Name:_______________________

Dateassigned:______________

Band:________

Precalculus|PackerCollegiateInstitute

Boxes,LotteryTickets,andInfiniteElephants,Ohmy!:SequencesandSeries

Thesectionstothisunitarebelow.Sectionswhichmaycorrespondtothebookhavethatinformationincluded,along
withadditionalpracticeproblemsyoumaywanttodotosolidifyyourunderstanding.

Comment [sjs1]: Printsinglesidedon11x16

paperwiththetextontheLHSandblankspaceon
theRHSthiswaytherewillbemoreroomforkids
toworkChopoffaninchontheRHSsothatthe
studentcanfoldovertheblankpartsothepacket
fitsinafolder/binder.

Section1:Puzzles!
Book:

Section2:MathematicalTerminology
Book:

Section3:ArithmeticSequences
Book:

Section4:GeometricSequences
Book:

Section5:TheForwardsProblem:GoFromFormulatoSequence
Book:

Section6:TheBackwardsProblem:GoFromSequencetoFormula
Book:

Section7:AnIntroductiontoArithmeticSeries
Book:

Section8:SigmaTerminologyandNotation
Book:

Section9:AnIntroductiontoFiniteGeometricSeries!
Book:

Section10:InfiniteGeometricSeries!
Book:

AnAmazinglyTrueMathematicalFact!

1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 ...
4
3 5 7 9 11 13 15

`
1

Name:_______________________

Dateassigned:______________

Band:________

Precalculus|PackerCollegiateInstitute

Boxes,LotteryTickets,andInfiniteElephants,Ohmy!

Section1:Puzzles!

Puzzle#1

Howmanylittlesquaresareinthe42nd1figure?
(FYI:thelonesquareisthefirstfigure)

Generalizetheresult:Howmanylittlesquaresareinthenthfigure?

Extendthegeneralization:Howmanylittlesquaresareinthezerothfigure?

Graphtheresult:
squares

Comment [sjs2]: Printsinglesidedon11x16

paperwiththetextontheLHSandblankspaceon
theRHSthiswaytherewillbemoreroomforkids
toworkChopoffaninchontheRHSsothatthe
studentcanfoldovertheblankpartsothepacket
fitsinafolder/binder.
Comment [sjs3]: Allpuzzlesinsmallgroupsof3.
Hinttokens.

HaveallgroupsworkonPuzzle1,butthenafterthat
andgoingoverit,assignsomegroupsPuzzle2,3,or
4tostartworkingon(andthentheycycle
through)

Giveeachgroup3hinttokens(jollyranchers?)and
saytheycanteatthem.Buttheycanexchange
themforhintsfrommewhenthewholegroupis
stuck.

Whengroupscallmeover,rememberNOTtocall
onthepersonwhosehandisraisedbutaskanother
groupmemberforthequestion/problemThis
ensurestheyallareonthesamepageandworking
together

(OrmaybemakeitaclasspolicythatALLhandsina
groupmustberaisedformetocomeover,andIll
randomlycallononeofthem)

Comment [sjs4]: AskinclasswhattheSLOPE

means

Whatdoestheyinterceptmean(ifyougraphedit)?

Talkaboutconnectingthepoints(ornot)

Commondifference=slope!

Domain?Canweextendthepointsbackwards?
Whatwouldthatmean?Ifnot,howdowe
mathematicallyexplainourfunction?

figure number

http://ind.pn/NfegPy

`
2

Puzzle#2

PartI:Howmanysquaresareinthe42ndfigure?
(FYI:thefirstfigurehas1square,thesecondfigurehas5
squares,etc.)

Generalizetheresult:Howmanysquaresareinthenth
figure?

Graphtheresults:

PartII:Iftheshadedareaofthefirstfigureis81acres,
whatistheareaofthe42ndfigure?

Generalizetheresult:Whatistheareaofthenthfigure?

Comment [sjs6]: Studentswillprobablyneed

hinttokenhere

Graphtheresults:

squares

area

Comment [sjs5]: Afterstudentsaredonewith

Puzzle#2,havethemcallmeovertogooverthings
withthem

Talkaboutwhatkindoffunctiontheyaregraphing
(exponentialgrowthandecay)askthemwhat
theythinkwillhappenastheygettomoreandmore
figureswhathappenstothenumberofsquares
(getssuperlarge)andwhathappenstothearea
(getssupersmall)Willtheareaofanyfigureever
be0?

