Starter Q – Binomial

P2 Chapter 3 :: Sequences & Series

Chapter Overview

1:: Arithmetic Series 2:: Geometric Series

Determine the value of The first term of a geometric
sequence is 3 and the second
term 1. Find the sum to infinity.

3:: Sigma Notation 4:: Recurrence Relations

Determine the value of If and , determine in terms of .

NEW TO A LEVEL 2017!

Identifying whether a sequence is
increasing, decreasing, or periodic.
Types of sequences
?
common difference

+3 +3 +3 This is a:

2, 5, 8, 11, 14, … ? Sequence

Arithmetic
! An arithmetic sequence is one
common?ratio which has a common difference
between terms.

×2 ×2 ×2
Geometric? Sequence
3, 6, 12, 24, 48, … (We will explore these later in the chapter)

This is the Fibonacci Sequence. The terms

follow a recurrence relation because each term

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, … ?
can be generated using the previous ones.
We will encounter recurrence relations later in
the chapter.
The fundamentals of sequences

𝑢𝑛 The ?term. So would

th
Meaning
refer to the 3 term.
rd

𝑛 The position of the

term ?
in Meaning
the sequence.

𝑛=3
? 𝑢3 =8
?
?

2,5,8,11,14 ,…
th
term of an arithmetic sequence
We use to denote the first term. is the difference between terms, and is the
position of the term we’re interested in. Therefore:

1st Term 2nd Term 3rd Term ... th

term

𝑎
? 𝑎+
? 𝑑 𝑎 +2
? 𝑑 ... 𝑎+(𝑛−
? 1) 𝑑

! th term of arithmetic sequence:

Example 1 Example 2
The th term of an arithmetic sequence is . Find the th term of each arithmetic sequence.
a) Write down the first 3 terms of the a) 6, 20, 34, 48, 62
sequence. b) 101, 94, 87, 80, 73 Fro Tip: Always write
out first.
b) Find the first term in the sequence that is
a)
negative.
b)
?
a) ,
b) ? ?
?
Further Examples
[Textbook] A sequence is generated by the formula where and are
constants to be found.
Given that and , find the values of the constants and .

?
Solving simultaneously,

For which values of would the expression and form the first three
terms of an arithmetic sequence.
Remember that an arithmetic sequence is one where there is a
common difference between terms.
?
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C1 May 2014(R) Q10

?
Series
A series is a sum of terms in a sequence.
You will encounter ‘series’ in many places in A Level: Extra Notes: A ‘series’
usually refers to an infinite
sum of terms in a sequence.
If we were just summing
Arithmetic Series (this chapter!) some finite number of
Sum of terms in an arithmetic sequence. them, we call this a partial
sum of the series.

e.g. The ‘Harmonic Series’ is

Binomial Series (Later in Year 2) , which is infinitely many
terms. But a we could get a
You did Binomial expansions in Year 1. But when the partial sum, e.g.
power is negative or fractional, we end up with an
infinite series. However, in this syllabus,
the term ‘series’ is used to
mean either a finite or
infinite addition of terms.

Taylor Series (Further Maths)

Expressing a function as an infinite series, consisting Terminology: A ‘power series’ is
of polynomial terms. an infinite polynomial with
increasing powers of . There is
also a chapter on power series
in the Further Stats module.
Arithmetic Series
th
term ! Sum of first terms
𝑛
𝑢𝑛 =𝑎 + ( 𝑛 −1 ) 𝑑 𝑆 𝑛= ( 2 𝑎+
? ( 𝑛 −1 ) 𝑑 )
2
Example: Let’s prove it!
Take an arithmetic sequence
The idea is that each
pair of terms, at
Reversing: symmetrically opposite
ends, adds to the same
number.
Adding these:

Proving more generally: Fro Exam Note: The

proof has been an exam
question before. It’s also
Adding: a university interview
favourite!
Alternative Formula

𝑎 + ( 𝑎 + 𝑑 ) + …+ 𝐿
Suppose last term was .
We saw earlier that each opposite pair of terms (first
and last, second and second last, etc.) added to the
same total, in this case .

There are pairs, therefore:

!
Examples
Find the sum of the first 30 terms of the following arithmetic sequences…

1 ? Fro Tips: Again, explicitly write out ”.

You’re less likely to make incorrect
substitutions into the formula.
2 ?
Make sure you write so you make
3 ? clear to yourself (and the examiner)
that you’re finding the sum of the first
terms, not the th term.

