Sigma Notation: Maths 23 | Note | Course :12th |
pages:03 | Number Pattern
F Sigma Notation
F
H
• ∑ →This symbol is the Greek capital letter for S. It represents the sum of a
number of terms in a sequence. The above example reads as follows: Sigma
Tn, starting at n = 1, and ending with k = what?
(the sum of a number of terms of a general term)
There are certain sigma series that have a particular answer:
• ∑G H 1 = in other words → 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 and so on…. This is simply
counting and so will equal the number of terms in the sequence.
G GK
• ∑G H = in other words 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 and so on… if you use the
formula you should find the sum.
For example if you have: ∑ H then you are saying
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15. Simple if you have only 5 terms.
But when you have: ∑ 88 H then it becomes much more difficult and
G GK
you need to use the formula →
88 88K
∴
(which you can put straight into ∴ 5050
your EL-W535HT.)
Example 1: ∑7 H −1
This example is asking that you calculate the sum
where 1 is the first value to be substituted and 8 is
the last value to be substituted. So in all, 8 terms
will be added to get the answer.
Solution: ∑7 H −1
= 1(0) + 2(1) + 3(2) + 4(3) + 5(4) + 6(5) + 7(6) + 8(7)
= 0 + 2 + 6 + 12 + 20 + 30 + 42 + 56
= 168
Example 2: ∑ H 8 In this example, no general term is given, so that
means that each term in the sequence will be the
number 8. There will be 9 terms of 8 added together
as the starting value is 4 and the ending value is 12
When you want to work out how many terms there are in ∑G HN
→k–n+1
Solution: ∑ H 8
=8+8+8+8+8+8+8+8+8
= 72
OR = 8 × 9 = 72
Example 3: In this example, a series is given, which needs to be
converted back to sigma notation.
3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15 +18 +21
Convert it to sigma notation
Solution: Try to find the arithmetic or geometric rule for the
sequence.
3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15 +18 +21
∴ = 3; & = 3
∴ =3 −1 3
=3 3 −3
∴ =3
the last term position in the sequence
3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15 +18 +21 = ∑ H 3'
The equation or formula
What term are you starting at?
Example 4:
5 + 9 + 13 + 17….to k terms) is equal to 324. Find k.
Solution:
a = 5, d = 4 ? = @2 − 1 &A
G
∴ 324 = @2 5 L − 1 4A
∴ 648 = L@10 4L − 4A
∴ 0 = 10L 4L − 4L − 648
∴ 0 = 4L 6L − 648
∴ 0 = 2L 3L − 324
∴ 0 = L − 12 2L 27
'
∴ L = 12 92 L ≠ −
as n ≠ a fraction or a negative number.
Example 5: ∑ H
8
2 1 If the number of terms given is too large to
calculate the sum of, as in the above
examples, the formula for arithmetic series or
geometric series can be used. First you would
need to decide whether the sequence has a
common difference or ratio.
Answer:
3 + 5 + 7 + ……. + 301. a = 3, d = 2, therefore this an
arithmetic sequence. The last term given is 301.
∴ ? = @2 − 1 &A OR ? = B
8 8
∴ ? 8 = @2 3 150 − 1 2 A ∴? 8 = 3 301
= 75@6 298A = 22 800
= 75 (304)
= 22 800
The general term for a geometric sequence is = 2 , and
: ;/
the equation for the sum of a geometric series is ? = ,
;
r 1. In sigma notation this would read as ? = ∑G H 2 .
Example 6:
Given:
88
1
? 88 = F 2
2
H
Find the sum of the first 100 terms of the geometric sequence.
Therefore:
= 2 8= ; = 2 = 1; = 2 = 2; ∴2=2
: ;/
∴ ? =
; To put this into your SHARP EL-W535HT press:
1 1OO
∴ ? 88 = 3
∴ ? 88 = 6.338 × 10 (
