Recurcive formula – general formula

1. Write down the next three terms in each sequence.

a. 3,7,11,15,... b. 1, 2, 4,8,... c. 3,4,6,9,13,... d. 5, 10, 20, 40,...
1 3 5 7
e. , , , ,... f. 6.0 , 6.01 , 6.012 , 6.0123 ,...
2 5 8 11

2. Write down the first four terms in each sequence.

a. u1  10 and u n 1  3u n b. u1  3 and u n 1  2u n  1

3 2
c. u1  and u n 1  u n d. u1  x and u n 1   u n 
2

4 3

3. Write a recursive formula for each sequence.

a. 2, 4, 6,8,... b. 1,3,9, 27,... c. 64,32,16,8,... d. 7,12,17, 22,...

4. Write down the first four terms for each sequence.

a. u n  3n b. u n  6n  3 c. u n  2n 1 d. u n  n n

5. Write a general formula for the nth term of each sequence

a. 2, 4, 6,8,... b. 1,3,8, 27,... c. 64,32,16,8,... d. 7,12,17, 22,...
1 2 3 4
e. , , , ,... f. x,2x,3x,4x,...
2 3 4 5

6. The sequence 1,1, 2,3,5,8,13,... is known as Fibonacci sequence

a. Find the 15th term
b. Write a recursive formula for the Fibonacci sequence .

Arithmetic sequences
7. For each sequence :
i. Find the 15th term
ii. Find an expression for the nth term
1. 3,6,9,... b. 25 , 40 ,55,... c. 36 ,41 , 46,... d . 100, 87 , 74,...
e. 5.6 , 6.2 , 6.8 ,... f . x , x+α , x+2α ,....
8. Find the number of terms in each sequence.
1. 5,10,15,..., 255 b. 4.8 , 5.0 , 5.2 , ... , 38.4
1 7 5
c. , , ,...,14 d. 250 , 221 , 192 ,...,-156
2 8 4
e. 2m,5m,8m,...,80m f. x , 3x  3 , 5x  6 , ... , 19x  27

9. In arithmetic sequence has first term 19 and 15th term 31.6 . Find the common
difference.

10. In an arithmetic sequence , u10  37 and u 21  4 .

Find the common difference and the first term.

11. Find the value of x in the arithmetic sequence 3, x , 8

12. Find the value of m in the arithmetic sequence m , 13 , 3m-6

13. For each arithmetic sequence find:

1. the 8th term
2. an explicit formula for the nth term
3. a recursive formula for the nth term .
3 1 7
i) 29 , 25 , 21 , 17 ,... ii) -6 , 3 , 12 , 21 , ... iii) 2, , - , - ,...
4 2 4
14. Find five arithmetic means between 13 and -23

Geometric sequences
15. For each sequence , find the common ratio and the 7th term.
a. 16 , 8 , 4 ,,, b. -4 , 12 , -36 , ... c. 1 , 10 , 100 ,...
4. 25 , 10 , 4 , ... e. 2, 6x , 6x 2 f. α7 b , α6 b2 , α5b3 ,...

16. A geometric sequence has 2th term 50 and 5th term 3.2 . Find the first term
and the common ratio.
17. A geometric sequence has 3th term -18 and 6th term 144. Find the first term
and the common ratio

18. For each geometric sequence find the least value of n such that the nth term
is greater than 1000
a 16 , 24 , 36 ,... b 1 , 2.4 , 5.76, ... c 112 , -168 , 252 ,...
d 50 , 55 , 60.5 ,...

19. A geometric sequence has first term 9 and third term 144 . Show that there
are two possible values for the common ratio, and find the two possible
values for the second term .

20. Find the value of p in the geometric sequence 18 , p , 40.5 ,...

21. Find the positive value of x in the geometric sequence 7x-2 , 4x+4 , 3x , ...

22. The first term of a geometric sequence is 24 and the fourth term is 3 . Find
the fifth term and an expression for nth term .

23. Which term of the geometric sequence 6 , 18 , 54 ,... is 119098 ?

24. The fourth term and the seventh term of a geometric sequence are 18 and
729 59049
respectively . Is a term of this sequence? If so , which term is
8 128
it?

25. Find three geometric terms between 7 and 4375.

Sigma notation
26. Write an expression for each series using sigma notation.
a. 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8
b 9+16+25+36+49
c 27+25+23+21+19+17
 d 240+120+60+30+15+7.5
e 5x  6x  7x  8x  9x 10x
f 4+7+10+13+...+55
e 1+3+ 9+27+...+59049
h α  2α 2  3α3  4α 4  5α5

27. Write each series as a sum of terms

  4n    5  2r  x 
8 5 7 11
a   3n  1
n 1
b
n 1
c
r 3
d
k 5
k

28. Evaluate

 3   m 
9 5 7 10
a  8n  5
n 1
b
n 1
n
c
m 1
2
d   7x  4 
x 4

Arithmetic series
29. Find the sum of the first 12 terms of the arithmetic series 3+6+9+...

