QA AP

Arithmetic Progression
A succession of numbers is said to be in arithmetic progression (AP) if the difference between
any term and the previous term is constant throughout. In other words, the difference between
any of the two consecutive terms should be the same. This difference which is common
between any two consecutive terms is known as common difference of this AP and is denoted
by 'd'.
An arithmetic Progression is of the form : a, (a + d), (a + 2d), (a + 3d), (a + 4d)
Examples of AP:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
3, 5, 7, 9, 11, ..
7, 11, 15, 19, 23, ..
-9, -4, 1, 6, 11, 16, .
13, 9, 5, 1, -3, -7, -11, .
The first term of the series is denoted by a and the common difference by and nth term by tn
and sun of the n terms of the series is denoted by Sn.
The common difference is the difference between any two consecutive terms of the series.
For Series (i) 1, 2, 3,...
Series (ii) 2, 5, 7, 10,...
Series (iii) a, a + d, a + 2d,...
Common Difference (d) of series (i) = 1
Common Difference (d) of series (ii) = 3
Common Difference (d) of series (iii) = d
Properties of AP
lf a, b, c, d,... are in AP, then
1. a + k, b + k, c + k, d + k... will be in AP, where k is any constant.
2. a k, b k, c k, d - k . . . will be in AP, where k is any constant.
In the above two cases, the common difference will be the same as earlier.
3. ak, bk, ck,dk... will be in AP, where k is any constant.
In this case, new common difference will be k times the earlier common difference.

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4.

will be in AP, where k 0.

In this case, new common difference will be times the earlier common difference.
Nth term
nth term tn = a + (n 1) d, where a is the first term, d is the common difference and n is the
position of the term.
First term = a + (1 1) d = a
Second term a + d = a + (2 1)d
Third term = (a + d) + d = a + 2d = a + (3 1}d
Fourth term = a + 3d = a + (4 1)d
And so on.
Find the 15th term of the following series 7, 13, 19, 25, .. etc.
Here a = 7, d = 6
A15 = 7 + (15 1)6
A15 = 91

Arithmetic Mean
It two numbers a and b are in AP then their arithmetic mean (

In general, if a, b, c,...n terms are in AP, then their AM =

The arithmetic mean (A.M.) of odd numbers of consecutive terms is the middle most
term itself.

, where F is the first term, L is the last term.

,equidistant terms meaning terms which have
the same position from the two ends of the series. For example 2 nd and 2nd last terms,
3rd and 3rd last terms etc.

Example:
1) Find the AM of the following AP series : 7, 19, 31, 43, 55, 67, 79, 91, 103:
The middle term is 55. So AM is 55
2) What is the AM of all the multiples of 5, less than 1000?
1 term of series = 5
st

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Last term = 995

So AM=

The sum of n AMs between P and Q is

For example If a, b, c, d, e and f are the AMs between 5 and 33, then find the value of a + b + c +
d + e +f?
As given , a + b + c + d + e +f =
Find the sum of all arithmetic mean of the following series -17, -13, 11, 15,
First term = -17
Last term = 15
Difference of first and last terms = 32
Common difference = 4
So number of terms between first and last term =
Sum of all AMs =

=7

-7

Sum of n terms of an arithmetic progression

Formula Method : Sn = [2a+ (n 1) d)] , where n = number of terms, a = 1st term and d
= common difference.
AM method: = AM x number of terms, so
First and Last term:
, where F is the first term, L is the last term and n is the
number of terms of that AP.
Equidistant Method:
, equidistant terms meaning terms
which have the same position from the two ends of the series. For example 2 nd and 2nd
last terms, 3rd and 3rd last terms etc.
Examples:
1) Find the sum of the 10 terms of the following series -11, -6, -1, 4,
As given,
Therefore,

(
[

) ]
(

( ) ]

[Here a = -11, d = 3]

= 5 (-22 + 45) = 115

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2) Find the sum for 50 terms , of the following AP: 1, 8, 15, ....
Here n = 50, d = 7 and a = 1.
Using formula Sn= [2a + (n 1) d)]
= 25 x [2 x 1 + (50 1) 7)] = 25 x 345 = 8625

3) Find the sum for 50 terms , of the following AP: 3, 5, 7, ....