Find the minimum number of terms for the sum of to exceed 2000.

So 28 terms needed.

?
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C1 Jan 2012 Q9

𝑇 =?400

𝑃=£?24450
Solution to Extension Q2
[AEA 2010 Q2]
The sum of the first terms of an arithmetic series is and the sum of the first terms of the same
arithmetic series is , where and are positive integers and .
Giving simplified answers in terms of and , find
a) The common different of the terms in this series,
b) The first term of the series,
c) The sum of the first terms of the series.
Recap of Arithmetic vs Geometric Sequences

?
common difference

+3 +3 +3 This is a:

2, 5, 8, 11, 14, … Arithmetic? Sequence

common?ratio

×2 ×2 ×2

3, 6, 12, 24, 48, … Geometric? Sequence

! A geometric sequence is one in which there is a

common ratio between terms.
Quickfire Common Ratio
Identify the common ratio :

1 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 ,16 ,32 , … 𝑟 =2
?
2 2 7 , 18 , 12 ,8 , … 𝑟 =2/?3
3 10 , 5 , 2.5 , 1.25 , … 𝑟 =1/? 2 An alternating
sequence is
one which
4 5 , −5 , 5 , −5 , 5 , −5 , … 𝑟 =−1
? oscillates
between

𝑟 =−2? 𝑥
2 3 positive and
5 𝑥 , −2 𝑥 , 4 𝑥 negative.

6 2
1 , 𝑝 , 𝑝 ,𝑝 , …
3
𝑟 =𝑝?
7 4 , −1 , 0.25 , −0.0625 ,… 𝑟 =−0.25
?
th
term

Arithmetic Sequence Geometric Sequence

𝑢𝑛 =𝑎 + ( 𝑛 −1
? )𝑑 𝑢𝑛 =𝑎 𝑟?𝑛 − 1

Determine the 10th and th terms of the following:

3, 6, 12, 24, … 𝑎=3,𝑟 =2 ?

40, -20, 10, -5, …

1
Fro Tip: As before, write out
𝑎=40 , 𝑟? =−
and first before substituting.
2
Further Example
[Textbook] The second term of a geometric sequence is 4 and the 4th
term is 8. The common ratio is positive. Find the exact values of:
a) The common ratio.
b) The first term.
c) The 10th term.

a) Dividing (2) by (1) gives

b) Substituting, ?
c)

Fro Tip: Explicitly writing first helps you avoid confusing the th term with the ‘sum
of the first terms’ (the latter of which we’ll get onto).
Further Example
[Textbook] The numbers and form the first three terms of a
positive geometric sequence. Find:
Hint: You’re told it’s a
a) The value of . geometric sequence, which
means the ratio between
b) The 10th term in the sequence. successive terms must be the
same. Consequently

But there are no negative terms so

Exam Note: This kind of question has

appeared in the exam multiple times.
th
term with inequalities
[Textbook] What is the first term in the geometric progression to
exceed 1 million?

𝑢𝑛>1000000𝑎=3,𝑟 =2 ?
Test Your Understanding
All the terms in a geometric sequence are positive.
The third term of the sequence is 20 and the fifth term 80. What is the 20 th term?

Dividing:
?

The second, third and fourth term of a geometric sequence are the following:

a) Determine the possible values of .

b) Given the common ratio is positive, find the common ratio.
c) Hence determine the possible values for the first term of the sequence.

?
Sum of the first terms of a geometric series

Arithmetic Series Geometric Series

𝑛
𝑆 𝑛= ( 2 𝑎+ ?( 𝑛 −1 ) 𝑑 ) 𝑎 1 −𝑟 )
( 𝑛

2 𝑆 𝑛= ?
1 −𝑟

Proof:
Mutiplying by :

Subtracting:
?

Exam Note: This once came up in

an exam. And again is a university
interview favourite!
Examples
𝑎 1 −𝑟 )
( 𝑛
Geometric Series 𝑆 𝑛=
1 −𝑟

Find the sum of the first 10 terms.

𝑎=3,𝑟=2,𝑛=10
3 , 6 ,12 , 24 , 48 , … ? ? ?

1 1 1
4 , 2 ,1 , , , , …
2 4 8
? 1 ? ?