Whatwouldhappentotheequationfortheareaif
theoriginalsquarehasanareaof17?Howwould
thegraphchange?

figure number

figure number

`
3

Puzzle#3a

Thenumberofsmalltilesinthenthfigureis:

Ifyouhad12tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuildwouldbe
the3rdfigure(youdonthaveenoughtilestobuildthe4thfigure).
Ifyouhadexactly7,570tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuild
wouldbethe___figure.

Explanation:

Thenumberofsmalltilesinthenthfigureis:

Ifyouhad12tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuildwouldbe
the3rdfigure(youdonthaveenoughtilestobuildthe4thfigure).
Ifyouhadexactly7,570tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuild
wouldbethe___figure.

Explanation:

Puzzle#3b

Puzzle3a:

small squares

Puzzle3b:

small squares

figure number

figure number

`
4

Puzzle#4:Gardensareframedwithasinglerowofbordertilesasillustratedhere

Drawthe4thgarden:

PartII:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenof
length30?

PartIII:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenoflength1000?Showandexplainhowyougotyouranswer.

Nowthatyouvefoundtheansweroneway,comeupwithasecond(different)waytocountthebordertilesfora
gardenoflength1000.

PartIV(generalizetheresult):Ifyouknowthegardenlength(callitn),explainhowyoucandeterminethenumberof
bordertiles.

PartV:Showhowtofindthelengthofthegardenif152
PartVI:Cantherebeagardenthatusesexactly2012
bordertilesareused.
bordertiles?Whataboutexactly2013bordertiles?

Explainyourreasoning.

PartI:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenof
length10?(FYI:Thelengthofthefirstgardenis3.)

`
5

PartVII:Graphtheresults

border tiles

figure number

Comment [sjs7]: Afterthesepuzzlesareover,

spendthestartofthenextclassgoingoverthese
puzzles.Projectthesolutions,andaskpointed
questionstothetrickyparts.

Possibleoptionalextension:
Havestudentscomeupwithaproblemsimilarto
oneoftheseontheirown!

`
6

Section2:MathematicalTerminology
Eachofthepuzzleshadyougenerateasetofnumbersforthe1stfigure,2ndfigure,3rdfigure,4thfigure,etc.In
mathematics,wecallthisasequence.
Forexample,forPuzzle#1,yousawthepattern1,3,5,7,
Andwehavenotationforthis.Wellcallthissequence {Rn } (butwecouldjustaswellcallit {Badgern } or {Snaken } ).
Weusethesuperextrafancycurlybracketstoindicateitsasequence,andweusethesubscripttosaywhereinthe
sequenceweare.So:
Insteadofsaying

the5thnumberinthissequence R

wesay R5

th

Insteadofsaying

the27 numberinthissequence R wesay R27

Insteadofsaying

thenthnumberinthissequence R wesay Rn

Asyouveseen,thetermsinasequencecangrowbiggerorsmaller,andweshallseethattheycanbecrazyandget
biggerandsmallerandbiggerandsmaller!2

Althoughthereareanumberofdifferentkindsofsequences(asweshallsee),wewillreallyfocusontwoparticular
kinds.
InPuzzle#1andPuzzle#4,wesawthegraphslooklinearandtheequationforthenthtermwasalinearequation.You
cannowlaugh,becausewedontcallthesesequenceslinear.Wecallthemarithmetic.Thatsbecausearithmeticis
aboutaddingandsubtracting,andforeachterminthesequenceweareaddingandsubtractingafixedamount.The
hallmarkofanarithmeticsequenceisthatthereisacommondifferencebetweeneachterm(ifyousubtractanyterm
fromthepreviousterm,youalwaysgetthesamecommondifference).
InPuzzle#2,wesawthegraphslookexponentialandtheequationforthenthtermwasanexponentialequation.You
cannowlaughagain,becausewedontcallthesesequencesexponential.Wecallthemgeometric,whichhassomething
todowiththegeometricmean(ageometryconceptthatIamgoingtoignorehere).Thehallmarkofageometric
sequenceisthatthereisacommonratiobetweeneachterm(ifyoudivideanytermbythepreviousterm,youalways
getthesamecommonratio).

Somesequencesaretrickytofigureout.Heresafunone:

LookAndSay 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211,...

Canyoufigureout LookAndSay6 ?_____________________________________(solution:http://bit.ly/KBeiSd)

`
7

Section3:ArithmeticSequences

Comment [sjs8]: Differentgroupsof3tomix

thingsup.

1. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencegoesupby 3 ,come

upwithaformulaforthenthterm.(Checkyourformulaknowingthatthefourthtermis14.)

2. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencedecreasesby 3 ,
comeupwithaformulaforthenthterm.(Checkyourformulaknowingthatthefourthtermis4)

3. Ifthefirstterminanarithmeticsequenceis a1 andthecommondifferenceis d ,whatistheformulafor an ?

(Checkyourformulausingthesequencesintheprevioustwoquestionsitshouldbeaformulathatworks!)

4. Ifyouknowtheseventiethnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencedecreasesby
3 ,comeupwithaformulaforthenthterm.(Hint:yourworkforthepreviousproblemwillhelpyou!)

5. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andtheeleventhnumberis 71 ,comeupwitha

formulaforthenthterm.

6. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5.2 andtheeleventhnumberis 9.4 ,comeupwith

aformulaforthenthterm.

`
8

Section4:GeometricSequences
7. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis 5 andthecommonratiois 3 ,comeupwithaformula
forthenthterm.

8. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis5andthecommonratiois 1 / 3 ,comeupwithaformula
forthenthterm.

9. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis a1 andthecommonratiois r ,comeupwithaformula

forthenthterm.

10. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinageometricsequenceis 80 / 81 andthecommonratiois 2 / 3 ,comeupwitha

formulaforthenthterm.(Hint:yourworkforthepreviousproblemwillhelpyou!)

11. Ifyouknowthethirdnumberinageometricsequenceis 54 andthefifthnumberis 486 ,comeupwitha

formulaforthenthterm.

12. Ifyouknowthefourthnumberinageometricsequenceis 156.25 andtheninthnumberis 488281.25 ,come

upwithaformulaforthenthterm.

Comment [sjs9]: Gooverthesetogetherin

classStudentsproject36,912ondocument
camera

CreateFoldableforArithmeticvs.Geometric(two
tab)?(p.9inFoldablebook)maybeforhomework.
GiveFoldabletemplate.

`
9

Section5:TheForwardsProblem:GoFromFormulatoSequence

Example: {sn } {

(1)n 1
} ,so:
n

Comment [sjs10]: Individually.Couldbe

homework.

s1 s2
s3 s4
s5 s6
s7
1 1
1 1
1 1

2 3
4 5
6 7

Noticewhatishappeningtothissequenceaswegofurtherandfurtheralongalthoughthenumbershopaboveand
belowthexaxis,weseethatthetermsaregettingcloserandcloserto0.
Willanyofthedotseverlieonthexaxis?Howdoyouknow?Convinceme.

GeogebraInterlude
Tomakethisgraph,openGeogebra.Intheinputbaratthebottomtype:
Sequence[(n,(1)^(n+1)/n),n,0,16]
Whatthisdoesisitgraphsthepoints (n,

(1) n 1
) forn=0ton=16.Becarefulwiththeparenthesesandwatchoutfor
n

thatextranwhichIbolded.

Toresizeyourwindowsoyoucanseeeverything,clickonthe
buttonatthetop,andthenplaceyourarrowonthe
yaxis,clickandholddownthebuttonwhiledragthecursorupanddown.Thesamegoesforthexaxis.

`
10

Armedwithbasicgeogebraknowledge,answerthefollowingquestions:
Giventhefollowingsequences,writeoutthefirstseventermsandthengraphbothingeogebra.
1.(a) {an } {

n2 1
}
2n

(b) {bn } {

2n
}
n2

a1

a2

a3

a4

a5

a6

a7

b1

b2

b3

b4

b5

b6

b7

UseGeogebratographthefirst16valuesofthesesequences.
WhatIenteredinGeogebrafor {an } :

WhatIenteredinGeogebrafor {bn }

Sequence[]

Sequence[]

Changeyourwindowto[0,16]x[0,10]

Changeyourwindowto[0,16]x[0,250]

AroughsketchofwhatIsee:

AroughsketchofwhatIsee:

`
11

Section6:TheBackwardsProblem:GoFromSequencetoFormula
1. Giventhefirstfewtermsofasequence,canyoucomeupwithaformulathatdefinesit?Isthesequencearithmetic,
geometric,orneither.Brieflyexplainhowyoudecidedyourchoice.

WORKSPACE

(a) 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ... thus sn

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

(b) 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, ... thus sn

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

(c) 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, ... thus sn

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

1 1 1 1
,
, ... thus sn
(d) 1, , ,

3 9 27 81

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

Comment [sjs11]: Maybeachoicework

individuallyorworkinpartnersDependingon
theircomfortlevel.

