Flashback: AP – GP

∎ Arithmetic Progression:

1. An arithmetic progression, with first term 8 and common difference 𝑑, consists of 101 terms.

Given that the sum of the last three terms is 3 times the sum of the first three terms, find:

(a) the value of 𝑑,

(b) the sum of the last 48 terms.

2. An arithmetic progression has first term −91 and common difference 6. Given that the arithmetic

progression has three times as many positive terms as it has negative terms, find:

(a) the total number of terms in the progression,

(b) the sum of the positive terms.

𝑛 2
3. The formula 𝑆𝑛 = [2 (𝑛 + 1)] given the sum, 𝑆𝑛 , of the first 𝑛 terms of a certain series.

Calculate the fifth term of the series.

4. Find the sum of all the integers between 100 and 300 that are multiples of 7.

5. An arithmetic progression has first term 𝑎 and common difference 𝑑. The third term is 13 and the tenth

term is 41.

(a) Find the value of 𝑎 and of 𝑑.

(b) Find the number of terms required to give a sum of 2555.

(c) Given that 𝑆𝑛 is the sum to 𝑛 terms, show that 𝑆2𝑘 − 𝑆𝑘 = 3𝑘(1 + 2𝑘).

Answers:
1
[1] (a) 6 , (b) 996, [2] (a) 64, (b) 7008, [3] 125, [4] 5586, [5] (a) 𝑑 = 4, 𝑎 = 5, (b) 35.

∎ Geometric Progression:

1. An infinite geometric progression has a first term of 50 and a fourth term of 10.8. Find:

(a) the fifth term,

(b) the sum to infinity,

(c) the value of 𝑛 given that the 𝑛th term is the first term in the progression that is less than 0.25.

2. A man undertakes a long-distance walk of 480 km. On the first day he walks 35 km. On each subsequent

day he walks 95% of the distance he had walked the previous day, until his walk is completed.

He commences his walk on 1st June. Find:

1
 Flashback: AP – GP

(a) the distance, to the nearest km, that he walks on 10th June,

(b) the date on which he completes his 480 km walk.

3. A geometric progression is such that its sum to 4 terms is 17 times its sum to 2 terms. It is given that the

common ratio of this geometric progression is positive and not equal to 1.

(a) Find the common ratio of this geometric progression.

(b) Given that the 6𝑡ℎ term of the geometric progression is 64, find the first term.

(c) Explain why this geometric progression does not have a sum to infinity.

4. A geometric progression has a first term of 3 and a second term of 2.4. For this progression, find

(a) the sum of the first 8 terms,

(b) the sum to infinity,

(c) the least number of terms for which the sum is greater than 95% of the sum to infinity.

5. The 2nd, 8th and 44th terms of an arithmetic progression form the first three terms of a geometric

progression. In the arithmetic progression, the first term is 1 and the common difference is positive.

(a) (i) Show that the common difference of the arithmetic progression is 5.

(ii) Find the sum of the first 20 terms of the arithmetic progression.

(b) (i) Find the 5th term of the geometric progression.

(ii) Explain whether or not the sum to infinity of this geometric progression exists.

Answers:
1 48 1 1
[1] (a) −3, 2, (b) 10, [2] (a) 𝑥+1, (b) 2, 3, [3] (a) 𝑟 = 4, (b) 16, (c) 𝑟 > 1, [4] (a) 𝑎 = 3, 𝑟 = 0.8, (b) 15, (c) 14,

[5] (a) (ii) 970, (b) (i) 7776,