usually named
something like "ai" or "an", with the subscripted letter "i" or "n" being the "index" or counter. So the
second term of a sequnce might be named "a2" (pronounced "ay-sub-two"), and "a12" would designate the
twelfth term.

Note: Sometimes sequences start with an index of n = 0, so the first term is actually a0. Then the second
term would be a1. The first listed term in such a case would be called the "zero-eth" term. This method of
numbering the terms is used, for example, in Javascript arrays. Don't assume that every sequence and
series will start with an index of n = 1.

A sequence A with terms an may also be referred to as "{an}", but contrary to what you may have learned
in other contexts, this "set" is actually an ordered list, not an unordered collection of elements. (Your
book may use some notation other than what I'm showing here. Unfortunately, notation doesn't yet seem
to have been entirely standardized for this topic. Just try always to make sure, whatever resource you're
using, that you are clear on the definitions of that resource's terms and symbols.)

To indicate a series, we use either the Latin capital letter "S" or else the Greek letter corresponding to the
capital "S", which is called "sigma" (SIGG-muh):

To show the summation of, say, the first through tenth terms of a sequence {an}, we would write the
following:

The "n = 1" is the "lower index", telling us that "n" is the counter and that the counter starts at "1"; the
"10" is the "upper index", telling us that a10 will be the last term added in this series; "an" stands for the
terms that we'll be adding. The whole thing is pronounced as "the sum, from n equals one to ten, of a-sub-
n". The summation symbol above means the following:

a1 + a2 + a3 + a4 + a5 + a6 + a7 + a8 + a9 + a10

The written-out form above is called the "expanded" form of the series, in contrast with the more compact
"sigma" notation. Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2006-2011 All Rights Reserved

Any letter can be used for the index, but i, j, k, and n are probably used more than any other letters.

Sequences and series are most useful when there is a formula for their terms. For instance, if the formula
for an is "2n + 3", then you can find the value of any term by plugging the value of n into the formula. For
instance, a8 = 2(8) + 3 = 16 + 3 = 19. In words, "an = 2n + 3" can be read as "the n-th term is given by
two-enn plus three". The word "n-th" is pronounced "ENN-eth", and just means "the generic term an,
where I haven't yet specified the value of n."

Of course, there doesn't have to be a formula for the n-th term of a sequence. The values of the terms can
be utterly random, having no relationship between n and the value of an. But sequences with random
terms are hard to work with and are less useful in general, so you're not likely to see many of them in your
classes.

Basic Examples

 Let An = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}.

What is the value of a3?

Find the value of

The index of a3 is n = 3, so they're asking me for the third term, which is "5". The "value" they're
asking for is the total, the sum, of all the terms an from a1 toa5; in other words:

a1 + a2 + a3 + a4 + a5 = 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 25

value of a3: 5
value of sum: 25

 Expand the following series and find the sum:

To find each term, I'll plug the value of n into the formula. In this case, I'll be starting with
n = 0 and ending with n = 4.

2(0) + 2(1) + 2(2) + 2(3) + 2(4) = 0 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20

  List the first four terms of the sequence {an} = {n2}, starting with n = 1.

I'll just plug n into the formula, and simplify:

{a1, a2, a3, a4} = {12, 22, 32, 42} = {1, 4, 9, 16}

 List the first four terms of the following sequence, beginning with n = 0:

Many sequences and series contain factorials, and this is one of them. I'll evaluate in the usual
way:

So the terms are: Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2006-2011 All Rights Reserved

Notice how, in that last example above, raising the –1 to the power n made the signs alternate. This
alternating pattern of signs crops up a lot, especially in calculus, so try to keep this "raising –1 to the
power n" trick in mind.

 Find the sum of the first six terms of An, where an = 2an–1 + an–2, a1 = 1, and a2 = 1.

This formula looks much worse than it really is; I just have to give myself some time, and dissect
the formula carefully.

