Name:_______________________

Dateassigned:______________

Band:________

Precalculus|PackerCollegiateInstitute

Boxes,LotteryTickets,andInfiniteElephants,Ohmy!

Section1:Puzzles!

Puzzle#1

Howmanylittlesquaresareinthe42nd1figure?

Generalizetheresult:Howmanylittlesquaresareinthenthfigure?

Extendthegeneralization:Howmanylittlesquaresareinthezerothfigure?

Graphtheresult:
squares

figure number

http://ind.pn/NfegPy

`
1

Puzzle#2

PartI:Howmanysquaresareinthe42ndfigure?

Generalizetheresult:Howmanysquaresareinthenth
figure?

Graphtheresults:

PartII:Iftheshadedareaofthefirstfigureis81,whatis
theareaofthe42ndfigure?

Generalizetheresult:Whatistheareaofthenthfigure?

Graphtheresults:

squares

area

figure number

figure number

`
2

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:

figure number

small squares

figure number

`
3

Puzzle#4:Gardensareframedwithasinglerowofbordertilesasillustratedhere

Drawthe4thgarden:

PartII:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenof
length30?

PartIII:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenoflength1000?Showandexplainhowyougotyouranswer.

Nowthatyouvefoundtheansweroneway,comeupwithasecond(different)waytocountthebordertilesfora
gardenoflength1000.

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

PartVI:Cantherebeagardenthatuses2012tiles?What
PartV:Showhowtofindthelengthofthegardenif152
about2013tiles?Explainyourreasoning.
bordertilesareused.

PartI:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenof
length10?

`
4

PartVII:Graphtheresults

border tiles

figure number

`
5

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

Insteadofsaying

the27thnumberinthissequence R wesay R27

Insteadofsaying

thenthnumberinthissequence R

wesay R5
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,...

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6

Section3:ArithmeticSequences
1. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencegoesupby 3 ,come
upwithaformulaforthenthterm.

2. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencedecreasesby 3 ,
comeupwithaformulaforthenthterm.

3. Ifthefirstterminanarithmeticsequenceis a1 andthecommondifferenceis d ,whatistheformulafor an ?

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

5. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andtheeleventhnumberis 71 ,comeupwitha

6. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5.2 andtheeleventhnumberis 9.4 ,comeupwith

ExtraPractice
Arithmetic:Section12.2#3,5,7,10,15,17,19,21,23,25,27,29,31,33

`
7

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

8. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis5andthecommonratiois 1 / 3 ,comeupwitha
formulaforthenthterm.

9. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis a1 andthecommonratiois r ,comeupwithaformula

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

11. Ifyouknowthethirdnumberinageometricsequenceis 54 andthefifthnumberis 486 ,comeupwitha

12. Ifyouknowthefourthnumberinageometricsequenceis 156.25 andtheninthnumberis 488281.25 ,come

ExtraPractice:
Geometric:Section12.3#9,11,13,15,19,21,23,25,27,29,33,35,37
`
8

Section5:TheForwardsProblem:GoFromFormulatoSequence

Example: {sn } {

s1 s2
1

(1) n 1
} ,so:
n

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) n1
) forn=0ton=16.Becarefulwiththeparenthesesandwatchoutfor
n

thatextranwhichIbolded.

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

`
9

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:

`
10

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

WORK

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

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

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

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

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

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

1 1 1 1
,
, ... thus an
(d) 1, , ,

3 9 27 81

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither

Explanation:

`
11

(e) 1,

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

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(f)

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

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

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

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

(i) (challenge)
2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56 ... thus an

(j) (uberchallenge)

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

... thus an

(k) (ultrachallenge)

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

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

(i)itsaquadratic

(j)itsacubic

(k)theansweris an

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

Iguessthatisntmuchofahintastheanswer.Butisntit
strangethateventhoughtheformulainvolves 5 ,you
alwaysgetanintegeroutput.

`
12

Section7:AnIntroductiontoArithmeticSeries

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

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.

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

`
13

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

2 s5 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

`
14

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

Findthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

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

Findthesumofthefirstsixnumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstsixnumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

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

Findthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

KeyMathematicalConclusion:Thistechniqueofaddingthesumtotheoriginalsum,butreversingtheorderof
theterms,worksfor__________________________seriesbecause___________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
Itwillnotworkfor___________________________seriesbecause___________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
`
15

7. Generalizethingsnow!Tofindthesumofanarithmeticsequence,youneedtoknowthefirstterm,thelast
term,andthenumberoftermstotal.Writeanequation(usingonlythetermsfirsttermlasttermand
numberofterms)whichgivesyouthesum.

Sum of an Arithmetic Series

8. Aproofwithoutwords.

Yeah,itmaybeaproofwithoutwords,butyouneedtowordstoexplainthatyouunderstandit.Explainhowthis
proofwithoutwordsisavisualillustrationoftheequationyoucameupwithinthepreviousproblem.

