3.1.2

Finding Terms

Test yourself

Sequences

Is 30 part of the sequence given by the expression n² + 5? What about 40?

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We find n = ± 5

  • n can only be positive so discard the negative answer.
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We find n = ± 5.91...

  • n can only be positive so discard the negative answer.

Arithmetic Sequence

Terms in arithmetic sequences change by a constant amount each time.

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Arithmetic sequence

  • An arithmetic sequence is a sequence that has the property that the difference between any two consecutive terms is a constant.
  • This difference is called the common difference, and is represented by the symbol d.
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Nth term

  • Given the first term and the common difference of an arithmetic sequence, we can find the nth term of the sequence an by using the following equation:
    • an=a1+(n1)da_n = a_1 + (n-1)d
  • Where n ≥ 2.

Finding the Sum of Sequences

It is often useful to find the sum of the terms in a sequence.

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Notation

  • The sum of the first n terms of a sequence Sn is written as:
    • Sn = a1 for all sequences.
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Sum of first n terms

  • The equation for Sn is:
    • Sn=n2(2a1+(n1)d)S_n = \frac{n}{2}(2a_1 + (n-1)d)

Jump to other topics

1Numbers

2Equations, Formulae & Identities

3Sequences, Functions & Graphs

4Geometry

5Vectors & Transformation Geometry

6Statistics & Probability

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