CHAPTER 3

SEQUENCES AND
SERIES

Ms. Sun
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SECTIONS
3A Introduction to sequences
3B Arithmetic sequences
3C Arithmetic series
3D Geometric sequences
3E Geometric series
3F Applications of geometric sequences
3G Recurrence relations of the form

3H Zeno’s paradox and infinite geometric

series
Learning Goals
• To explore sequences of numbers and their recurrence relations.
• To recognise arithmetic sequences, and to find their terms, recurrence
relations and numbers of terms.
• To calculate the sum of the terms in an arithmetic series.
• To recognise geometric sequences, and to find their terms, recurrence
relations and numbers of terms.
• To calculate the sum of the terms in a geometric series.
• To work with sequences defined by a recurrence relation of the form ,
where r and d are constants.
• To calculate the sum of the terms in an infinite geometric series.
• To apply sequences and series to solving problems.
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 3A
INTRODUCTION TO
SEQUENCES
Recurrence relations
• A sequence may be defined by a rule which enables each subsequent term to be
found from the previous term. This type of rule is called a recurrence relation, a
recursive formula or an iterative rule. A list of the members of the set or a statement
are used to describe them.
E.g.,

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Example 1
Use the recurrence relation to find the first four terms of the sequence

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Example 2
Find the recurrence relation for the following sequence:

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Example 3
Find the first four terms of the sequence defined by the rule

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Example 4
Find a rule for the nth term of the sequence 1, 4, 9, 16 in terms of n.

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Example 5
At a particular school, the number of students studying Specialist Mathematics increases each year. There
are presently 40 students studying Specialist Mathematics.
a) Set up the recurrence relation if the number is increasing by five students each year.
b) Write down an expression for in terms of n for the recurrence relation found in a).
c) Find the number of students expected to be studying Specialist Mathematics at the school in five years’
time.

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Example 6
The height of a sand dune is increasing by 10% each year. It is currently 4 m high.
a) Set up the recurrence relation that describes the height of the sand dune.
b) Write down an expression for in terms of n for the recurrence relation found in a).
c) Find the height of the sand dune seven years from now.

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Example 7
Use a calculator to generate the first 10 terms of the sequence of numbers defined by the rule .

Example 8
Use a calculator to generate the sequence defined by the recurrence relation

and plot the graph of the sequence against n.

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9/3/20XX PRESENTATION TITLE 13
 3B
ARITHMETIC
SEQUENCES
Arithmetic sequences
• A sequence in which each successive term is found by adding a fixed amount to the
previous term is called an arithmetic sequence.
• An arithmetic sequence has a recurrence relation of the form where d is a constant.
• E.g. 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, … is an arithmetic sequence.

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Example 9
Find the 10th term of the arithmetic sequence 4, 1, 2, 5, ....

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Example 10
If 41 is the nth term in the arithmetic sequence 4, 1, 2, 5, ..., find the value of n.

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Example 11
The 12th term of an arithmetic sequence is 9 and the 25th term is 100. Find and , and hence find the 8th
term.

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Example 12
A national park has a series of huts located at regular intervals along one of its mountain trails. The first
hut is 5 km from the start of the trail, the second is 8 km from the start, the third 11 km and so on.
a) How far from the start of the trail is the sixth hut?
b) How far is it from the sixth hut to the twelfth hut?

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Arithmetic mean
• The arithmetic mean of two numbers and is defined as

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 3C
ARITHMETIC
SERIES
Arithmetic series
• The sum of the terms in a sequence is called a series. If
the sequence is arithmetic, then the series is called an
arithmetic series.

• Since the last term , we can also write

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Example 13
For the arithmetic sequence 2, 5, 8, 11, …, calculate the sum of the first 14 terms.

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Example 14
For the arithmetic sequence 27, 23, 19, 15, …, 33, find:
a) the number of terms b) the sum of the terms.

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Example 15
For the arithmetic sequence 3, 6, 9, 12, : : :.. , calculate:
a) the sum of the first 25 terms b) the number of terms in the series if .

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Example 16
A hardware store sells nails in a range of packet sizes. Packet A contains 50 nails, packet B contains 75
nails, packet C contains 100 nails, and so on.
a) Find the number of nails in packet J.
b) Lachlan buys one each of packets A to J. How many nails in total does Lachlan have?
c) Assuming he buys one of each packet starting at A, how many packets does he need to buy to have a
total of 1100 nails?

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Example 17
The sum of the first 10 terms of an arithmetic sequence is . If the fourth term is , find the first term and
the common difference.

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 3D
GEOMETRIC
SEQUENCES
Geometric sequences
• A sequence in which each successive term is found by
multiplying the previous term by a fixed amount is called a
geometric sequence.
• A geometric sequence has a recurrence relation of the form
, where r is a constant.
• E.g., 2, 6, 18, 54, …, is a geometric sequence.

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Example 18
Find the 10th term of the geometric sequence 2, 6, 18, ….

Example 19
For a geometric sequence, the first term is 18 and the fourth term is 144. Find the common ratio.

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Example 20
For a geometric sequence 36, 18, 9, …, the nth term is . Find the value of n.