They gave me the values of the first two terms, and then they gave me a formula that says that
each term (after the first two terms) is a sum formed from the previous two terms. Plugging into
the formula, I get:

a3 = 2a3–1 + a3–2 = 2a2 + a1 = 2(1) + (1) = 2 + 1 = 3

a4 = 2a4–1 + a4–2 = 2a3 + a2 = 2(3) + (1) = 6 + 1 = 7
 a5 = 2a5–1 + a5–2 = 2a4 + a3 = 2(7) + (3) = 14 + 3 = 17
a6 = 2a6–1 + a6–2 = 2a5 + a4 = 2(17) + (7) = 34 + 7 = 41

Now that I've found the values of the third through the sixth terms, I can find the value of the
series; the sum is:

1 + 1 + 3 + 7 + 17 + 41 = 70

 Write the following series using summation notation, beginning with n = 1:

2 – 4 + 6 – 8 + 10

The first thing I have to do is figure out a relationship between n and the terms in the summation.
This series is pretty easy, though: each term an is twice n, so there is clearly a "2n" in the formula.
I also have the alternating sign. If I use (–1)n, I'll get –2, 4, –6, 8, –10, which is backwards (on the
signs) from what I want. But I can switch the signs by throwing in one more factor of –1:

(–1)(–1)n = (–1)1(–1)n = (–1)n+1

So the formula for the n-th term is an = (–1)n+1(2n). Since n starts at 1 and there are five terms,
then the summation is:

 Write the following using summation notation:

The only thing that changes from one term to the next is one of the numbers in the denominator.
(If I "simplify" these fractions, I'll lose this information. Any time the terms of my sequence or
series look oddly lumpy, I tend not to simplify those terms: that odd lumpiness almost certainly
contains a hint of the pattern I need to find.) The changing numbers, as a list, are 6, 7, and 8. This
looks like counting, but starting with 6 instead of 1. Without any information to the contrary, I'll
assume that this is the pattern.

But I need to relate these "counting" values to the counter, the index, n. For n= 1, the number is 6,
or n + 5. For n = 2, the number is 7, which is also n + 5. Checking the pattern for n = 3, 3 + 5 = 8,
which is the third number. Then the terms seems to be in the following pattern:

But how many terms are in the summation? The ellipsis (the "..." or "dot, dot, dot" in the middle)
means that terms were omitted. However, now that I have the general pattern for the series terms,
I can solve for the counter (the value of n) in the last term:
 31 = n + 5
31 – 5 = n + 5 – 5
n = 26

This tells me that there are 26 terms in this summation, so the series, in summation notation, is:

If the fractions (above) had been simplified and reduced, it would have been a lot harder to figure out a
pattern. Unless the sequence is very simple or is presented in a very straightforward manner, it is possible
that you won't be able to find a pattern, or might find a "wrong" pattern. Don't let this bother you terribly
much: the "right" pattern is just the one that the author had in mind when he wrote the problem. Your
pattern would be "wrong" only in that it is unexpected. But if you can present your work sensibly and
mathematically, you should be able to talk your way into getting at least partial credit for your answer.

Once you've learned the basic notation and terminology, you should quickly move on to the two common
and straightforward sequence types....

Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences

The two simplest sequences to work with are arithmetic and geometric sequences. An arithmetic sequence
goes from one term to the next by always adding (or subtracting) the same value. For instance, 2, 5, 8, 11,
14,... and 7, 3, –1, –5,... are arithmetic, since you add 3 and subtract 4, respectively, at each step. A
geometric sequence goes from one term to the next by always multiplying (or dividing) by the same
value. So 1, 2, 4, 8, 16,... and 81, 27, 9, 3, 1, 1/3,... are geometric, since you multiply by2 and divide by 3,
respectively, at each step.

The number added (or subtracted) at each stage of an arithmetic sequence is called the "common
difference" d, because if you subtract (find the difference of) successive terms, you'll always get this
common value. The number multiplied (or divided) at each stage of a geometric sequence is called the
"common ratio" r, because if you divide (find the ratio of) successive terms, you'll always get this
common value. Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2006-2011 All Rights Reserved

 Find the common difference and the next term of the following sequence:

3, 11, 19, 27, 35,...