𝑎=4 ,𝑟=? ,𝑛=10

2
Harder Example
Find the least value of such that the sum of to terms would
exceed 2 000 000.

So 21 terms needed.

both sides to cancel out “2

? to the power of”.
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C2 June 2011 Q6

?
Divergent vs Convergent
What can you say about the sum of each series up to infinity?

1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + ... ?
This is divergent – the sum of the
values tends towards infinity.
This is divergent – the running total
1–2+3–4+5–6+… ? of 0, but gradually
alternates either side
gets further away from 0.

1 + 0.5 + 0.25 + 0.125 + ... This is convergent – the sum of

? a fixed
the values tends towards
value, in this case 2.
Definitely NOT in the A Level syllabus, and just for fun...

1 1 1 1 This is divergent . This is known

?
+ + + +… as the Harmonic Series
1 2 3 4
This is convergent . This is known
1 1 1 1
+ + + +… as the Basel Problem, and the
?
1 4 9 16 value is .
Sum to Infinity
1 + 0.5 + 0.25 + 0.125 + ... Why did this infinite sum
converge (to 2)…

1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + ... …but this diverge to infinity?

The infinite series will converge provided that (which can be written
as ), because the terms will get smaller.

! A geometric
Provided that , what happens to as ? series is convergent
For example is very close to 0.
if .
We can see that as . ?

How therefore can we use the formula to find the

sum to infinity, i.e. ?

! For a convergent geometric series,

 Quickfire Examples

1 1 1 𝟏 ?
1, , , ,… 𝒂= 𝟏? , 𝒓 =
𝟐
? 𝑺 ∞ =𝟐
2 4 8
𝟏 𝟖𝟏
27 ,− 9 ,3 ,− 1 ,… 𝒂= 𝟐𝟕
? , 𝒓 =− ?𝟑 𝑺 ∞ = 𝟒?

2 3 4 𝒑?
𝑝 , 𝑝 , 𝑝 ,𝑝 ,… 𝒂= 𝒑? ,𝒓 = 𝒑 ?𝑺 ∞ =
𝟏−𝒑
𝑤h𝑒𝑟𝑒 −1< 𝑝< 1
𝟐
1 1 𝟏 𝒑
𝑝 ,1 , , 2 , … 𝒂= 𝒑? ,𝒓 = ?𝑺 ∞ = ?
𝒑 𝒑 −𝟏
𝑝 𝑝
Further Examples
[Textbook] The fourth term of a [Textbook] For a geometric series with
geometric series is 1.08 and the first term and common ratio , and .
seventh term is 0.23328. a) Find the possible values of .
a) Show that this series is convergent. b) Given that all the terms in the series
b) Find the sum to infinity of this are positive, find the value of .
series.

Fro Warning: The power is in

the formula but in the
formula.
Dividing:
?a
The series converges because .

Substituting for 16 in equation (1):

?a
Solving:
?b As terms positive, ,

?b
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C2 May 2011 Q6

𝟑
𝒓 =?
𝟒

𝒂= 𝟐𝟓𝟔
?
𝑺 ∞= 𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟒
?

?
Sigma Notation
What does each bit of this expression mean?

The Greek letter,

5
capital sigma,

∑
means ‘sum’.

( 2 𝑟 + 1) We work out this

expression for each
value of (between 1
𝑟 =1
The numbers top
and bottom tells us and 5), and add
what varies them together.
between. It goes up
by 1 each time.

𝑟 =1 𝑟 =2 𝑟 =3 𝑟 = 4 𝑟 =5

¿ 3 +5 +7 + 9+11 ¿ 35
If the expression being summed (in this case ) is linear, we get an
arithmetic series. We can therefore apply our usual approach of
establishing and before applying the formula.
 Determining the value

First few terms? Values of ? Final result?

7
7
∑ 3 𝑛 ¿ 3 +6+?9+… 𝑎=3 , 𝑑=3
? ,𝑛=7 𝑆 7= ( ?6+6 ×3 )
2
𝑛 =1
15
11
∑ ( 10 − 2 𝑘)¿ 0 +( −2 )+? ( − 4 ) + … Be careful, there? are 11
𝑎=0 , 𝑑=− 2 ,𝑛=11𝑆 11= ( 0+10 × −2 )
2 ?
𝑘=5 numbers between 5 and 15
inclusive. Subtract and +1.