`
16

Section8:SigmaTerminologyandNotation
Sowevetalkedaboutaddingtheintegersfrom1to100together.Thereisamathematicalwaytosaythat.Itlooksfancy
andpossiblyscary,butitisnt!Promise.
100

1 2 3 ... 98 99 100 i
i 1

Ifyoudontunderstandthis,letmeshowyouafewotherexamplesofourfancynotationinaction:
6

1 4 9 16 25 36

n 1

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

1
1
1
1
1
2 2 2 2 2

3
3
3
3
k 5 3
8

n
n 1

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

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
3

`
17


2. Expandthesigmanotationtoshowthesum.Youdonotneedtoactuallyfindthesum:

(a)

5 3(i 1)
i 1

2
(b) 9
k 1 3
5

(c)

(10)

i1

(d)

i2

i 2
i 3

(e)

n2

2
4

n
n 3

3. Nowweregoingtocyclebacktoarithmeticseries.First,lookatthefollowingproblemsbelowandbeforeyou
findthesum,explain(inwords)howyouknowthesearearithmeticseries(asopposedtogeometric,or
somethingelse).

Explanation:

10

(a)

2 3i
i 5

10

(b)

2 3(i 1)
i 5

15

(c)

5i 2
i 1

`
18

(d)

1 67i

i 6

100

(e)

1 67i

i 23

AdditionalProblems:
SigmaNotation:

`
19

Section9:AnIntroductiontoFiniteGeometricSeries!
Lotto!MoneyforLife!
Youaregoingtoseeifyouregoingtowinamilliondollars!Belowarethreescratchoffsbutsomeonehasalready
scratchedoffthefirsttwocircles.Ifthethreescratchoffsallshow$underthem,youwinamilliondollarsthatwillbe
paidtoyouin$50,000installmentsattheendofeachyearfor20years.Ifyouseeacherry,youwinapieceofcandy.If
youseeanythingelse,youwinnothing.

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.

`
20

7. Doyouseethateachterminthesumaboveformsageometricsequence?

Thefirsttermis_______________andthecommonratiois_______________.

Whatwehaveisageometricseries!Andwesawthatthetechniquetosumanarithmeticseriesdoesntworkfor
geometricseries.

Imgoingtoshowyouatechniquetoaddageometricseries!Letsconsiderafourtermserieswithfirsttermof
5andacommonratioof4.

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

Letsmultiply s bythecommonratiotoget 4s .

4 s 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

3s 5(4) 4 5

Thuswehave s

5(4) 4 5
425
3

Willthistechniquealwayswork?Tryitoutbycalculatinghowmuchmoneyyoullhaveattheendofthefourth
year!Seeifthealgebraworksout.Andthencompareyouranswertoyoursumonthepreviouspage.

`
21

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.

`
22

12. (a)Usingthisnewtechnique,exactlyfindthesumofthefirstnterms.

(b)Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

13. (a)Iftheserieswerealtered,sothatitis: s

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

(b)Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

14. (a)Iftheserieswerealtered,sothatitis: s

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

(b)Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

`
23

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

`
24

17. Doesinfinityequal1?

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

Nowletsusethetechniqueweveperfectedabove.

s 1 2 4 8 16 ...

2 s 2 4 8 16 32 ...
s 1

Thuswecanseethat s 1 .

Explanationthediscrepancybetweenyourbrainanswerandourproceduralanswer.Whichisthecorrectsum?

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

(a)Explainhowyouknowthisseriesisageometricseries.

(b)Exactlyfindthesumofthefirsteightterms.Writethesigmanotationforthesumofthefirst8terms.

(c)Whatisthenthterminthisseries?

`
25

(d) Exactlyfindthesumofthefirstnterms.Writethesigmanotationforthesumofthefirstnterms.

(e) Asngetsbiggerandbigger,whathappenstothesum?

KeyMathematicalConclusion:Thistechniqueispowerfulandcanbeusedtofindthesumofthefirstntermsof
________________sequences.Thereasonthistechniqueworksisbecause_____________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

`
26

Section10:InfiniteGeometricSeries!
Infinity!
0. First,watchthis:http://bit.ly/NbitTN
1. Iamgivingyou8infinitegeometricseries.Addthefirst20termsusingtheformulayoucameupwith!Write
youranswernexttotheseries

1
(a)
n 1 2

1
(b) 3
n 1 2

(c)

1
(e) 4
n 1 10

1.01
n 1

(f)

n1

(g)

n1

(d)

n 1

n 1

n 1

2
5

n 1 3

2
(h) 5
n 1 3

2. Putan*nexttotheonesyouthinkwillgoofftoinfinityifyoukeeponaddingalltheremainingterms!

3. Explainwhy(f)shoulddefinitelyhavean*nexttoit.

4. Explainwhyyouchosetogiveornotgive(c)anasterisk.

5. Explainwhyyouchosetogiveornotgive(b)anasterisk.

6. Explainwhyyouchosetogiveornotgive(d)anasterisk.

`
27

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

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

(i)

2
k 1

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

m 1

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

(l)

p 1

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

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

1
(k) 3
2
i1

1
4

n 1 10

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

(m)

(j)

(n)

2
5

3
n1

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

`
28

(o)

1.01

(p)

k 1

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

2
5

3
n 1

n1

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:

Decideifeachoftheseseriesareconvergentordivergent.Iftheyareconvergent,writedownwhatnumberthe
seriesconvergestonexttothesum.

(a)

n1

convergent/divergent

(b)

2 (3)

(d)

n 1

convergent/divergent

1
3

n 1 2

(e)

convergent/divergent

convergent/divergent

3
(c) 5
2
n 1

100(1.72)
n1

convergent/divergent

10 (1)

(f)

100(0.72)

convergent/divergent
n1

`
29