To find the common difference, I have to subtract a pair of terms. It doesn't matter which pair I
pick, as long as they're right next to each other:

11 – 3 = 8
19 – 11 = 8
27 – 19 = 8
35 – 27 = 8

The difference is always 8, so d = 8. Then the next term is 35 + 8 = 43.

  Find the common ratio and the seventh term of the following sequence:

2/9, 2/3, 2, 6, 18,...

To find the common ratio, I have to divide a pair of terms. It doesn't matter which pair I pick, as
long as they're right next to each other:

The ratio is always 3, so r = 3. Then the sixth term is (18)(3) = 54 and the seventh term is(54)(3)
= 162.

Since arithmetic and geometric sequences are so nice and regular, they have formulas.

For arithmetic sequences, the common difference is d, and the first term a1 is often referred to simply
as "a". Since you get the next term by adding the common difference, the value of a2 is just a + d. The
third term is a3 = (a + d) + d = a + 2d. The fourth term is a4 = (a + 2d) + d = a + 3d. Following this
pattern, the n-th term an will have the form an = a + (n – 1)d.

For geometric sequences, the common ratio is r, and the first term a1 is often referred to simply as"a".
Since you get the next term by multiplying by the common ratio, the value of a2 is just ar. The third term
is a3 = r(ar) = ar2. The fourth term is a4 = r(ar2) = ar3. Following this pattern, the n-th term an will have
the form an = ar(n – 1).

 Find the tenth term and the n-th term of the following sequence:

1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8,...

The differences don't match: 2 – 1 = 1, but 4 – 2 = 2. So this isn't an arithmetic sequence. On the
other hand, the ratios are the same: 2 ÷ 1 = 2, 4 ÷ 2 = 2, 8 ÷ 4 = 2. So this is a geometric sequence
with common ratio r = 2 and a = 1/2. To find the tenth and n-th terms, I can just plug into the
formula an = ar(n – 1):

an = (1/2) 2n–1
a10 = (1/2) 210–1 = (1/2) 29 = (1/2)(512) = 256
 Find the n-th term and the first three terms of the arithmetic sequence having a6 = 5 andd =
3/2.

The n-th term of an arithmetic sequence is of the form an = a + (n – 1)d. In this case, that formula
gives me a6 = a + (6 – 1)(3/2) = 5. Solving this formula for the value of the first term of the
sequence, I get a = –5/2. Then:

a1 = –5/2, a2 = –5/2 + 3/2 = –1, a3 = –1 + 3/2 = 1/2,

and an = –5/2 + (n – 1)(3/2)

 Find the n-th term and the first three terms of the arithmetic sequence having a4 =
93 anda8 = 65.

Since a4 and a8 are four places apart, then I know from the definition of an arithmetic sequence
that a8 = a4 + 4d. Using this, I can then solve for the common difference d:

65 = 93 + 4d
–28 = 4d
–7 = d

Also, I know that a4 = a + (4 – 1)d, so, using the value I just found for d, I can find the value of
the first term a:

93 = a + 3(–7)
93 + 21 = a
114 = a

Once I have the value of the first term and the value of the common difference, I can plug-n-chug
to find the values of the first three terms and the general form of the n-th term:

a1 = 114, a2 = 114 – 7 = 107, a3 = 107 – 7 = 100

an = 114 + (n – 1)(–7)

 Find the n-th and the 26th terms of the geometric sequence with a5 = 5/4 and a12 = 160.

These two terms are 12 – 5 = 7 places apart, so, from the definition of a geometric sequence, I
know that a12 = ( a5 )( r7 ). I can use this to solve for the value of the common ratio r:

160 = (5/4)(r7)
128 = r7
2=r

Since a5 = ar4, then I can solve for the value of the first term a:

5/4 = a(24) = 16a

5/64 = a
 Once I have the value of the first term and the value of the common ratio, I can plug each into the
formulas, and find my answers:

an = (5/64)2(n – 1)

a26 = (5/64)(225) = 2 621 440

Arithmetic Series

An arithmetic series is the sum of an arithmetic sequence. A geometric series is the sum of a geometric
sequence. There are other types of series, but you're unlikely to work with them until you're in calculus.
For now, you'll probably just work with these two.

