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MAT Sequences Practice

1. Find the sum of the first 𝑛 terms term from the previous term. For
for the following sequences: what value of 𝑛 will the increase
a. 1, 2, 4, 8, ... from the previous term by 99?
1 1 1 7. [Source: SMC] Find the sum to
b. 1, , , , ...
2 4 8 1 1 2 3 5
c.
1 1 1
1, − 2 , 4 , − 8 , … infinity of 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 +
8 13
d. 1, −1, 1, −1, … 32
+ 64 + ⋯ (Hint: Since the
2. Find the sum of the first 2𝑛 terms numerators have the property
of the following sequences (note that they’re the sum of the
that there are two sequences previous two numerators,
interleaved!): perhaps we could replace all but
1
a. 9, 9, 3, 27, 1, 81, 3 , 243, … the first few fractions each with a
b. 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 8, 27, 16, 81, … pair of fractions added together?)
1 1 1 1 8. [Source: MAT] Given that 1 +
c. 1, 1, , 2, , 3, , 4, , 5, …
2 4 8 16 1 1 1 𝜋2
3. Prove that the sum of the first 𝑛 22
+ 32 + 4 2 + ⋯ = 6
and that
1 1 1 1 𝜋2
natural numbers is 2 𝑛(𝑛 + 1). 1+ + + +⋯= ,
32 52 72 8
4. Determine the sum to infinity to determine the value of the infinite
the following sequences: 1 1 1 1 1
sum 1 − + − + − +
1 1 22 32 42 52 62
a. 2, −1, , − , … ⋯
2 4
1 1 1 1 1 1
b. 3, 2, 1, 1, , , , , , , …
3 2 9 4 27 8
5. Determine the sum of the
following arithmetic sequences:
a. 1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯ + 200
b. 1 + 3 + 5 + ⋯ + 99
c. 2 + 4 + 6 + ⋯ + 100
6. Given a sequence 𝑥𝑛 = 𝑛2 − 2𝑛,
determine the increase of the 𝑛th

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 ANSWERS

1.
a. 𝑆𝑛 = 2𝑛−1
b. 𝑆𝑛 = 2 − 21−𝑛
2 2
c. 𝑆𝑛 = 3 − 3 (−2)−𝑛
d. 𝑆𝑛 = (−1)𝑛−1
2.
27 1
a. 9 − (3−𝑛 ) + 3𝑛+2
2 2
𝑛−1 𝑛−1
b. 2 +3
1−𝑛 1
c. 2 + 2 𝑛(𝑛 + 1)
3. Just pick your favourite proof! You could observe that the first and last term add up to 𝑛 +
𝑛
1, as does the next pair inwards, and so on. There’s of these pairs, so the total is
2
1 𝑛+1
2
𝑛(𝑛 + 1). Alternatively, observe that the median of the numbers is 2
by observation,
and that the mean is the equal to the median due to symmetry. There’s 𝑛 numbers, so the
1
total is 2 𝑛(𝑛 + 1).
4.
4
a. 3
17
b. 2
5. Determine the sum of the following arithmetic sequences:
1
a. 1 + 2 + 3 + ⋯ + 200: The sum of 1 to n is 2 𝑛(𝑛 + 1), which gives 20100.
b. 1 + 3 + 5 + ⋯ + 99: 𝑎 = 1 and 𝑑 = 2 and 𝑛 = 50 (Be very careful when working
out the number of terms. Notice that if we added 1 to all the numbers then divided
by 2, we’d have the numbers 1 to 50, and thus it then becomes clear there are 50
50
numbers). Thus 𝑆50 = (2 + 49 × 2) = 2500
2
50
c. 2 + 4 + 6 + ⋯ + 100: 𝑎 = 2, 𝑑 = 2, 𝑛 = 50. So 𝑆50 = (4 + 49 × 2) = 2550
2

6. 𝑥𝑛 − 𝑥𝑛−1 = 𝑛2 + 2𝑛 − (𝑛 − 1)2 − 2(𝑛 − 1)

= 2𝑛 + 1
Then if 2𝑛 + 1 = 99, 𝑛 = 49.
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 1 1 1 1 2 2 3
7. 𝑆∞ = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + ⋯ = 1 + (2) + (4 + 4) + (8 + 8) + (16 + 16) + ⋯
1 1 2 3 5 1 1 2 3
= 1+( + + + + + ⋯) +( + + + )
2 4 8 16 32 4 8 16 32
1 1
= 1 + 𝑆∞ + 𝑆∞
2 4
1
𝑆 = 1, so 𝑆∞ = 4.
4 ∞
1 1 1 𝜋2 𝜋2 𝜋2
8. 22
+ 4 2 + 62 + ⋯ = 6
− 8
= 24
1 1 1 1 𝜋2 𝜋2 𝜋2
Then 1 − 22 + 32 − 42
+ 52 + ⋯ = 8 − 24 = 12

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