`
12

(e) 1,

1
1 1
1
, ,
, , ... thus sn
3
9 27
81

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(f)

2 4 6 8 10
, , , ,
, ... thus sn
11 9 7 5 3

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(g) .2, .02, .002, .0002, .00002,... thus sn

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(h) (babychallenge)
1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720 ... thus sn

Hintsforthechallenges:
(h)http://bit.ly/Mcg3FT
interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(i)itsaquadratic

(j)itsacubic

(i) (challenge)

2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56 ... thus sn

(j) (uberchallenge)

(k)theansweris an

0, 1, 10, 33, 76, 145, 246, 385, 568, 801,

... thus sn

(k) (ultrachallenge)

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21... thus sn

(1 5) n (1 5) n
.Weird,huh.
2n 5

Iguessthatisntmuchofahintastheanswer.Butisntit
strangethateventhoughtheformulainvolves 5 ,you
alwaysgetanintegeroutput.

`
13

Section7:AnIntroductiontoArithmeticSeries

Aprelude(fromhttp://bit.ly/MC7YHk... therearemanyversionsofthisstory!)

About 100 years ago, a young boy (who grew up to be a great mathematician) by the name of Gauss (pronounced
"Gowss") was at school when the class got in trouble for being too loud and misbehaving. Their teacher, looking for
somethingtokeepthemquietforawhile,toldherstudentsthatshewantedthemto"addupallofthenumbersfrom1
to100andputtheansweronherdesk."Shefiguredthatwouldkeepthembusyforanhourorso.

About 30 seconds later, the 10yearold Gauss tossed his slate (small chalkboard) onto the teacher's desk with the
answer"5050"writtenonitandsaidtoherinasnottytone,"Thereitis."

Letuslookatthefollowingdiagram.Wecancomeupwithasequenceforthenumberofboxesineachfigure.

Thesequenceis1,3,6,10,15,21,
However,ifwewanttofindthenthterminthesequence,wehaveaproblem.Itturnsout(andwellshowthis)thatthe
formulais: sn

1 2 1
n(n 1)
n n orwrittenmoreelegantly, sn
.
2
2
2

WHATINTHEWHAT?Howintheworlddoesthatwork?
1. Compareeachfiguretothepreviousone.Describehowthenthfigureischangingbasedonthen1thfigure.

Ifwewantthenumberofsquaresinthenthfigure,wehavetoaddtogetherabunchofnumbers.

Comment [sjs12]: Thisshouldbeindividual

work(orhomework)becauseitissoselfguided

Forthefifthfigure,weadd s5 1 2 3 4 5
Fortheninthfigure,weadd s9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Forthenthfigure,weadd sn 1 2 3 ... (n 2) (n 1) n

`
14

2. Butifwewanttofindwhatthissumis,wearegoingtohavetoaddtogetheralotofnumbers.Whichis
annoying.Heresashortcut.Letscalculate s5 inaspecialway,thatmightseemconvoluted.Welladdthesum
toitself,butinaspecialway.

s5 1 2 3 4 5
s5 5 4 3 2 1

2s5 6 6 6 6 6
Nowweseethat 2 s5 6(5) 30 .Thus s5 15 .Whichweknow.

Checkyoself!Usingthismethod,find s10 .

Practiceonemoretime.BeGauss.Findthesumofthefirst100positiveintegers: s100 .

3. Nowtryitmoregenerallyfor sn 1 2 3 ... (n 2) (n 1) n

`
15

4. Doesthisworkforothersequences?
4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19...

Findthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

5. Whataboutwith:
2, 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, ...

Findthesumofthefirstsixnumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstsixnumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

6. Whataboutwith:
2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, ...

Findthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

Whenyouaretakingasumofanarithmeticsequence,wecallthat(naturally)anarithmeticseries.(Thesame
holdsforgeometricsequencesandgeometricseries.)

KeyMathematicalConclusion:Thistechniqueofaddingthesumtotheoriginalsum,butreversingtheorderof
theterms,worksfor__________________________seriesbecause___________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
Itwillnotworkfor___________________________seriesbecause___________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.

Comment [sjs13]: Askthisasaconcept

questiononassessment.WHYdoesntthisprocess
work(A:thenumbers,whenreversed,dontaddto
thesamenumber)

`
16

7. Generalizethingsnow!Tofindthesumofanarithmeticseries,youneedtoknowthefirstterm,thelastterm,
andthenumberoftermstotal.Writeanequation(usingonlythetermsfirsttermlasttermandnumberof
terms)whichgivesyouthesum.

