4.

2 Arithmetic Series

Learning Outcomes :
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
• recognise an arithmetic sequence and series
• determine the nth term of a sequence and series,
Tn = a + ( n − 1) d and derive the sum formula,
n
S n = [ 2a + ( n − 1) d ]
2
• recognise and prove the arithmetic mean of an
arithmetic series of three consecutive terms a,b,c
is b  a  c
2
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 4.2 Arithmetic Sequence and Series

Definition Arithmetic Sequences

An arithmetic sequences is a sequence of the
a,
form a + d , a + 2d , a + 3d , ...

The number a is the first term and d is the

common difference of the sequence.

The nth term of an arithmetic sequence is

given by
Tn = a + ( n − 1) d
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 Example 1
Consider the nth term for the arithmetic sequence
9, 4, -1, -6, 11.
Solution
a=9 d = -5
Tn = 9 + (n – 1)(-5)
= 14 – 5n

Example 2
Find the 300th term of the arithmetic sequence 13, 7, 1, ...
Solution
a = 13 d=-6
Tn = 13 + (n – 1)(-6) = 19 – 6n

∴ T300 = 19 – 6(300) = -1787

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 Example 3
The 11th term of an arithmetic sequence is 52 and the
19th term is 92, find the 1000th term.
Solution
Tn = a + ( n − 1) d
T = a + 10d = 52
11
… (1)

T = a + 18d = 92
19
… (2)

a = 2 and d = 5

Tn = 2 + (n – 1)5 = 5n - 3

∴ T1000 = 5(1000) – 3 = 4997

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Sum to nth terms of an arithmetic sequence
S = T +T +T + +T
n 1 2 3 n
… (1)

By replacing Tn = a + ( n − 1) d into (1)

Sn = a + ( a + d ) + ( a + 2d ) + ( a + 3d ) +  + ( a + ( n − 1) d )
S n = [ a + ( n − 1) d ] + [ a + ( n − 2 ) d ] +  + ( a + 2d ) + ( a + d ) + a
There are n identical terms on the right side of this equation,
thus
2 S n = n[ 2a + ( n − 1) d ]
n n
S n = [ 2a + ( n − 1) d ] = [a + l] since
2 2 l = T = a + ( n − 1) d
n

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 Example 4
Find the sum of the first 50 natural odd numbers.
Solution

S 50 = 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 +… + T50

Thus a = 1 , d = 2 and Tn = 2n -1
T50 = 2(50) – 1 = 99
50
∴ S50 = [ 2(1) + 49( 2 ) ] = 2500
2
or
50
S50 = (1 + 99 ) = 2500
2
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 Example 5
An amphitheatre has 50 rows of seats with 30 seats in the
first row, 32 in the second, and 34 in the third and so on.
Find the total number of seats.
Solution
The number of seats in the rows form an arithmetic
sequence with a = 30 , d = 2 since there are 50 rows,

50
S50 = [ 2( 30 ) + 49( 2 ) ]
2
= 3950

Thus, there are 3950 seats in the amphitheatre.

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 Example 6
How many terms of the arithmetic sequence 5, 7, 9,…
must be added to get 572.
Solution

a=5 , d=2
n
572 = [ 2 ( 5) + ( n − 1) 2]
2
572 = 5n + n(n -1)
n2 + 4n – 572 = 0
(n – 22)(n + 26) = 0 ∴ n = 22, n = −26
This gives n =22 or n = -26, but since n is the number
of terms in this partial sum, we must have n = 22
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Arithmetic Means
The arithmetic mean (average), m, of the numbers a and b
is, a+b
m=
2
Note that m is the same distance from a as from b, so a,
m and b is an arithmetic sequence. Let m1, m2, …, m k are
equally spaced between a and b so that
a , m , m , , m , b
1 2 k
is an arithmetic sequence.
Then m1, m2 , …, mk are called k arithmetic mean between
a and b.
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 Example 7
Find the arithmetic mean of 2 and 8
Solution
2+8
=5
2

Example 8
Find two arithmetic means between 10 and 18
Solution
10, m1 , m2 ,18 thus a = 10, T4 = 18
8
T = a + 3d , d =
4
3
38 46
m =T = a+d = and m = T = a + 2d =
3
2 3
3
1 2

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 Example 9
Find three arithmetic means between 2 and 18
Solution

2, m , m , m ,18
1 2 3

Thus, a = 2 , T5 = 18
18 = 2 + 4d , d = 4
m =T = a+d =6
1 2

m = T = a + 2d = 10
2 3

m = T = a + 3d = 14
3 4

So that the three arithmetic means are 6, 10, 14

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