12

∑ 5×3 𝑘 −1
¿ 5+ 15+ 45+
? … 𝑎=5 ,𝑟 =3
? ,𝑛=12 𝑆 12=
5 ( 1−3?12 )
=1328600
𝑘=1
12
1−3
∑ 5×3 𝑘 −1 Note: You can either find from scratch by finding the first few terms (the first
when ), or by calculating:
𝑘=5
?
i.e. We start with the first 12 terms, and subtract the first 4 terms.
Testing Your Understanding
Solomon Paper A

Method 1: Direct Method 2: Subtraction

?
?
On your calculator

“Use of Technology” Monkey says:

The Classwiz and Casio Silver
calculator has a button.

Try and use it to find:

12

∑ 2×3 𝑘

𝑘=5
Recurrence Relations
This is an example of a
2
𝑢𝑛 =2 𝑛 +3 position-to-term sequence,
because each term is based on
the position .

𝑢𝑛+1=2𝑢𝑛 +4
But a term might be defined based on
previous terms.
If refers to the current term, refers to
the next term.
So the example in words says “the next
term is twice the previous term + 4”
We need the first
term because the
recurrence relation This is known as a term-to-term sequence, or
alone is not enough
more formally as a recurrence relation, as the
to know what
number the sequence ‘recursively’ refers to itself.
sequence starts at.
 Example
Important Note: With recurrence relation questions, the the sequence will likely not be
arithmetic nor geometric. So your previous and formulae do not apply.

Edexcel C1 May 2013 (R)

𝑥 2=( 𝑥 1 ) −?𝑘 𝑥 1=1 −𝑘

2

2
𝑥 3=( 𝑥 2?) −𝑘 𝑥 2
3
𝑘= ? 2

Fro Tip: When a question comes up for recurrence

relations, it will most likely be some kind of
repeating sequence. Just work out the sum of terms
( ) ( )
1
¿1+ − +1+
2 ?
1
− +…
2
in each repeating bit, and how many times it
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C1 Jan 2012

𝑥 2=𝑎
? +5
𝑥 3=𝑎 ( 𝑎+? 5 ) +5 =…

2
𝑎 +5𝑎+5=41
?
 Exercise 3G
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Pages 80-81
[AEA 2011 Q3] A sequence is given by
1
(a) Write down the first 6 terms in the sequence.
(b) Show that
(c) means the integer part of , for example .
Find
?

2 [MAT 2014 1H] The function is defined for all positive integers 3 [MAT 2016 1G] The sequence , where , is
as follows: and for all , defined by and
if 2 divides but 3 does not divide for
if 3 divides but 2 does not divide Determine the value of the sum
if 2 and 3 both divide
if neither 2 nor 3 divides . Solution on next slide.
Then the value of equals what?
Solution: 11000
?
Solution to Extension Question 3
[MAT 2016 1G] The sequence , where , is defined by and
for
Determine the value of the sum

Solution:

This is a geometric sequence from onwards.

Therefore
 A somewhat esoteric Futurama joke explained
Bender (the robot) manages
to self-clone himself, where
some excess is required to
produce the duplicates (e.g.
alcohol), but the duplicates
are smaller versions of
himself. These smaller
clones also have the
capacity to clone
themselves. The Professor is
worried that the total
amount mass consumed by
the growing population is
divergent, and hence they’ll
consume to Earth’s entire
resources.

This simplifies to

The sum is known as the harmonic series, which is divergent.

Increasing, decreasing and periodic sequences
A sequence is strictly increasing if the terms are always increasing, i.e.
for all .
e.g. Textbook Error: It uses
the term ‘increasing’
when it means ‘strictly
Similarly a sequence is strictly decreasing if for increasing’.
all

A sequence is periodic if the terms repeat in a cycle. The order of a

sequence is how often it repeats, i.e. for all .
e.g. 2, 3, 0, 2, 3, 0, 2, 3, 0, 2, … is periodic and has order 3.

[Textbook] For each sequence:

i) State whether the sequence is increasing, decreasing or periodic.
ii) If the sequence is periodic, write down its order.

a) Terms: 7, 10, 13,…. Increasing. ?

b)
c)
Terms: . Decreasing. ?
Terms: 1, 0, -1, 0, 1, 0, … Periodic, order 4.
?
 Modelling
Anything involving compound changes (e.g. bank interest) will form a
geometric sequence, as there is a constant ratio between terms.
We can therefore use formulae such as to solve problems.