30. Find the sum of the first 18 terms of the arithmetic series 2.6+3+3.4+...

31. Find the sum of the first 27 terms of the arithmetic series 100+94+88+...

32. Find the sum of the first 16 terms of the series

 2  5x   3  4x    4  3x   ...

33. Consider the series 120+116+112+...+28

a Find the number of terms in the series
b Find the sum of the terms.

34. Find the sum of the series 15+22+29+...+176

35. An arithmetic series has u1  4 and S30  1425

Find the value of the common difference.
36. a Write an expression for Sn for the series 1+7+13+...

b Hence ,find the value of n for which Sn  833

37. a Write an expression for Sn , for an arithmetic series with u1  30 and
d=3.5
b Hence , find the value of n for which Sn  105

38. In January , a new coffee shop sells 500 drinks. In February they sell 600
drinks , 700 in March , and so on in an arithmetic progression .
a How many drinks will they expect to sell in December 2012?
b Calculate the total number of drinks they expect to sell in 2012

39. In an arithmetic sequence , the 2nd term is four times the 5th term , and the
sum of the first ten terms is -20. Find the first term and the common
difference .

40. In an arithmetic series , the sum of the first 12 terms is equal to ten times the
sum of the first 3 terms. If the first term is 5 , find the common difference
and the value of S20

Geometric series
41. Calculate the value of S12 for each geometric series.
a 0.5+1.5+4.5+... b 0.3+0.6+1.2+... c 64-32+16-8+...
d (x+1)+(2x+2)+(4x+4)+...

42. Calculate the value of S20 for each series .

16 8
a. 0.25+0.75+2.25+... b   4  ... c 3-6+12-24+...
9 3
d log a  log  a 2   log  a 4   log  a 8   ...

43. For each geometric series:

i Find the number of terms
 ii calculate the sum
a 1024+1536+2304+...+26244
b 2.7+10.8+43.2+...+2764.8
125 25 5 1
c    ... 
128 64 32 625
d 590.49+196.83+65.61+...+0.01

44. For each series , determine the last value of n for which Sn  400

2 8 32
a 25.6+38.4+57.6+... b 14-42+126-378+... c    ...
3 9 27
d 0.02+0.2+2+...

45. A geometric series has third term 1.2 and eighth term 291.6 . Find the
common ratio and the value of S10

46. In a geometric series , S4  20 and S7  546.5 . Find the common ratio if

r 1

1 1 3
47. a Find the common ratio for the geometric series    ...
12 8 16
b Hence , find the least value of n such that Sn  800

48. In a geometric series , the sum of the first three terms is 304 , and the sum of
the first 6 terms is 1330 . Find the sum of the first seven terms.

49. In a geometric series , the sum of the first four terms is ten times the sum of
the first two terms . If r  1 , find the common ratio .

Convergent series – Sum to infinity

50. Explain how you know if a geometric series will be a convergent series
51. Find S4 ,S7 and S for each of these series .
a 144+48+16+... b 500+400+320+... c 80+8+0.8+...
 9
d  3  2  ...
2

27
52. A geometric series has S  and S3  13 . Find S5 .
2
53. For a geometric progression with u 3  24 and u 6  3 find S

54. In a geometric progression , u 2  12 and S  64 . Find u1

55. A geometric series has a common ratio of 0.4 and a sum to infinity of 250 .
Find the first term.

56. The sum of the first five terms of a geometric series is 3798 , and the sum to
infinity is 4374. Find the sum of the first seven terms.

Applications of geometric and arithmetic sequences

57. In an arithmetic sequence , u 6  3u 4 . Find u1 if u 8  50
58. A plastic cup is 12 cm high. When five cups are stacked together , the stack
is 15 cm high.
a How high would a stack of 20 cups stand?
b How many cups would it take to make a stack at least 1 meter high?

59. Georgia deposits $2500 in an account which pays interest at 6% APR .

Assuming he makes no additional withdrawals or deposits , how much will
be in the account after 8 years if the
a interest is compounded annually
b interest is compounded quarterly
c interest is compounded monthly?

60. An arithmetic sequence is defined by u n  12n  7 and a geometric sequence

is defined by v n  0.3 1.2 

n 1
. Find the least number of terms such that

vn  u n
61. In a geometric sequence , the first term is 6 and the common ratio is 1.5. In
an arithmetic sequence , the first term is 75 and the common difference is
100 . After how many terms will the sum of the terms in the geometric
sequence be greater than the sum of the terms in the arithmetic sequence?

62. At the beginning of 2012 , a lake contains 200 fish . The number of fish in
the lake is expected to increase at a rate of 5% per year. What will be the
number of fish in the lake at the beginning of 2015?