Sum of an Arithmetic Series

8. Aproofwithoutwords.

Yeah,itmaybeaproofwithoutwords,butyouneedtowordstoexplainthatyouunderstandit.Explainhowthis
proofwithoutwordsisavisualillustrationoftheequationyoucameupwithinthepreviousproblem.

`
17

Section8:SigmaTerminologyandNotation
SowevetalkedaboutGaussaddingtheintegersfrom1to100together.Thereisamathematicalwaytosaythat.It
looksfancyandpossiblyscary,butitisnt!Promise.
100

1 2 3 ... 98 99 100 k
k 1

Comment [sjs14]: Thissectionisprettyself

guided.ThoughIthinkitwouldbegoodtohavekids
readthisaloudanddoaproblemortwotogetherin
classwouldmakesurethatthenotationitselfisnt
whatmakesthemshutdownandNOTdothe
problems

Caneasilygoovertheproblemsfromthissectionby
projectingthesolutionsDontneedtomakea
hugedealoutofthis.

Ifyoudontunderstandthis,letmeshowyouafewotherexamplesofourfancynotationinaction:
6

1 4 9 16 25 36

n 1

(2 p 5) 1 1 3 5 7 9
p2

2 3
k 5

n
n 1

1
1
1
1
2 2 2 2
3
3
3
3

1 1 1 1 1
1
... (weirdfact3)
1 4 9 16 25 36

Thevariableitselfisjustaplaceholderanyletterwilldo!Justmakesureyoupayattentiontothetopandbottom
numbers!
1. Representthefollowingsumsusingsigmanotation:

(a)(problem4fromtheprevioussection): 4 7 10 13 16

(b)(problem5fromtheprevioussection): 2 3 8 13 18

(c)(problem6fromtheprevioussection): 2 4 8 16 32

3
Okay,heresahugesurprise.Ifyouaddallthesetermsup,thesumwillgetcloserandcloseto / 6 .WHAAAAT?WHYISPI
INVOLVEDINTHISATALL?!Iknow,soverystrange.Isitrelatedtocircles?Calculuscanhelpyouunderstandthishere.Iknow,I
know,youllhavetowaitabit.Also,thisseriesistiedupwithsomethingcalledtheRiemannZetafunction.Youmightnothave
heardaboutit,butunderstandingthezerostothisfunctionwillliterallymakeyouamillionaire.Checkoutthemilliondollar
problems(includingtheRiemannHypothesis)here:http://bit.ly/LX4nHv

`
18


2. Expandthesigmanotationtoshowthesum(e.g. 2 0 2 4 ).Youdonotneedtoactuallyfindthesum.
Note:Theproblemswith i donotindicateimaginarynumbers!Wecanuseanyvariable.Sometimesweuse i .

(a)

5 3(i 1)
i 1

(b)

9 3

k 1

(c)

(10)

i1

(d)

Comment [sjs15]: Willhavetotalkaboutthe

issue,andalsothattheyhavetowriteenough
termssothatarandompersonwouldbeabletosee
thepattern(so2or3termsisnotenoughgood
ruleofhandistowrite4or5)

i2

i 2
i 3

(e)

n2

2
4

n
n 3

3. Nowweregoingtocyclebacktoarithmeticseriesandtheformulayouderivedinthelastsection.

Nowlookatthefollowingproblemsbelowandbeforeyoufindthesum,explain(inwords)howyouknowthese
areallarithmeticseries(asopposedtogeometric,orsomethingelse).Then,thistime,actuallyfindthesum!

Explanation:

Comment [sjs16]: Iwantthemtonotethat

theyarealllinearandthesloperepresents
howmuchtheyareeachgoingup

ButtheyinterceptDOESNOTrepresentthefirst
terminthesequenceusually.Theyhaveto
CALCULATEthefirstterm!!!Thisisimportantto
makesuretheyunderstand!Forwhentheyre
applyingtheirformula

`
19

10

(a)

2 3i
i 5

10

(b)

2 3(i 1)
i 5

15

(c)

5i 2
i 1

(d)

1 67i

i 6

100

(e)

1 67i

i 23

`
20

Section9:AnIntroductiontoFiniteGeometricSeries!

Comment [sjs17]: Thebeginningofthiscould

bedoneathome,butitwouldbefuntodoinclass
inpairsortrios!Goingover#8and#9togetherasa
class(aftertheyattempt)wouldbehelpfulfor
studentstoattacktherestathome.

