AQA Core 2 Sequences and series

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Section 2: Arithmetic sequence and series

Notes and Examples

These notes contain subsections on
- Terms of an arithmetic sequence
- The sum of an arithmetic series
- Sigma notation


Terms of an arithmetic sequence

In an arithmetic sequence, the terms increase (or decrease) by the same
amount each time. An arithmetic sequence is sometimes called an arithmetic
progression, or A.P.

The first term of an arithmetic sequence is usually denoted as a, and the
difference between terms (the common difference) is usually denoted as d.

The nth term of an arithmetic sequence is given by
( 1) = +
n
u a n d

This formula can be found in your formula book.

The formula is really just common sense: to find the second term of an
arithmetic sequence, you start from a and add d; to find the third term, you
start from a and add d twice; to find the fourth term, you start from a and add d
three times. This is easily generalised to find the nth term, you start from a
and add d n 1 times.


Example 1
An arithmetic sequence which has 16 terms starts 2, 5, 8
Find the last term.

Solution
The first term, a, is 2 and the common difference, d, is 3.
Use the formula ( 1)
k
a a k d = +
To find the 16
th
term, substitute k = 16, a = 2 and d = 3
16
th
term = 2 + (16 1)3
= 2 + 153
= 47


To see further examples, use the Flash resource nth terms of an AP.

For practice in finding a particular term of an arithmetic sequence, try the
interactive questions Finding terms in arithmetic series.


AQA C2 Sequences 2 Notes and Examples


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Example 2
The 5
th
term of an arithmetic sequence is 24 and the 9
th
term is 4.
(i) Find the first term and the common difference.
(ii) The last term of the sequence is 36. How many terms are in the sequence?

Solution
(i) Using the formula ( 1)
k
a a k d = +
For the 5
th
term: 24 = a + (5 1)d
24 = a + 4d
For the 9
th
term: 4 = a + (9 1)d
4 = a + 8d

24 = a + 4d
4 = a + 8d
Subtracting: 20 = -4d
d = -5
Substituting d = -5 into either equation gives a = 44.

(ii) Substituting a = 44 and d = -5 into the formula ( 1)
k
a a k d = + :
For the last term: -36 = 44 + (k 1)-5
-80 = -5(k 1)
16 = k 1
k = 17
There are 17 terms.


The sum of an arithmetic series

A series is formed by adding together the terms in a sequence.

The formula for
n
S , the sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic series with
first term a and common difference d is

1
2
[2 ( 1) ]
n
S n a n d = +

This formula can also be written as

1
2
[ ] = +
n
S n a l
where l is the last term in the series.

Both versions of this formula can be found in your formula book.

In the special case in which a = 1 and d = 1, this gives a formula for the sum of
the first n natural numbers:

1
2
( 1) = +
n
S n n
This formula is also given in your formula book, under Summations.


To solve a problem, all you need to do is to substitute the information given in
the question into the appropriate formula, and solve the resulting equation.
As the 9
th
term is smaller than
the 5
th
term, you would expect
the common difference to be
negative.
AQA C2 Sequences 2 Notes and Examples


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Sometimes this may involve solving a quadratic equation or simultaneous
equations.

The Arithmetic series spreadsheet shows you graphs of the terms of
arithmetic series and the sum of n terms. Try varying the values of a and d,
looking in particular at what happens when d is negative.


Example 3
An arithmetic series which has 16 terms starts 2 + 5 + 8
Find the sum of the terms of the sequence.

Solution
a = 2, d = 3
Use the formula
1
2
[2 ( 1) ]
n
S n a n d = + .
Sum
1
2
16[2 2 (16 1) 3]
8[4 15 3]
8 49
392
= +
= +
=
=



To see further examples, use the Flash resource Sum of an AP.

For practice in finding the sum of an arithmetic series, as in Example 1(ii), try
the interactive questions Finding the sum of an arithmetic series.


Example 4
An arithmetic series has first term 3 and the sum of the first 20 terms is 288.
Find the common difference.

Solution
a = 3, n = 20, S
20
= 288
( )
( )
| |
1
2
1
2
2 1
288 20 2 3 19
10 6 19
60 190
190 228
1.2
n
S n a n d
d
d
d
d
d
= + (

= + (

= +
= +
=
=



For practice in questions like the one above, try the interactive questions
Finding the common difference in an A.P.


Example 5
Substituting n = 20, a = 3,
and S
n
= 288
AQA C2 Sequences 2 Notes and Examples


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An arithmetic series has common difference -0.5 and the sum of the first 25 terms is
350. Find the first term.

Solution
( )
( )
| |
1
2
1
2
1
2
2 1
350 25 2 24 0.5
25 2 12
2 12 28
2 40
20
n
S n a n d
a
a
a
a
a
= + (

= + (

=
=
=
=



For practice in questions like the one above, try the interactive questions
Finding the first term of an A.P.


In the next example, you are given the sum of n terms and you need to find
the value of n. You need to solve a quadratic equation to find n.


Example 6
The sum of the terms of an arithmetic sequence with first term 5 and common
difference 6 is 616. How many terms are there in the sequence?

Solution
Substituting a = 5 and d = 6 into the formula
1
2
[2 ( 1) ]
n
S n a n d = + gives

1
2
1
2
1
2
2
2
616 [2 5 ( 1) 6]
616 (10 6 6)
616 (4 6 )
616 2 3
3 2 616 0
(3 44)( 14) 0
= +
= +
= +
= +
+ =
+ =
n n
n n
n n
n n
n n
n n


Since n must be positive, n = 14
The sequence has 14 terms.


For practice in questions like the one above, try the interactive questions
Finding the number of terms in an A.P.


Sigma notation

You need to be familiar with the E notation for a series (E is pronounced
sigma and is the Greek capital S):
Substituting n = 25, d = -0.5,
and S
n
= 350
AQA C2 Sequences 2 Notes and Examples


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10
1
k
a

means the series a

1
+ a
2
+ a
3
+ + a
10
.

You can also look at further examples using the sigma notation using the
Flash resources Sigma notation (1) and Sigma notation (2).