F4S Sum to infinity Name:_______________________ No.

:____________
Investigation of the sum to infinity of a geometric sequence
Use the slider in geogebra to finish the question below.

1. Let 𝑛 be the number of rectangles in the figures.

(a) Write down the area of the 4th , 5th and 6th rectangles.

(b) Hence, write down an expression for the area of the 𝑛th rectangle.

(c) Write down the sum of the area of the rectangles, when 𝑛 = 8.

(d) Write down an expression for the sum of the area of the first 𝑛𝑡ℎ rectangles.
2. Write down an expression for the sum of the areas of the rectangles when there are infinite many
rectangles formed in the figure? What is the value of this sum?

3. Instead of 𝑟 = 0.5, if we set 𝑟 = 0.25,

(a) Express the sum of the areas of the rectangles when there are infinite many rectangles formed.

(b) What is the value of this sum?

4. Instead of 𝑟 = 0.5, if we set 𝑟 = 2,

(a) Express the sum of the areas of the rectangles when there are infinite many rectangles formed.

(b) What is the value of this sum?

5. Write down an example of an infinite geometric series that contain a finite sum and an example that
contain an infinite sum.

6. Base upon the information above, what do you think about the common ratio of the geometric sequence
such that the sum to infinity of the geometric series has a finite sum?

7. Write down a formula for the sum to infinity of a geometric series 𝑆(𝑛) = 𝑎 + 𝑎𝑟 + 𝑎𝑟 2 + ⋯ + 𝑎𝑟 𝑛−1 .