Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ch.3 Sequences and Series
Ch.3 Sequences and Series
Ch.3 Sequences and Series
The sum to infinity of a geometric sequence is the sum of the first n terms as n approaches infinity. This does not
Example 2: The fifth term of an arithmetic series is 33. The tenth term is 68. The sum of the first n exist for all geometric sequences. Let’s look at two examples: Geometric and arithmetic sequences are often used to model real-life scenarios. Consider the amount of money in a savings
terms is 2225. Show that 7𝑛2 + 3𝑛 − 4450 = 0, and hence find the value of n. account; this can be modelled by a geometric sequence where r represents the interest paid at the end of each year and a is the
2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + ⋯ amount of money in the account at the time of opening.
5𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑖𝑠 33 ∴ 𝑎 + 4𝑑 = 33 [1] (nth term formula)
10𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑖𝑠 68 ∴ 68 = 𝑎 + 9𝑑 [2] (nth term formula) Each term is twice the previous (i.e. 𝑟 = 2). The sum of such a series is not finite, since each term is bigger than You need to be able to apply your knowledge of sequences and series to questions involving real-life scenarios. It is important to
the previous. This is known as a divergent sequence. properly understand the context given to you, so take some time to read through the question more than once.
Solving [1] and [2] simultaneously, we find that 𝑑 = 7 and 𝑎 = 5.
1 1 1
𝑛
Sum of first n terms is 2225 ∴ 2 [2𝑎 + (𝑛 − 1)𝑑] = 2225 2+1+ + + +⋯
2 4 8 Example 6: A virus is spreading such that the number of people infected increases by 4% each day. Initially 100 people were
diagnosed with the virus. How many days will it be before 1000 are infected?
𝑛 1
[10 + (𝑛 − 1)(7)] = 2225 Here, each term is half the previous (i.e. 𝑟 = 2). The sum of such a series is finite, since as n becomes large, the 𝑎 = 100 and 𝑟 = 1.04. We are really just trying to find the smallest value of n such
2
terms will tend to 0. This is known as a convergent sequence. that U 𝑛 > 1000.
𝑛(3 + 7𝑛) = 2225(2) 1. divide both side by 100
▪ A geometric sequence is convergent if and only if |𝑟| < 1.
7𝑛2 + 3𝑛 − 4450 = 0 2. take logs of both sides
The sum to infinity of a geometric sequence only exists for convergent sequences, and is given by:
3. divide both side by log(1.04) to solve for n (note that log(10) = 1)
To find the value of n, we just need to solve the quadratic. Using the quadratic formula, we find that
𝑛 = 25 𝑜𝑟 𝑛 = −25.4. Since the term number must be a positive integer, we can conclude that 𝑛 = 𝒂
𝑺∞ =
25. 𝟏−𝒓
4. round your answer up
https://bit.ly/pmt-cc
https://bit.ly/pmt-edu https://bit.ly/pmt-cc