Sequences and Series

Engr. Sarah Grace P. de Castro, ECE

Lead Faculty, COECS
Program Coordinator ECE/CpE Department
Board of Director, IECEP Laguna Chapter
Adviser- Mechatronics and Robotics Society of the Philippines LPU-L Student
Chapter
Definition
Sequence
- A function which has the positive numbers as its
domain and the values of the function are called
the terms of the sequence.
Infinite Sequence
-A function with domain that consists of the set
of counting numbers. The 𝑆1 is called the first
term of the sequence, 𝑆2 is the second term and
𝑆𝑛 the nth term of the sequence.
Definition
Finite Sequence
- The domain is the finite set
1,2,3, … , 𝑛 − 1, 𝑛 for some natural number
n.
Definition
Series
-The sum of the terms of a sequence
The indicated sum if the terms of a finite
sequence 𝑆1, 𝑆2 , 𝑆3 , … , 𝑆𝑛 is called finite
series and is denoted by

𝑆 = 𝑆1 + 𝑆2 + ⋯ + 𝑆𝑛
Example 1
Write the first 4 terms of the sequence defined by
𝑎𝑛 = 3𝑛 − 2

Solution: Replace n by 1,2,3, and 4. Then the first 4 terms are

𝑎1 = 3 1 − 2 = 1
𝑎2 = 3 2 − 2 = 4
𝑎3 = 3 3 − 2 = 7
𝑎4 = 3 4 − 2 = 10

Answer: 1,4,7,10 are the first 4 terms of the given sequence.

Example 2
Write the first 5 terms of the sequence defined by
𝑎𝑛 = −4𝑛 + 10

Solution: Replace n by 1,2,3,4 and 5. Then the first 5 terms are

𝑎1 = −4 1 + 10 = 6
𝑎1 = −4 2 + 10 = 2
𝑎1 = −4 3 + 10 = −2
𝑎1 = −4 4 + 10 = −6
𝑎1 = −4 5 + 10 = −10

Answer: 6,2,-2,-6 and -10 are the first 5 terms of the given
sequence.
Example 3
Find the general term for the sequence 2,7,12,…

Solution: Inspecting the terms of the sequence, note that

they increase by 5 with 2 as the first term, the general
term of the sequence is

𝑎𝑛 = 5𝑛 − 3
Checking:
𝑎1 = 5 1 − 3 = 2
𝑎1 = 5 2 − 3 = 7
𝑎1 = 5 3 − 3 = 12
Two Types of Sequence
I. Arithmetic Sequence
- There is a common difference between
successive terms. If any term is subtracted from
the next term, the result is always the same,
and this number is called common difference.
- In general arithmetic sequence whose first term
is 𝑎1 and whose common difference is 𝑑, the
𝑛𝑡ℎ term is therefore
𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑
Example 1
Find the 15th term of an arithmetic
sequence, if 𝑎1 = 5 and 𝑑 = 4.

Solution:
𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑
𝑎15 = 5 + (15 − 1)(4)

Answer: 𝑎15 = 61
Example 2
Find the number of terms in the arithmetic sequence,
1 5 8 29
, , ,…,
3 6 6 6

Solution: Find the common difference

5 1 3 1
𝑑= − = =
6 3 6 2

1 29
Applying the formula with a= and 𝑎𝑛 =
3 6

𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑
29 1 1
= + 𝑛−1
6 3 2
29 1 1 1
= + 𝑛−
6 3 2 2
n= 10
The Sum of n terms of an Arithmetic Sequence
𝑛
𝑆𝑛 = 𝑎1 + 𝑎𝑛
2

But 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑

Substituting,
𝑛
𝑆𝑛 = 2𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑
2
Example 1
Find the sum of 15 terms of the sequence 3,5,7,9,…
Solution: The common difference is 𝑑 = 2, with 𝑎1=3 and n = 15. Applying the
second formula
𝑛
𝑆𝑛 = 2𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑
2
15
𝑆15 = 2(3) + 15 − 1 2
2
15
= 6 + 28
2
𝑆15 = 255

Answer: The sum of 15 terms is 255.

Example 2
How many terms of the series
4+8+12+…
Must be taken in order that the sum will be 1860?

Solution: The common difference is 𝑑 = 4, with 𝑎1=4 and 𝑆𝑛 = 1860. Applying

the second formula
𝑛
𝑆𝑛 = 2𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑
2
𝑛
1860= 2(4) + 𝑛 − 1 4
2

Answer: The negative value is discarded. So, n=30 terms

Arithmetic Mean
- Terms between any two consecutive terms
of an arithmetic sequence.
Example 1
Insert 3 arithmetic means between 3 and 31
Solution: There will be 5 terms in the arithmetic
sequence after the three means are inserted.
By inspection, 𝑎1 = 3, 𝑎5 = 31 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛 = 5
We look for d from the equation,
𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 + 𝑛 − 1 𝑑
31 = 3 + 5 − 1 𝑑
𝑑=7

Answer: 10,17 and 24