Lotto!MoneyforLife!
Youaregoingtoseeifyouregoingtowinamilliondollars!Belowarethreescratchoffsbutsomeonehasalready
scratchedoffthefirsttwocircles.Ifthethreescratchoffsallshow$underthem,youwinamilliondollarsthatwillbe
paidtoyouin$50,000installmentsattheendofeachyearfor20years.Ifyouseeacherry,youwinapieceofcandy.If
youseeanythingelse,youwinnothing.

Comment [sjs18]: Obviouslyabitofapain,but

youhavetoremembertodrawinthecherriesand
otherrandomdoodlesandputthescratchoff
stickeroverit!

Someofyouwon,someofyoulost.Forus,here,now,inmathclass,letsassumeyouwon,andyouwanttomaximize
yourmoneyinsafeway,sowhenyoure36or37youhaveapileofmoneythatyouaresittingon.4Youhaveatonof
patience,soyouhavethismoneydirectdepositedinabankaccountwhichgivesyou2%interest,earnedatthe
beginningoftheyear.Letschecktoseehowmuchmoneyyourbankaccountwillshowattheendoftheeachyear.
1. Howmuchmoneydoyouhaveattheendofthefirstyear?

Answer:Youhave$50,000.Thisisbecauseyouhaventyetearnedinterestonthis(interestisearnedatthe
beginningofthefollowingyear.)

2. Howmuchmoneydoyouhaveattheendofthesecondyear?

3. Howmuchmoneydoyouhaveattheendofthethirdyear?

4. Howmuchmoneydoyouhaveattheendofthefourthyear?

5. Canyouwriteyouranswerto#4usingsummationnotation?

6. Canyouwritehowmuchmoneyyoullhaveattheendof20yearsusingsummationnotation?

Wearegoingtoignoretaxesfornow.However,theycouldbefactoredinwithalittleeffort.

`
21

7. Doyouseethateachterminthesumaboveformsageometricsequence?

Thefirsttermis_______________andthecommonratiois_______________.

Whatwehaveisageometricseries!Andwesawthatthetechniquetosumanarithmeticseriesdoesntworkfor
geometricseries.

Imgoingtoshowyouatechniquetoaddageometricseries!Letsconsiderafourtermserieswithfirsttermof
5andacommonratioof4.

s 5 5(4) 5(4)2 5(4)3

Letsmultiply s bythecommonratiotoget 4 s .

4s 5(4) 5(4)2 5(4)3 5(4)4

Andnowletssubtractthetwoequations!

4s

5(4) 5(4)2 5(4)3 5(4) 4

s 5 5(4) 5(4) 2 5(4)3

Comment [sjs19]: Atsomepoint,besureto

talkabouttheimportanceofwritingthese
equationssotheliketermsmatchupIts
importanttolinethingsups!!!

3s 5(4) 5
4

Thuswehave s

5(4)4 5
425
3

Willthistechniquealwayswork?Letsgobacktothelotteryproblem!Trythistechniqueoutbycalculatinghow
muchmoneyyoullhaveattheendofthefourthyear!Seeifthealgebraworksout.Andthencompareyour
answertoyoursumonthepreviouspage.

`
22

8. Usethistechniquetocalculatehowmuchmoneyyoullhaveattheendofthetwentiethyear!Becauseof
interest,itshouldbemorethanamilliondollars.Howmuchmoremoneythanamilliondollarshaveyoumade?

Practice!
9. Addthefirstseventermsoftheseriesinthismanner s 5

5 5 5 5 5
5

2 4 8 16 32 64

10. Ifyouwroteouttenterms,whatwouldbethetenthterminthissum?Whataboutthefifteenthterm?What
aboutthefiftiethterm?Whataboutthenthterm?

11. Usingthisnewtechnique,exactlyfindthesumofthefirstfifteenterms.

`
23

12. (a)Usingthisnewtechnique,exactlyfindthesumofthefirstnterms.

(b)Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

13. (a)Iftheserieswerealtered,sothatitis: s

1 1 1 1
... ,exactlyfindthesumofthefirstnterms.
3 9 27 81

Comment [sjs20]: Ashortdiscussionneedsto

happenonthe5/2^(n+1)terminthesumand
howthatgetscloserandclosertozerosoeach
subsequenttermbeingadded,youresubtractinga
smallerandsmalleramountsothesumisgetting
bigger,butveryslowly.

(b)Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

14. (a)Iftheserieswerealtered,sothatitis: s

23 23 23 23
... ,exactlyfindthesumofthefirstnterms.
3 9 27 81

(b)Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

`
24

15. Iftheserieswerealtered,sothatitis: s

3 3 3
6
12

...
4 10 25 125 625

(a)Explainhowyouknowthisseriesisageometricseries.

