Subtracting these two equations we then obtain, R S n = a 1 r + a 1 r 2 + a 1 r 3 + … + a 1 r n Multiplying both sides by r we can write, S n = a 1 + a 1 r + a 1 r 2 + … + a 1 r n − 1 Therefore, we next develop a formula that can be used to calculate the sum of the first n terms of any geometric sequence. However, the task of adding a large number of terms is not.
For example, the sum of the first 5 terms of the geometric sequence defined by a n = 3 n + 1 follows: is the sum of the terms of a geometric sequence.
#Formulas for sums of geometric and arithmetic sequences series#
In fact, any general term that is exponential in n is a geometric sequence.Ī geometric series The sum of the terms of a geometric sequence. In general, given the first term a 1 and the common ratio r of a geometric sequence we can write the following:Ī 2 = r a 1 a 3 = r a 2 = r ( a 1 r ) = a 1 r 2 a 4 = r a 3 = r ( a 1 r 2 ) = a 1 r 3 a 5 = r a 3 = r ( a 1 r 3 ) = a 1 r 4 ⋮įrom this we see that any geometric sequence can be written in terms of its first element, its common ratio, and the index as follows:Ī n = a 1 r n − 1 G e o m e t r i c S e q u e n c e Here a 1 = 9 and the ratio between any two successive terms is 3. For example, the following is a geometric sequence, A geometric sequence A sequence of numbers where each successive number is the product of the previous number and some constant r., or geometric progression Used when referring to a geometric sequence., is a sequence of numbers where each successive number is the product of the previous number and some constant r.Ī n = r a n − 1 G e o m e t i c S e q u e n c eĪnd because a n a n − 1 = r, the constant factor r is called the common ratio The constant r that is obtained from dividing any two successive terms of a geometric sequence a n a n − 1 = r.
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