63. The population of a city is 275 000 people . The population is increasing at a
rate of 3.1% per year. Assuming the population continuous to increase at
this rate , how long will it take for the population of the city to reach
500 000 people?

64. A series has the formula Sn  3n 2  2n

a Find the values of S1 ,S2 and S3

b Find the values of u1 , u 2 and u 3

c Write an expression for u n

65. A series has the formula Sn  2n  2  4

a Find the values of S1 ,S2 and S3

b Find the values of u1 , u 2 and u 3

c Write an expression for u n

66. Two species of spiders inhabit a remote island. The population of species A
is 12 000 and is increasing at a rate of 1.25% per month . The population of
species B is 50 000 and is decreasing at a rate of 175 spiders each month .
When will the population of species A be greater than the population of
species B?

67. Mohira invests $3000 in an account which pays 3% annual interest,

compounded yearly . Ryan invests $3000 in an account which also pays 3%
 annual interest , but is compounded monthly . Assuming neither person has
made any additional withdrawal or deposits , how much more money does
Ryan have in his account than Mohira has in hers after ten years?

Binomial theorem
68. Use the Binomial theorem to expand each expression.
3
 2
a  y  3 b  2b  1 c  3a  2  d  x2  
5 4 6

 x
3
 1 
5
 2
e  x  y f  3a  2b  g  3c   h  4x 2 
8 4

 d  2y 

69. Find the x 5 term in the expansion of  x  4 

7

70. Find the y 4 term in the expansion of  4y  1

5

71. Find the a 2 b 4 term in the expansion  2a  3b 

6

72. Find the constant term of  x  2 

9

73. In the expansion of  px  1 , the coefficient of the x 3 term is 160 . Find

6

the value of p.

74. In the expansion of  3x  q  , the coefficient of the x 5 term is 81648. Find

7

the value of q .

8
 1
75. Find the constant term in the expansion of  4x  
 x

6
 3
76. Find the constant term in the expansion of  2x 2  
 x
77. In the expansion of  x  1 , the coefficient of the x 3 term is two times the
n

coefficient of the x 2 term. Find the value of n .

78. In the expansion of  x  2  , the coefficient of the x 3 term is two times the
7

coefficient of the x 4 term. Find the value of n .

Review exercises ( No GDC )

79. Consider the arithmetic sequence 3,7,11,15,...
a Write down the common difference
b Find u n

c Find the value of n such that u n  99

80. The first terms of an infinite geometric sequence are 64 and 4.

a Write down the value of r .
b Find u 4
c. Find the sum to infinity of the sequence .

81. In an arithmetic sequence , u 6  25 and u12  49

a Find the common difference .
b Find the first term of the sequence.

82. Consider the arithmetic sequence 22 , x , 38 , ...

a Find the value of x
b Find u 31

 3 
4
α
83. Evaluate the expression
α 1

84. Consider the geometric series 800+200+50+...

a Find the common ratio.
b. Find the sum to infinity.
85. Find all possible values of x such that this sequence is geometric : x ,12 ,
9x,...

86. Find the x 3 term in the expansion of  2x  3

5

87. A grocery store has a display of soup cans stacked in a pyramid . The top
row has three cans , and each row has two more cans than the row above it.
a If there are 35 cans in the bottom row , how many rows are in the
display?
b How many cans are in the display in total?

Review exercise ( with GDC)

88. In an arithmetic series , the first term is 4 and the sum of the first 25 terms
is 1000.
a Find the common difference.
b Find the value of the 17th term.

89. Consider the arithmetic sequence 3 , 4.5 , 6 ,7.5 , ...

a Find u 63

b Find the value of n such that Sn  840

90. In an arithmetic series , the tenth term is 25 and the sum of the first 10
terms is 160.
a Find the first term and the common difference.
b Find the sum of the first 24 terms .

91. In a geometric sequence , the first term is 3 and the sixth term is 96.
a Find the common ratio.
b Find the least value of n such that u n  3000

92. In an arithmetic sequence , the first term is 28 and the common difference is
50. In a geometric sequence , the first term is 1 and the common ratio is 1.5
Find the least value of n such that the nth term of the geometric sequence is
 greater than the nth term of the arithmetic sequence.

93. In a geometric series , the 3rd term is 45 and the sum of the first 7 terms is
2735. Find the first term and the common ratio , r if r  .

7
x 
94. Find the term in x in the expansion of   3 
4

2 

7
95. In the expansion of  αx  2  the x 5 term has a coefficient of
8
. Find the
16
value of α

96. At the beginning of 2010 , the population of a country was 3.4 million.
a If the population grows at a rate of 1.6% annually , estimate the country’s
population at the beginning of 2040.
b If population growth continues at this rate , in what year would the
population of the country be expected to exceed 7 million ?