(b)Exactlyfindthesumofthefirsteightterms.Writethesigmanotationforthesumofthefirst8terms.

(c)Whatisthenthterminthisseries?

(d) Exactlyfindthesumofthefirstnterms.Writethesigmanotationforthesumofthefirstnterms.

(e) Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

16. Iftheserieswerealtered,sothatitis: s 1 2 4 8 (itisfiniteanddoesntgoonforever!),usethis

techniquetofindthesumofthesefourterms.Thencheckyouranswerbyaddingthesefourtermstogether.

`
25

17. Doesinfinityequal1?

Usingyourbrain,whatisthesumofthisinfinitegeometricseries: s 1 2 4 8 16 ...

Nowletsusethetechniqueweveperfectedabove.

s 1 2 4 8 16 ...

2s
2 4 8 16 ...
s 1
(Noticethe2s,4s,8s,16s,andallothertermssubtracttobe0.)
Thuswecanseethat s 1 .

Explainthediscrepancybetweenyourbrainanswerandourproceduralanswer.Whichdoyoubelieveisthe
correctsum?

Comment [sjs21]: Clearlythisdoesntwork.Let

themdiscussandconjecture,butyoudontneedto
cometoanysolidconclusions.Itsjustthatinfinityis
WEIRDandsoyouhavetobecarefulwhenusingit.

Alsoalludetothisideaofaddinginfinitetermsisthe
basistocalculusandweneedcalculustohelpus
dealwiththeseinfinitiesandtheseweirdnesses

18. Iftheserieswerealtered,sothatitis: s a ar ar ar ar ... ,wearedesignatingthefirsttermas a

andthecommonratioas r .

(a)Explainhowyouknowthisseriesisageometricseries.

(b)Exactlyfindthesumofthefirsteightterms.Writethesigmanotationforthesumofthefirst8terms.

(c)Whatisthenthterminthisseries?

`
26

(d) Exactlyfindthesumofthefirstnterms.Writethesigmanotationforthesumofthefirstnterms.

(e) Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

KeyMathematicalConclusion:Thistechniqueispowerfulandcanbeusedtofindthesumofthefirstntermsof
________________sequences.Thereasonthistechniqueworksisbecause_____________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
ConceptualQuestion:Explainthedifferencebetweenasequenceandaseries.

`
27

Section10:InfiniteGeometricSeries!

Comment [sjs22]: Thissectionshouldbedone

inpartnersof2.However,fortimingsake,youcould
givethesumsforhalfofthemsothepartnersonly
practiceon5seriesinsteadofspendingtimedoing
all10.

Infinity!
0. First,watchthis:http://bit.ly/NbitTN
1. Iamgivingyou8infinitegeometricseries.Addonlythefirst20termsusingthegeneralformulayoucameup
withintheprevioussection!Writeyouranswernexttotheseries

(a)

(f)

3 2

n 1

(g)

(c)

n 1 3

(d)

1.01

2
n 1

2
5

n 1 3

(i)

n 1

(h)

n 1

(e)

n1

n 1

n 1

n 1

n 1

(b)

4 10

(j)

1

2
n 1

2. Putan*nexttotheonesyouthinkwillgoofftoinfinityifyoukeeponaddingalltheremainingterms!

3. Explainwhy(g)shoulddefinitelyhavean*nexttoit.

4. Explainwhyyouchosetogiveornotgive(c)anasterisk.

5. Explainwhyyouchosetogiveornotgive(b)anasterisk.

6. Explainwhyyouchosetogiveornotgive(d)anasterisk.

7. Explainwhyyouchosetogiveornotgive(i)anasterisk.

Comment [sjs23]: Agroupdiscussionhasto

happenaftertheseconceptualquestions.The
absolutekeyconclusionthathastocomeoutofitis
thatifthecommonratiois>=1,theserieshasto
(logically)diverge!Done.Ifitis<1,itwillsettle
down/converge.

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28

8. Proofwithoutwords.
Yeah,itmaybeaproofwithoutwords,butyouneedtowordsto
explainthatyouunderstandit.Explainwhatthisproofwithout
wordsisavisualillustrationof.(Hint:Thelargesquareisa1by1
square.Thinkarea.)

9. Nowwearegoingtoconsidergeometricserieswithanegativecommonratio!Addthefirst20,21,22,and23
termsusingtheformulayoucameupwith!Usethesesums(wecallthempartialsums)toconjecturewhether
theinfiniteseriesisconvergentordivergent.Puta*nexttotheonesyouthinkaredivergent).