For reasons that will be explained in calculus, you can only take the partial sum of an arithmetic
sequence. The "partial" sum is the sum of a limited (that is to say, finite) number of terms, like the first
ten terms, or the fifth through the hundredth terms.

The formula for the first n terms of an arithmetic sequence, starting with n = 1, is:

The sum is, in effect, n times the "average" of the first and last terms. This sum of the first n terms is
called "the n-th partial sum". (By the way: The above summation formula can be proved usinginduction.)

 Find the 35th partial sum of an = (1/2)n + 1

The 35th partial sum of this sequence is the sum of the first thirty-five terms. The first few terms
of the sequence are:

a1 = (1/2)(1) + 1 = 3/2
a2 = (1/2)(2) + 1 = 2
a3 = (1/2)(3) + 1 = 5/2

The terms have a common difference d = 1/2, so this is indeed an arithmetic sequence. The last
term in the partial sum will be a35 = a1 + (35 – 1)(d) = 3/2 + (34)(1/2) = 37/2. Then, plugging into
the formula, the 35th partial sum is:

(n/2)(a1 + an) = (35/2)(3/2 + 37/2) = (35/2)(40/2) = 350

 Find the value of the following summation:

From the formula ("2n – 5") for the n-th term, I can see that each term will be two units larger
than the previous term. (Plug in values for n if you're not sure about this.) So this is indeed an
 arithmetical sum. But this summation starts at n = 15, not at n = 1, and the summation formula
applies to sums starting at n = 1. So how can I work with this summation?

The quickest way to find the value of this sum is to find the 14th and 47th partial sums, and then
subtract the 14th from the 47th. By doing this subtraction, I'll be left with the value of the sum of
the 15th through 47th terms. The first term is a1 = 2(1) – 5 = –3. The other necessary terms
are a14 = 2(14) – 5 = 23 and a47= 2(47) – 5 = 89.

Subtracting, I get:

Then the solution is: Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2006-2011 All Rights Reserved

By the way, another notation for the summation of the first fourteen terms is "S 14", so the subtraction
could also be expressed as "S47 – S14".

Formatting note: Since this was just a summation, it's safe to assume that "2n – 5" is the expression being
summed. However (and especially if you're dealing with something more complex), sometimes grouping
symbols may be necessary to make the meaning clear:

 Find the value of n for which the following equation is true:

I know that the first term is a1 = 0.25(1) + 2 = 2.25. I can see from the formula that each term will
be 0.25 units bigger than the previous term, so this is an arithmetical series. Then the summation
formula for arithmetical series gives me:

(n/2)(2.25 + [0.25n + 2]) = 21

n(2.25 + 0.25n + 2) = 42
n(0.25n + 4.25) = 42
 0.25n2 + 4.25n – 42 = 0
n2 + 17n – 168 = 0
(n + 24)(n – 7) = 0

Solving the quadratic, I get that n = –24 (which won't work in this context) or n = 7.

n=7

You could do the above exercise by adding terms until you get to the required total of "21". But your
instructor could easily give you a summation that requires, say, eighty-six terms before you get the right
total. So make sure you can do the computations from the formula.

 Find the sum of 1 + 5 + 9 + ... + 49 + 53.

Checking the terms, I can see that this is indeed an arithmetic series: 5 – 1 = 4, 9 – 5 = 4, 53 – 49
= 4. I've got the first and last terms, but how many terms are there in total?

