Let us have an example on how to develop a formula for the sum of a given

geometric series:

Consider the geometric sequence 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, …
What is the sum of the first 7 terms?
8
𝑠7 = 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 128 + 256 𝑟= =2
4

Multiplying both sides by the common ratio 2, we get

2𝑠7 = 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 128 + 256 + 512

𝑆𝑢𝑏𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 2𝑆7 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠7 , 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒

𝑠7 = 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 128 + 256
(−)2𝑆7 = 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 128 + 256 + 512
(1 − 2)𝑆7 = 4 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 − 512

−𝑆7 = −508
 𝑺𝟕 = 𝟓𝟎𝟖

𝑎1 −𝑎1 𝑟 7
The expression for 𝑆7 can be written as 𝑆7 = .
1−𝑟
A rational expression like this can be used to find the sum of any geometric
series.

The sum 𝑺𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒚

𝑎1 −𝑎1 𝑟 𝑛 𝑎1 (1−𝑟 𝑛)
𝑺𝒏 = or 𝑆𝑛 = , 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑟 ≠ 1.
1−𝑟 1−𝑟

Now substitute 𝑎𝑛 ∙ 𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎1 ∙ 𝑟 𝑛 in the formula for the sum

of a geometric series.
𝒂 −𝒂 𝒓
The result is 𝑺𝒏 = 𝟏𝟏−𝒓𝒏

Example1:
What is the sum of the given geometric sequence?
1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243
Solution:
3
given: 𝑎1 = 1; 𝑟 = = 3; 𝑎6 = 243
1
Since,
𝑎1 , 𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛, 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎:
 𝑎1 − 𝑎𝑛 𝑟
𝑆𝑛 =
1−𝑟

1 − 243(3)
𝑆6 =
1−3

1 − 729
𝑆6 =
−2

−728
𝑆6 =
−2

𝑺𝟔 = 𝟑𝟔𝟒

Example2:
What is the sum of the first 6 terms of the geometric sequence
243, 81, 27, …?

Solution:
27 1
given: 𝑎1 = 243; 𝑟 = 81 = 3 ; 𝑛=6
Since, the last term is not known, we can use the first formula:

𝑎1 (1−𝑟 𝑛 )
𝑆𝑛 =
1−𝑟

1 6
243 (1 − (3) )
𝑆8 =
1
1−3

1
243 (1 − 729)
𝑆8 =
2
3

3
 728
243 (729)
𝑆8 =
2
3

728
𝑆8 = 3
2
3

364 1
64 728 3
𝑆8 = ∙
3 2
1 1

𝑺𝟖 = 𝟑𝟔𝟒