[Textbook] Bruce starts a new company. In year 1 his profits will be £20 000. He predicts
his profits to increase by £5000 each year, so that his profits in year 2 are modelled to be
£25 000, in year 3, £30 000 and so on. He predicts this will continue until he reaches
annual profits of £100 000. He then models his annual profits to remain at £100 000.
a) Calculate the profits for Bruce’s business in the first 20 years.
b) State one reason why this may not be a suitable model.
c) Bruce’s financial advisor says the yearly profits are likely to increase by 5% per annum.
Using this model, calculate the profits for Bruce’s business in the first 20 years.
a The sequence is arithmetic up until £100 000, but b
stops increasing thereafter. We need to know the It is unlikely that Bruce’s profits
position of this term. will increase by ? b the same
exactly
amount each year.
First find sum of first 17 terms (where sequence is
arithmetic): ?a c

?c
Geometric Modelling Example
[Textbook] A piece of A4 paper is folded in half repeatedly. The thickness of the A4 paper
is 0.5 mm.
(a) Work out the thickness of the paper after four folds.
(b) Work out the thickness of the paper after 20 folds.
(c) State one reason why this might be an unrealistic model.

a
After 4 folds: ?

b After 20 folds
?
c It is impossible to fold the paper that many
times so the model is ? unrealistic.
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C2 Jan 2013 Q3

?a
?c

?b
Exercise 3I
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Pages 84-86
The figure shows part of a sequence , of model snowflakes. The first
Extension term consist of a single square of side . To obtain , the middle third of
each edge is replaced with a new square, of side , as shown.
1 [AEA 2007 Q5] Subsequent terms are added by replacing the middle third of each
external edge of a new square formed in the previous snowflake, by a
square of the size, as illustrated by .

a) Deduce that to form , 36 new squares of side must be added to .

b) Show that the perimeters of and are and respectively.
c) Find the perimeter of .

?
Just for your interest… DrFrostMaths.com

Tell me about this ‘harmonic series’…

A harmonic series is the infinite summation: Is it convergent or divergent?
The terms we are adding gradually get smaller, so we might wonder
We can also use to denote the sum up to if the series ‘converges’ to an upper limit (just like
the th term (known as a partial sum), i.e. approaches/converges to 2), or is infinitely large (i.e. ‘diverges’).

Pr
oo
f
We can prove the series diverges by finding a
10 𝑚𝑝h value which is smaller, but that itself diverges:
20 𝑚𝑝h 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑒
𝑃𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛
Where does the name come from? Above we defined a new series , such that we
The ‘harmonic mean’ is used to find the average of rates. For example, if a use one two , four , eight s and so on. Each term
cat runs to a tree at 10mph and back at 20mph, its average speed across is clearly less than (or equal to) each term in .
the whole journey is mph (not 15mph!). But it simplifies to:
Each term in the harmonic series is the harmonic mean of the two
adjacent terms, e.g. is the harmonic mean of and . The actual word which diverges. Since , must also diverge.
‘harmonic’ comes from music/physics and is to do with sound waves.
It is also possible to prove that is never an
integer for any .

The harmonic mean

of and is .
Really cool applications: How far can a stack of
books protrude over the
The time Dr Frost solved a edge of a table?
maths problem for
1
My mum, who worked at John Lewis, was selling
London Olympics ‘trading cards’, of which there were 1 book: a length. 2
about 200 different cards to collect, and could be
bought in packs. Her manager was curious how many
cards you would have to buy on average before you 3
collected them all. The problem was passed on to me… 4
2 books: of a length.
It is known as the ‘coupon collector’s problem’.
The key is dividing purchasing into separate stages where
each stage involves getting the next unseen card 11
There is an initial probability of 1 that a purchase results in an 12
unseen card. There is then a chance the next purchase results 3 books:
in an unseen card. Reciprocating this probability gives us the
number of cards on average, i.e. , we’d have to buy until we Each of these additions is half the sum of the first terms of
get our second unseen card. Eventually, there is a chance of a the harmonic series.
purchase giving us the last unseen card, for which we’d have
e.g. 3 books:
to purchase cards on average. The total number of cards on
average we need to buy is therefore:
The overhang for books is therefore

You’re welcome John Lewis. Because the harmonic series is divergent, we can
keep adding books to get an arbitrarily large amount
of overhang. But note that the harmonic series
increases very slowly. A stack of 10,000 books would
only overhang by 5 book lengths!