THESUMMATIONSYMBOL

Summary
1.

Simplesum..............................................................................................................................1

2.

Doublesum..............................................................................................................................5

3.

Doubleindex............................................................................................................................5

1. Simple sum
Thesymbol (sigma)isgenerallyusedtodenoteasumofmultipleterms.Thissymbol
isgenerallyaccompaniedbyanindexthatvariestoencompassalltermsthatmustbe
consideredinthesum.
For example, the sum of first whole numbers can be represented in the following
manner:

Moregenerally,theexpression

representsthesumofnterms

Example1
Given

Evaluate

3,

5,

and

6,

7.

Solution:
In the first sum, the index " i " varies from 1 to 5. We must therefore include the 5
termsinthesum.
3

23

Inthesecondcase,theindex"i"variesfrom2to4.Onlytheterms
thereforebeconsidered.
5

and must

13

Whenweusethesummationsymbol,itisusefultorememberthefollowingrules:

Example2

Given
1

3,

5,

6,

7et

2,

8,

3,

6.

Verifythethreeprecedingruleswiththefollowingsums:

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Solution:

92
and
4

23

92

b)
4

20

c)
5

43

And
3

23

20

43

Attention:
Wemustneitherconfoundtheexpression

with

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northeexpression

with

Example3
Given
1

3,

5,

6,

7and

2,

8,

3,

6.

a)
3

123

and
3

23

52

123

b)
3
6

40

42

108

and
3

23

20

460

108

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2. Double sum
In certain situations, using a double sum may be necessary. You must then apply the
definitionsuccessively.
Example
Given 1

3,

5,

2,

Wewillusetheindexiforthetermsof andindexjforthetermsof

54

3. Double index
Torepresentthedataofatableoramatrix,weoftenuseadoubleindexnotation,like
where the first index (i) corresponds to the number of the row where the data is
locatedandthesecond(j)tothecolumn.Forexample,theterm 24representsthedata
thatissituatedattheintersectionofthe2ndrowandthe4thcolumnofthetableorthe
matrix.
Example
Given
4

Tocarryoutthesumofthetermsofarow,wemustfixtheindexofthatrowandvary,
forallpossiblevalues,theindexofthecolumn.Forexample:

12(sumofthefirstrow)

6(sumofthe2ndrow)

Tocarryoutthesumofthetermsofacolumn,youmustfixtheindexofthiscolumnand
vary,forallpossiblevalues,theindexoftherow.
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Forexample:

10(sumofthe4thcolumn)

To carry out the sum of all terms of the table, you must vary both indices and use a
doublesum:

28

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