PROGRESSIONS

This chapter helps us in solving questions based on

common sense in aptitude exams
Arithmetic progression (AP): - In a series, if each
term except the first term obtained by adding a
fixed number to the term preceding it, then it is an
AP
General form of an AP is
a, a+d, a+2d, a+3d,
Where a = first term and d = common difference
n
th
term of an AP (t
n
) = a + (n-1)d
Sum of n terms of an AP (s
n
)
=
n
2
|2o +(n -1)J]
Sum of n terms of an AP (s
n
) =
n
2
(o +
l)where l is the last term
Arithmetic mean: - If there are three terms in AP
then the middle term is called as the arithmetic
mean of the other two.
If a, b and c are in AP then b =
u+c
2

Note: -
1. Arithmetic Mean(AM) of a, b and c
=
u+b+c
3

2. AM of an AP =
Pst tcm+Lust tcm
2

3. AM of a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, , a
n
=
u
1
+u
2
+u
3
++u
n
n

4. If there are n AM between a and b then
common difference(J) =
b-o
n+1

Geometric Progression (GP): -
In a series if each term except first term is obtained
by multiplying a fixed number (common ratio) to
the term preceding it, then it is a GP
General form of a GP is
a, ar, ar
2
, ar
3
, .
Where a = first term, r = common ratio
n
th
term of GP (t
n
) = ar
n-1

Sum of n term (s
n
) = a(r
n
-1)/r-1 [if r>1]
= a(1-r
n
)/1-r [if r<1]
Geometric Mean: -
If there are 3 terms in GP, the middle term is called
as the GM of other two
i.e if a, b, c are in GP then b = Voc
Note: -
1. GM of a and b = Voc
2. GM of a, b and c = Vobc
3. GM of a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, , a
n
=

o
1
o
2
o
3
. o
n
n

4. If there are n GMs between a and b
then common ratio (r) =[
b
u

1
n+1

Infinite Geometric Progression: -
The series in the form of a, ar, ar
2
ar
n

where |r| < 1 is called infinite GP
Sum of the terms of an infinite GP =
u
1-
where |r|<1
Harmonic Progression (HP): - If the reciprocals of
all the terms of a series results an AP, then the
series is called a HP.
General form of HP is
1
u
,
1
u+d
,
1
u+2d
, .


n
th
term t
n
=
1
u+(n-1)d

Harmonic Mean: - If 3 numbers are in HP, then the
middle number is called HM of the other two.
i.e if a, b, c are in HP then b =
2uc
u+c

Note: -
1. HM ofo, b =
2
1
c
+
1
b
or
2ub
u+b

2. HM of o, b onJ c =
3
1
c
+
1
b
+
1
c

3. HM of a
1
, a
2
, a
3
, , a
n

=
n
1
c
1
+
1
c
2
+
1
c
3
++
1
c
n

Relation among AM, GM and HM
1. Let a and b be any two numbers then
u+b
2
Vob
2ub
u+b

2. AM, GM and HM are in GP
Therefore GM
2
= AM HM
Some more results: -
1. Sum of first n natural numbers n = S
1
=
n(n+1)
2

2. Sum of the squares of first n natural
numbers n
2
= S
2
=
n(n+1)(2n+1)
6

3. Sum of the cubes of first n natural numbers
n
3
= S
3
=
n
2
(n+1)
2
4
= (_n)
2

4. 9S
2
2
= S
3
(1+8S
1
)

Exercise
1. Which term of the Arithmetic Progression
5,10,15 ... is105?
a) 26 b) 21 c) 28 d) 29
2. 9 times the 9
th
term of Arithmetic Progression
equals 16 times its 16
th
term, find the 25
th
term of
the arithmetic progression?
a) 0 b) -1 c) 1 d) 3
3. 5 terms in an arithmetic progression have a sum
of 50.The extreme terms have a product of 84.
Write the terms in increasing order.
a) 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 b) 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 c) 6, 8,
10, 12, 14 d) 8, 10, 12, 14, 16
4. The sum of three terms of an arithmetic
progression is 30. The sum of the squares of the
terms is 308, find the three terms
a) 6, 10, 14 b) 7, 10, 13 c) 8, 10, 12 d) 9,
10, 11
5. In an exam, A scored as many marks less than B,
as B scored less than C. If the total marks scored by
the three are 225, find the marks scored by B?
a) 70 b) 80 c) 75 d) 85
6. In an exam A scored as many marks less than B,
as B got less than C. The total marks scored by the
three are 450 and A scored 50 marks less than C,
find their individual marks.
a) 100, 150, 200 b) 125, 150, 175 c) 110,
160, 180 d) 90, 140, 220
7. The sum of all two-digit numbers which leave
reminder of 2, when divided by 5 is
a) 972 b) 981 c) 990 d) 999
8. Which term of the geometric progression
2, 2V2, 4 .is 256?
a) 14
th
b) 15
th
c) 16
th
d) 17
th

