SEQUENCE

Definition
- A sequence is a list of numbers
(or other things) that changes
according to some sort of pattern.
Concept
A sequence is an arrangement of any objects or a set of numbers in a particular order
followed by some rule. If a1, a2, a3, a4,……… etc. denote the terms of a sequence, then
1,2,3,4,…..denotes the position of the term.

A sequence can be defined based on the number of terms i.e. either finite sequence or infinite
sequence.
Example :
- Finite sequence: 1,2,3,4,5
- Infinite sequence: 1,2,3,4,……

There are finite sequences that just stop after a certain number of times.

Like this :

-
And there are infinite sequences that keep on going forever and ever.
Like:

-
Types of Sequence
Some of the most common examples of sequences are:
 Arithmetic Sequences
 Geometric Sequences
 Harmonic Sequences
 Fibonacci Numbers

Arithmetic Sequences
A sequence in which every term is created by adding or subtracting a definite number to the
preceding number is an arithmetic sequence.

Geometric Sequences
A sequence in which every term is obtained by multiplying or dividing a definite number
with the preceding number is known as a geometric sequence.

Sequences Harmonic
A series of numbers is said to be in harmonic sequence if the reciprocals of all the elements
of the sequence form an arithmetic sequence.

Fibonacci Numbers
Fibonacci numbers form an interesting sequence of numbers in which each element is
obtained by adding two preceding elements and the sequence starts with 0 and 1. Sequence is
defined as, F0 = 0 and F1 = 1 and Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2
EXAMPLE
With numbers, we usually assign each spot with a special symbol:

So, for the sequence of squares that we already saw

What would the 10th term in this sequence be?

Check out this sequence:

Can you figure out what the next term will be? Maybe you saw the pattern right
away... and maybe you didn't

Each term is found by adding the two previous terms:

This one isn't so funny. If we do some thinking, we'd probably be able to figure it
out. Luckily, we'll be able to get a formula for this kind of sequence later.

OK, so what about this sequence?

Can you find the pattern?

Can you find the next term?

This one's not so simple... There IS a pattern, but it's a bit buried.

Let's list the differences between the terms and see if that helps.

See what's going on?

We're adding 2 each time down here, so just continue with this pattern and work
your way back up:
We won't be working with these buried guys in later sections, but, they're kind of
interesting, so I wanted to show them to you.

FORMULA

Remember when that list with the a's to describe a sequence...

And this was the nth term?

Here's what we use this for:

The nth term is given by a formula.

We can use this formula to build the sequence.

Check it out:

Let's build the sequence whose nth term is given by

See the n's in this ?

If we let n = 1, we'll get the first term of the sequence:

If we let n = 2, we'll get the second term:

If we let n = 3, we'll get the third term:

and so on...

So, our sequence is

When you're given a formula for , you stick in n = 1, then

n = 2, then 3, 4, and 5 to get the first five terms

The thing about the last two formulas is that you can just jump in and find ANY
term of the sequence!

For , let's find the 100th term:

Here's the official formula for the Fibonacci's:

If we want the 10th term, then n = 10...

So,

Let's build the Fibonacci's using the formula:

We need to be given the first two terms to start or we can't do anything:

let n = 3:

let n = 4:

let n = 5:

let n = 6:

and so on..
EXAMPLE

Let's build the sequence whose nth term is given by

and

let n = 2:

let n = 3:

let n = 4:

let n = 5:

So, the sequence is