(i)

2
k 1

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

(k)

3 2

(l)

m 1

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

p 1

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

1
4

n 1 10

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

i1

(m)

(j)

Comment [sjs24]: Again,someofthesecould

begiventothestudentsifthereisalackoftime

Thekeyconclusionfromthisisthateventhougha
negativeratiocausesthingstofluxuate,thesame
logicholdsifthecommonratiois<=1,theseries
willdiverge.Andifitis>1,itwillconverge.

(n)

2
5

3
n1

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

`
29

(o)

1.01

(p)

k 1

5 3

n1

n 1

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

20terms:
21terms:
22terms:
23terms:

KeyMathematicalConclusion:Infinitegeometricserieswillshootouttoinfinityif___________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________.
Mathematicallywecallthissortofseriesdivergent.Howeverinfinitegeometricserieswillgetcloserandcloserand
closertoparticular(finite)numberif________________________________________________________________.
Wecallthissortofseriesconvergent.

Iftheseriesisconvergent,youcanfigureoutwhatthesumisapproaching!Inproblem18oftheprevioussection,
youdeterminedthatthesumofthefirstntermsofageometricseriesis:

Asnincreasestoinfinity,wecansaythatoneterminthatequationbecomesnegligible.Whattermisthat,and
why?

Asaresult,wecandeterminethatthesum,aswehavemoreandmoreterms,approaches:

Comment [sjs25]: Havethemreally

box/star/asterisksthisresult!!!

10. Decideifeachoftheseseriesareconvergentordivergent.Iftheyareconvergent,writedownwhatnumberthe
seriesconvergestonexttothesum.

(a)

2 (3)

(d)

convergent/divergent

convergent/divergent

1
3

n 1 2

(e)

5 2

convergent/divergent

n 1

convergent/divergent

100(1.72)
n1

convergent/divergent
(c)

n 1

n1

(b)

10 (1)

(f)

100(0.72)

convergent/divergent
n1

`
30

11. (a)Aconvergentgeometricserieshasaninitialtermof 3 andcommonratioof

1
.Whatisthesum?
6

(b)Aconvergentgeometricserieshasinitialterm

1
andsumsto 1.Whatisthecommonratio?
2

(c)Aconvergentgeometricserieshasinitialterm

3
9
andsumsto .Whatisthecommonratio?
4
8

(d)Aconvergentgeometricserieshasacommonratioof

1
andsumsto 5 .Whatistheinitialterm?
4

`
31

NOTFORSTUDENTS:
SomeIdeas/Problemsforthispacketcomefrom:
http://brainopennow.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/thegardenproblem/
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11690266/Activities%20%20Intro%20and%20Linear/ATVP_Gr612_Lesson1.pdf<useto
makeaposterproject!
http://untilnextstop.blogspot.com/2012/03/geometryvisualizationtasks.html
PossibleExtension/Projects/ProblemSettopics:
Havestudentsinvestigatenottriangularorsquarenumbers,butpentagonalnumbers
3Dmodelinsteadof2Dmodel(explorepyramidalnumbers?)
Introducestudentstorecursiveseries(Fibonacci?)
Fawnscirclething:http://fawnnguyen.com/2012/05/07/circlesgalore.aspx?ref=rss
Kochsnowflake!(Perimeterversusareainfiniteperimeter,finitearea!)
Comeupwithsequencesthatsatisfycertainproperties
1.Anequationforasequencewhichwillheadofftowards asyouwritemoreandmorenumbers.

{mn }

2.Anequationforasequencewhichwillhavetermsthatalternatebetweenpositiveandnegativenumbers

{an }

3.Anequationforasequencewhichwillapproachthenumber 0 asyouwritemoreandmorenumbers.

{tn }

4.Anequationforasequencewhichwillapproachthenumber 2 asyouwritemoreandmorenumbers.

{hn }

Divisionofsequencestoseewhattheirlimitisasn>infinity(e.g.

an 2n and bn n 2 ... Use your calculators and investigate what happens to the value of

an
as n gets very large. )
bn

Ifyoucomeupwithgoodsequences,canlatertiethistorationalfunctionsandasymptotes.
`
32

Zenosparadoxresearch(philosophy,history,math,weirdness,resolution)
Problemonarithmetic&geometricsequences.
http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/vmmhn/help_with_question_on_arithmetic_and_geometric/

`
33