9. Each term in an infinite geometric progression is
equal to two third of the sum of all its following
terms. Find the common ratio if all terms are
positive


a) 3/5 b) 18/5 c) d) 2/3
10. The 9
th
term of an arithmetic progression is 33.
Find the sum of the first 17terms of arithmetic
progressions
a) 552 b) 575 c) 561 d) cannot be determined
11. The sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic
progression is Sn
2
+ 6n. The nth term is
a) 6n+3 b) 12n-6 c) 12n+3 d) 6n+6
12. The geometric mean of 3, 9, 27, 81 and 243 is
a) 9 b) 81 c) 27 d) None of these
13. The arithmetic mean of the first n natural
number is 63. Find the n
a) 115 b) 122 c) 125 d) 70
14. The harmonic mean and the geometric mean of
two numbers are 27/5 and 9 respectively, find the
numbers
a) 3, 27 b) 3, 81 c) 9, 27 d) 27, 27
15. Find the first term of an AP whose 8
th
and 12
th

terms are respectively 39 and 59
a) 5 b) 6 c) 4 d) 3 e) 7
16. Find the 15
th
term of the sequence 20, 15, 10
a) -45 b) -55 c) -50 d) 0
17. The number of terms of a series 54+51+48+
such that the sum is 513 is
a) 18 b) 19 c) Both a & b d) 15 e) None of
these
18. A man receives Rs. 60 for the first week and Rs.
3 more each week than the preceding week. How
much does he earn by the 20
th
week?
a) Rs. 1770 b) Rs. 1620 c) Rs. 1890 d) Rs.
1790 e) None of these
19. If the 5
th
term of a GP is 81 and first term is 16,
what will be the 4
th
term of the GP?
a) 36 b) 18 c) 54 d) 24 e) 27
20. The first term of an AP is unity and the common
difference is 4. Which of the following will be the
term of this AP?
a) 4551 b) 10091 c) 7881 d)
13531 e) 13537
21. How many natural numbers between 300 and
500 are multiples of 7?
a) 29 b) 28 c) 27 d) 30 e) None of these
22. The fourth and tenth terms of GP are 1/3 and
243 respectively. Find the second term
a) 3 b) 1 c) 1/27 d) 1/9 e) 9
23. The sum of 5 numbers in AP is 30 and the sum
of their squares is 220. Which of the following is
the 3
rd
term?
a) 5 b) 6 c) 8 d) 9 e) 10
24. Find the sum of all numbers in between 10 to 50
excluding all those numbers which are divisible by
8 (include 10 and 50 for counting)
a) 1070 b) 1220 c) 1320 d)
1160 e) 1060
25. Find the number of terms of the series 1/81, -
1/27, 1/9 -729.
a) 11 b) 12 c) 10 d) 13 e) 14
26. Four geometric means are inserted between 1/8
and 128 find the 3
rd
geometric mean
a) 4 b) 16 c) 32 d) 8 e) None of these
27. Find the sum of the integers between 1 and 200
that are the multiples of 7
a) 2742 b) 2842 c) 2646 d)
2546 e) 2746


28. Find the sum of all odd numbers lying between
100 and 200
a) 7500 b) 2450 c) 2550 d)
2650 e) None of these
29. The first and last terms of an AP are 107 and
253. If there are 5 terms in this sequence, find the
sum of sequence
a) 1080 b) 720 c) 900 d) 620 e) 1020
30. If a, b, c are in GP then log a, log b, log c are in
a) AP b) GP c) HP d)
None of these e) cannot be said
Key
1.b 2.a 3.c 4.c 5.c 6.b 7.b 8.b 9.a 10.c 11.a 12.c 13.c 14.a 15.c
16.c 17.c 18.a 19.c 20.c 21.a 22.c 23.b 24.a 25.a 26.d 27.b 28.a 29.c 30.a