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Example 21
The third term of a geometric sequence is 10 and the sixth term is 80. Find the common ratio and the first
term.

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Example 22
Georgina draws a pattern consisting of a number of equilateral triangles. The first triangle has sides of
length 4 cm and the side length of each successive triangle is one and a half times the side length of the
previous one.
a) What is the side length of the fifth triangle?
b) Which triangle has a side length of cm?

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Geometric mean
• The geometric mean of two positive numbers and is defined as
.
• If positive numbers are consecutive terms of a geometric
sequence, then

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 3E
GEOMETRIC
SERIES
Geometric series
• The sum of the terms in a geometric sequence is called a
geometric series.

• For values of r such that , it is often more convenient to use the

equivalent formula

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Example 23
Find the sum of the first nine terms of the sequence , ….

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Example 24
For the geometric sequence 1, 3, 9, …, find how many terms must be added
together to obtain a sum of 1093.

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Example 25
In the 15-day Tour de Moravia, the cyclists must ride 120 km on the first day, and
each successive day they ride 90% of the distance of the previous day.
a) How far do they ride in total to the nearest kilometre?
b) After how many days will they have ridden half that distance?

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 3F
APPLICATIONS OF
GEOMETRIC
SEQUENCES
Compound interest
• One application of geometric sequences is compound interest.
• Compound interest is interest calculated at regular intervals on
the total of the amount originally invested and the amount
accumulated in the previous years.

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Example 26
Marta invests $2500 at 7% p.a. compounded annually.
a) Find the value of her investment after 5 years.
b) Find how long it takes until her investment is worth $10 000.

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Depreciation
• Depreciation occurs when the value of an asset reduces as time
passes.

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Example 27
A machine bought for $15 000 depreciates at the rate of per annum.
a) What will be the value of the machine after 9 years?
b) After how many years will its value drop below 10% of its original cost?

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Example 28
Sophie plans to retire in 15 years. She decides to deposit $6000 into a bank
account at the start of each year until her retirement. The interest rate is 6% p.a.
compounded annually. What will be the account balance when Sophie retires at
the end of the 15th year?

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Example 29
Luke borrows $50 000 and undertakes to repay $6000 at the end of each year.
Interest of 10% p.a. is charged on the unpaid debt.
a) How much does he owe after the 8th repayment?
b) How long does it take to pay off the loan?

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 3G
RECURRENCE
RELATIONS OF THE
FORM
Recurrence relations of the form

• Sequences defined by a recurrence relation of the form

where r and d are constants.

• The case where corresponds to an arithmetic sequence.
• The case where corresponds to a geometric sequence.

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Example 30
Find the first four terms of the sequence defined by the recurrence relation

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Example 31
The sequence 5, 13, 37, ... is generated by a recurrence relation of the form

Find the values of r and d.

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Finding the nth term of the sequence
• For a sequence defined by a recurrence relation of the form
, where , the nth term is given by

where is the first term.

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Example 32
Find a formula for the nth term of the sequence defined by the recurrence
relation

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Example 33
Consider the sequence defined by the recurrence relation

a) Find a formula for the nth term of the sequence.

b) Determine the first four terms of the sequence.
c) Describe what happens to for large values of n.

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Example 34
The sequence 5, 16, 38, … is defined by a recurrence relation . Determine a
formula for the nth term of this sequence by recognising that it can be written in
the form , for constants and .

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Example 35
At the start of the year, a lake in a national park is estimated to contain 10 000
trout. Experience with this lake shows that, if left to natural factors, the trout
numbers in the lake will increase on average by 20% per year. On this basis, the
park authorities give permission for 1800 trout to be taken from the lake each
year by anglers.
a) Write down a recurrence relation that can be used to model the number of
trout in the lake at the start of each year. (Apply the percentage increase before
the fixed decrease.)
b) Using this model, how many trout will the lake contain after 10 years?
c) When will the population of trout in the lake exceed 20 000?

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Example 35 (cont.)
d) Suppose instead that the park authorities allow 2200 trout to be fished from
the lake
each year.
i Write down a recurrence relation that can be used to model the number of
trout in
the lake at the start of each year.
ii Give an expression for the number of trout in the lake at the start of the nth
year.
iii When will trout disappear from the lake?
e) Suppose instead that the park authorities allow 2000 trout to be fished from
the lake
each year. Describe what will happen.

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 3H
ZENO’S PARADOX
AND INFINITE
GEOMETRIC SERIES
Infinite geometric series
• If a geometric sequence has a common ratio with magnitude
less than 1, that is, if , then each successive term is closer to
zero.
• E.g.,
• An infinite series is said to be convergent if the sum of the first n
terms, , approaches a limiting value as . This limit is called the
sum to infinity of the series.

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Example 36
Find the sum to infinity of the series

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Example 37
A square has a side length of 40 cm. A copy of the square is made so that the
area of the copy is 80% of the original. The process is repeated so that each time
the area of the new square is 80% of the previous one. If this process is repeated
indefinitely, find the total area of all the squares.

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Example 38
Express the recurring decimal as the ratio of two integers.

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“THE JOURNEY
OF A
THOUSAND
MILES BEGINS
WITH ONE
STEP.”
Lao Tzu

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