I have the n-th term formula, "an = a1 + (n – 1)d", and I have a1 = 1 and d = 4. Plugging these into
the formula, I can figure out how many terms there are:

an = a1 + (n – 1)d
53 = 1 + (n – 1)(4)
53 = 1 + 4n – 4
53 = 4n – 3
56 = 4n
14 = n

So there are 14 terms in this series. Now I have all the information I need:

1 + 5 + 9 + ... + 49 + 53 = (14/2)(1 + 53) = (7)(54) = 378

Finite and Infinite Geometric Series

You can take the sum of a finite number of terms of a geometric sequence. And, for reasons you'll study
in calculus, you can take the sum of aninfinite geometric sequence, but only in the special circumstance
that the common ratio r is between –1 and 1; that is, you have to have | r | < 1.

For a geometric sequence with first term a1 = aand common ratio r, the sum of the first n terms is given
by:

Note: Your book may have a slightly different form of the partial-sum formula above. For instance, the
"a" may be multiplied through the numerator, the factors in the fraction might be reversed, or the
summation may start at i = 0 and have a power of n + 1 on the numerator. All of these forms are
equivalent, and the formulation above may be derived from polynomial long division.

In the special case that | r | < 1, the infinite sum exists and has the following value:

Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 2006-2011 All Rights Reserved

 Evaluate the following:

The first few terms are –6, 12, –24, so this is a geometric series with common ratio r = –2. (I can
also tell that this must be a geometric series because of the form given for each term: as the index
increases, each term will be multiplied by an additional factor of –2.) The first term of the
sequence is a = –6. Plugging into the summation formula, I get:

So the value of the summation is 2 097 150

 Evaluate S10 for 250, 100, 40, 16,....

 The notation "S10" means that I need to find the sum of the first ten terms. The first term is a =
250. Dividing pairs of terms, I get 100 ÷ 250 = 2/5, 40 ÷ 100 = 2/5, etc, so the terms being added
form a geometric sequence with common ratio r = 2/5. When I plug in the values of the first term
and the common ratio, the summation formula gives me:

Note: If you try to do the above computations in your calculator, it may very well return the decimal
approximation of 416.62297...instead of the fractional (and exact) answer. As you can see in the screen-
capture to the right, entering the values in fractional form and using the "convert to fraction" command
still results in just a decimal approximation to the answer. But (warning!) the decimal approximation will
almost certain be regarded as a "wrong" answer! Take the time to find the fractional form!

 Find an if S4 = 26/27 and r = 1/3.

They've given me the sum of the first four terms, S4, and the value of the common ratio r. Since
there is a common ratio, I know this must be a geometric series. Plugging into the geometric-
series-sum formula, I get:
 Multiplying on both sides by 27/40 to solve for the first term a = a1, I get:

Then:

 Show, by use of a geometric series, that 0.3333... is equal to 1/3.

There's a trick to this. I first have to break the repeating decimal into separate terms:

0.333... = 0.3 + 0.03 + 0.003 + 0.0003 + ...

This shows the repeating pattern of the non-terminating (never-ending) decimal explicitly: For
each term, I have a decimal point, followed by a steadily-increasing number of zeroes, and then
ending with a "3". This can be written in fractional form, and then converted into geometric-
series form:
 Then 0.333... is an infinite geometric series with a = 3/10 and r = 1/10. Since | r | < 1, I can use
the formula for summing infinite geometric series:

Using the summation formula to show that the geometric series "expansion" of 0.333... has a value of
one-third is the "showing" that the exercise asked for. You can use this method to convert any repeating
decimal to its fractional form:

 By use of a geometric series, convert 1.363636... to fractional form.

First I'll break this into its constituent parts, so I can find the pattern:

1.363636.. = 1 + 0.36 + 0.0036 + 0.000036 + ...

There are two digits that repeat, so the fractions are a little bit different. But this is still a
geometric series:
 Then this is the leading "1", plus a geometric series having a = 9/25 and r = 1/100. Then the sum
is:

Note: This technique can also be used to convert any repeating decimal into fractional form, and also can
be used to prove that 0.999... = 1.

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Important Websites

http://www.coolmath.com/algebra/19-sequences-series

http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcII/SeriesIntro.aspx

QUIZ
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