Algebra II : Summations and Sequences

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Algebra II

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Example Questions

Example Question #4 : Arithmetic Series

Find the 20th term in the following series:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This is an artithmetic series.  The explicit formula for an arithmetic sequence is:

Where represents the term, and is the common difference.

In this instance .  Therefore:

Example Question #5 : Arithmetic Series

Find the 35th term in this series:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This is an arithmetic series. The formula to find the th term is:

where is the difference between each term.

To find the 35th term substitute for and

Example Question #3 : How To Find The Next Term In An Arithmetic Sequence

We have the following sequence

What is the value of ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, find a pattern in the sequence.  You will notice that each time you move from one number to the very next one, it increases by 7.  That is, the difference between one number and the next is 7.  Therefore, we can add 7 to 36 and the result will be 43.  Thus .

Example Question #5 : How To Find The Next Term In An Arithmetic Sequence

Find the next term in the following sequence.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Determine what kind of sequence you have, i.e. whether the sequence changes by a constant difference or a constant ratio. You can test this by looking at pairs of numbers, but this sequence has a constant difference (arithmetic sequence).

So the sequence advances by subtracting 16 each time. Apply this to the last given term.

Example Question #3 : How To Find The Common Difference In Sequences

Find the common difference in the following arithmetic sequence.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

An arithmetic sequence adds or subtracts a fixed amount (the common difference) to get the next term in the sequence. If you know you have an arithmetic sequence, subtract the first term from the second term to find the common difference.

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Common Difference In Sequences

Find the common difference in the following arithmetic sequence.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

An arithmetic sequence adds or subtracts a fixed amount (the common difference) to get the next term in the sequence. If you know you have an arithmetic sequence, subtract the first term from the second term to find the common difference.

(i.e. the sequence advances by subtracting 27)

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Answer To An Arithmetic Sequence

Which of the following is an example of an arithmetic sequence?

Possible Answers:

Each of these sequences is an arithmetic sequence.

Correct answer:

Each of these sequences is an arithmetic sequence.

Explanation:

In each case, the terms increase by the same number, so all of these sequences are arithmetic.

 

Each term is the result of adding 1 to the previous term. 1 is the common difference.

Each term is the result of subtracting 1 from - or, equivalently, adding  to - the previous term.  is the common difference.

The common difference is 0 in a constant sequence such as this.

 

Each term is the result of adding  to the previous term.  is the common difference.

Example Question #2 : How To Find The Answer To An Arithmetic Sequence

Which of the following numbers completes the arithmetic sequence below?

{13, 25, __, 49}

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

In an arithmetic sequence the amount that the sequence grows or shrinks by on each successive term is the common difference. This is a fixed number you can get by subtracting the first term from the second.

So the sequence is adding 12 each time. Add 12 to 25 to get the third term.

So the unknown term is 37. To double check add 12 again to 37 and it should equal the fourth term, 49, which it does.

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Nth Term Of An Arithmetic Sequence

Given the the sequence below, what is the 11th term of the sequence?

1, 5, 9, 13, . . .

Possible Answers:

49

53

37

45

41

Correct answer:

41

Explanation:

The 11th term means there are 10 gaps in between the first term and the 11th term. Each gap has a difference of +4, so the 11th term would be given by 10 * 4 + 1 = 41.

The first term is 1.

Each term after increases by +4.

The nth term will be equal to 1 + (n – 1)(4).

The 11th term will be 1 + (11 – 1)(4)

1 + (10)(4) = 1 + (40) = 41

Example Question #11 : How To Find The Nth Term Of An Arithmetic Sequence

The second term of an arithmetic sequence is ; the fourth term is . What is the first term?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The common difference between the terms is half that between the second and fourth terms - that is:

Subtract this common difference from the second term to get the first:

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