IB Style Questions

Sequences

The following table is a record of you did with the questions. The 7 questions make
a total of 50 marks. As such the time taken to do them would ideally be about 50
minutes too.

Question Score Out of Comments

1 6

2 6

3 6

4 6

5 6

6 8

7 12

© Jim Noble, InThinking

www.thinkib.net/mathapplications 1
Question 1
The first 4 terms of an arithmetic sequence are shown below

3, 9, 15, 21

(a) Write down the 5th number in the sequence

(b) Calculate the 100th term of the sequence

(c) Calculate the sum of the first 30 terms of the sequence

Answers

(a) ______________________

(b) ______________________

(c) ________________

(6 marks)

Question reference NAP1AS3

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Question 2
A geometric Sequence has all its terms positive. The first term is 9 and the third term is
144.

(a) Find the common ratio.

(b) Find the sum of the first 10 terms

Answers

(a) ______________________

(b) ______________________

(6 marks)

Question reference NAP1GS1

© Jim Noble, InThinking

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Question 3
The 4th term of an arithmetic sequence is 30 and the 11th term is 51.

(a) Find the common difference

(b) Find the first term

(c) Calculate the 42nd term

(d) Calculate the sum of the first 150 terms

Answers

(a) ______________________

(b) ______________________

(c) ______________________

(d) ______________________

(6 marks)

Question reference NAP1AS4

© Jim Noble, InThinking

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Question 4
The population of Whoville is growing each year. At the end of 2004 the population
was 30 000. At the end of 2006 it was 43200. Assuming that these figures follow a
geometric progression, calculate

(a) the population of Whoville at the end of 2005

(b) the population of Whoville at the end of 2000

Answers

(a) ______________________

(b) ______________________

(6 marks)

Question reference NAP1GS3

© Jim Noble, InThinking

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Question 5

The first term of an arithmetic sequence is 10 and the common difference is 7. The
first term of a geometric sequence is 4. The 4th term of the geometric sequence is
equal to the 15th term of the arithmetic sequence

(a) What is the nth term of the arithmetic sequence?

(b) What is the nth term of the geometric sequence?

Answers

(a) ______________________

(b) ______________________

(6 marks)

Question reference NAP1SQ1

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Question 6
A tennis ball is dropped from a height of 1m20. After bouncing it reaches 85% of the
height from which it was dropped. The height of each subsequent bounce is 85% of
the previous bounce.

(a) Write an expression for the nth term of the geometric sequence that
models this situation. (2 marks)

(b) What height does the ball reach after its 5th bounce? (2 marks)

(c) What is the total vertical distance travelled by the ball from the time it
was dropped and the moment it hits the ground for its 6th bounce. (4
marks)

(8 marks)

Question reference NAP2GS1

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Question 7

Horton wants to buy a shiny new sports car. He can choose between two different
ways to pay. Both choices involve monthly payments for 20 months.

Option 1 – The first instalment is $1250. Each instalment is then $100 dollars more
than the one before.

Option 2 – The first instalment is $ 1000. Each instalment thereafter is 8% more than
the one before.

a) If Horton chooses option 1,

(i) what is the value of the 4th and 5th instalments? (2 marks)

(ii) What is the value of the final instalment? (1 mark)

(iii) Show that the total amount Horton would pay is $44000 (2 marks)

b) If Horton chooses option 2

(i) what is the value of the 4th instalment? (2 marks)

(ii) show that the 8th instalment is $1714 to the nearest dollar (2 marks)

c) Horton wants to choose the cheapest option. How much will he save by doing
this? (3 marks)

(12 marks)
Question 8

The first term of an arithmetic sequence is 5 and the common difference is 7.

a) Find the value of the 80th tem of this sequence

The first term of a geometric sequence is 0.6. The 4th term of the geometric
sequence is the same as the 11th term of the arithmetic sequence given above.

b) What is the common ratio of the geometric sequence?

c) What is the sum of the first 20 terms of the geometric sequence?

© Jim Noble, InThinking

www.thinkib.net/mathapplications 8
Question reference NAP2SQ1

© Jim Noble, InThinking

www.thinkib.net/mathapplications 9