Effective Guide Mathematics – Topical Revision

Geometric Series
A sequence is geometric if each term can be obtained from the previous one by multiplying by the
same non-zero constant. A geometric sequence can be referred to as a geometric progression.

Suppose the first term of a geometric sequence is �1 and the common ratio is �.

Then �2 = �2 �, �3 = �2 �2 , �4 = �3 �3 , and so on.

For a geometric sequence with first term �1 and common ratio �, the general term or �th term is

�� = �1 ��−1
Summation of Geometric series
�1 1−�� �1 �� −1
�� = 1−�
� < 1 or �� = �−1
�> 1

Summation of infinite Geometric series

Geometric series is convergent if -1 < � < 1

Sum to infinity is given by,

�1(1− �� )
�∞ =
1− �

Exercise:
1. Consider the geometric sequence.
3, 6, 12, 24, 48, …
(a) Find the common ratio of this sequence,

(b) Find the 10th term,

(c) Find the sum of first 20 terms.

2. The first three terms of an infinite geometric sequence are 32, 16, and 8
(a) Write down the value of �.

(b) (i) Given that the �th term of this sequence is 115, find the value of �

(ii) For this value of �, find the sum of the sequence.

 3. Consider the infinite geometric sequence 3000, -1800, 1080, -648,
(a) Find the common ratio,

(b) Find the 10th term,

(c) Find the exact sum of the infinite sequence.

4. Consider the infinite geometric sequence 2, 2(0.8), 2(0.8)2 , 3(0.8)3 , …

(a) Write down the 10th term of the sequence. Do not simplify your answer.

(b) Find the sum of the infinite sequence.

5. Consider the infinite geometric sequence 25, 5, 1, 0.2, …

(a) Find the common ratio,

(b) Find
(i) The 11th term,
(ii) An expression for the � term

(c) Find the sum of the infinite sequence.

6. The first four terms of a sequence are 18, 54, 162, 486.
(a) Use al four terms to show that this is a geometric sequence.

(b) Find an expression for the �th term of this geometric sequence.

(c) If the � term of the sequence is 1062 882, find the value of �

Gerak Gempur PdPR - SPM TINGKATAN 4

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7. Given 8, p, q, s, t, 4 are the first six terms of a geometric progression. Find
(a) The values of p, q, s and t

(b) The sum of the terms from the 6th term to the 12th term.

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8. Given a geometric progression 4, , 1, …, find the smallest value of � such
2
that �� > 400.

9. The first term and second term of a geometric progression are 16 and 2
respectively. Find the sum to infinity of the progression.
10. Given a geometric progression, with a positive common ratio, has the first
term of 75 and third term of 48. Find
(a) The common ratio

(b) The sum of infinity

11. The sum, �� , of the first � terms of a geometric progression is given by

�� = 3� − 1. Find
(a) The sum of the first 8 terms.

(b) The value of the 4th term

(c) The sum of the 6th term to the 10th term

12. The diagram shows an arrangement of cones which are having the same
radius, that is 3 cm. the height of the first cone is 6 cm and the height of each
subsequent cone increase by 2 cm.
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[ Volume of a cone = ��2 ℎ]
3

(a) Calculate the volume, in ��3, of the 15th cone, in terms of �.

(b) Given the total volume of the first � cones is 528 � ��3 . Find the value of
�.
13. The ratio of the fifth term to the third term of a geometric progression is 9 : 1.
If the sum of the first five term of the progression is 121 and all the terms are
positive, find
(a) The first term, and the common ratio

(b) The sum from the sixth term to the eighth term.

14. A geometric progression has the first term as 12 and the common difference
ratio of 2. Find the 10th term.

15. Find the sum to infinity of the geometric progression 81, 27, 9, ….

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16. The third term of a geometric progression is 1 and the sixth term is 64. Find
(a) The first term and the common ratio,
(b) The sum of the first five terms.

17. Find the smallest value of n such that the sum of the first n terms of the
25
geometric progression 4, 5, 4
, … has a value greater than 50.

18. If 4, 5�, and 16 are three consecutive terms in a geometric progression, find
the possible values for �.

19. Find the number of terms in the geometric progression 7, 21, 63, …, 45 927.

20. Find the smallest value of n such that the sum of the first n terms of the
geometric progression 3, 9, 27, 81 … has a value greater than 10 000.

21. The first term of a geometric progression is 18 and the sum to infinity is 27.
Find the common ratio.

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22. In a geometric progression, the first and the second terms are �2 and 5
respectively. Find the sum of the first five terms if � = 5.

23. In a 6-m long jump competition, the first jump of a long was 1 m, the second
4 16
jump was 5 m, the third jump was 25 m, and so on. What is the distance
covered by the frog if it jumped for an infinite number of times? Show that the
frog would never reach the finishing line.
 �
24. Given that � = 4.075077505… where p and q are positive integers, find the
values of p and q.

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25. A geometric progression has a common ratio 5. The sum of its first four terms
3
is 405. Find
(a) The fourth term
(b) The sum of the first n terms where n is sufficiently large till �� = 0 as 27.

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26. The second and the seventh terms of a geometric progression are 27 and 9
respectively. Find the sum of the infinity of the geometric progression.

27.

The diagram shows the arrangement of three rectangular pieces of papers.

The width of each piece of the paper is 2 cm. the height of the first piece of
paper is k cm. the height of the next piece of paper is one third of the
preceding piece.

(a) Show that area of the pieces papers forms a geometric progression.
(b) Calculate the area of the 5th piece of paper in terms of k.
(c) Given that k = 70 cm. find the sum to infinity of the area of all the pieces of
papers.

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28. 4�, �
, 3� are three consecutive terms of a geometric progression. Express m
in terms of k.

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29. The first term of a geometric progression is 200 and the common ratio is 2.
Find
(a) The 10th term,
(b) The sum of the first five terms.
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30. Find the sum to infinity for the geometric progression 28, 7, 4, …

31. The first three terms of a geometric progression are 2, 6, and 18. Find the
least value of n such that the sum of its first n terms is greater than 2000.

32. The sum of the first n term of a geometric progression is given by �� = 3 2� −

1 . Find
(a) The sum of the first 6 terms,
(b) The 8th term.

33. How many multiples of 7 are between 200 and 400?

34. Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 which lie between 0 and 100.

35. � + 1, � ��� � − 1 are three consecutive terms in a geometric progression.

Find � in terms of �.

36. Find the number of terms in a geometric progression that has a third term of 6,
fifth term of 12 and the last term of 96.

37. A manufacture produced 100 000 computers in the first five years, 110 000 in
the second year, and 121 000 in the third year. If the percentages of increase
in the production are at the same rate, how many computers were produced
in the 10th year?

38. In the geometric progression 3, 9, 27, 81, …, find the smallest value for n so
that sum of the first n terms for the progression exceeds 50 000.

39. Three consecutive terms in a geometric progression are � − 3, � + 1 ��� 2� +

8 respectively. It is given that � is a positive integer, find
(a) The value of �,
(b) The common ratio.

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40. For a geometric progression, the first term is 500 and the common ratio is 3.
Find
(a) Sum to infinity,
(b) The value of n such that �∞ − �� < 0.1.
41. The number of bacteria in a solution is found to increase 10% from the
previous hour. There were 2000 bacteria at 12.00 noon on a Thursday.
(a) How many bacteria are there at 4.00p.m. on Thursday?
(b) How many bacteria are there at 11.00p.m. on Thursday?
(c) When will there be 1 000 000 bacteria in the solution?