This is a series of odd numbers starting from the 2nd odd number in the Natural numbers
So 50th term will be the 51st odd number of Natural numbers which 101.
Therefore 1st term = 3 and last term = 101, so the sum

4) What is the sum of all the two-digit numbers which when divided by 7 gives a remainder
of 3? (CAT 2003)
AP series: 10, 17, 21, ... 94.
First term = 7 x 1 + 3
Last term = 7x 13 + 3
So there are 13 terms in the series
Therefore n = 13, d = 7 and a = 10
Using the formula for the sum
Sn = [2a + (n 1) d)], sum = 676
Alternatively, using the average method,
average = (1st number + last number)/2
Average =
So, the sum = average x number of numbers = 52 x 13 = 676

3) Find the value of the expression: (11 1 + 12 2 + 13 3 + ... to 1000 terms)

If we take pair of numbers then each pair = 10

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11-1=10
12-2=10 and so on
Since there are 1000 terms, so there will be 500 pairs
So sum of the series = 500 x 10= 5000

4) Find the value of the expression: (11 1 + 13 4 + 15 7 + ... to 1000 terms)

(11 1 + 13 4 + 15 7 + ... to 1000 terms) =
(11 + 13 + 15 + ..to 50 terms) (1 + 4 + 7 +..to 50 terms)
For first series
a = 11, n = 50 and d = 2
For 2nd series
a = 1, n = 50 and d = 3
Using the formula for the sum of AP= [2a + (n 1) d)]
Sum of 1st series =

Sum of 2nd series = [

(
(

)
)

] = 25
] = 25

(22 +98) = 3000

(2 + 147) = 3725

Therefore (11 1 + 13 4 + 15 7 + ... to 1000 terms) = 3000 3725= -725

Special cases
If three terms or any odd number of terms are involved, then we should assume these terms as
a d, a, a + d and so on.
If four terms or any even number of terms are involved, then we should assume these terms as
a - 3d, a - d, a + d, a + 3d and so on.
The consecutive odd number of terms of an A.P. are written as (a - 2d)(a - d), a, (a + d), (a +
2d), etc.
The consecutive even number of terms on an A.P. are written as (a - 5d)(a - 3d)(a - d)(a + d)(a +
3d)(a + 5d) etc.

The sum of three numbers in an AP is 21 and the sum of their squares is 179. Find the numbers.

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QA AP

Let the numbers be a d, a, a + d.

Given is (a d + a + a + d) = 21
So, a = 7
Therefore the middle term is 7 and the other 2 terms are (7-d) and (7+d)
Also, (a d)2 + a2 + (a + d)2 = 179
OR 3a2 + 2d2 = 179
Since a = 7
Therefore
3x49 + 2d2 = 179
2

OR 2d = 32
OR d2= 16
OR d =4

When d = + 4, then the terms are 3, 7, 11 and when d = -4, then the terms are 11, 7, 3.

Solved Examples
1) 11th term of an AP is 10. Find sum of first 21 terms.
The 11th term will obviously be the middle term i.e. the AM of the series.
Sum of the series = AM x Number of terms
Hence sum of all terms = 10 x 21 = 210.
2) If the sum of the first 11 terms of an arithmetic progression equals that of the first 19
terms, then what is the sum of the first 30 terms? (CAT 2004)
Sum of first 11 terms is same as that of first 19 terms i.e. S11 = S19
Therefore Sum of terms from 12th term to 19th term = 0 i.e. S(12 to 19) = 0
Sum = AM x Number of terms
Since S(12 to 19) = 0, therefore AM of the series from 12th term to 19th term is 0
AM of series from 12th term to 19th term = Average of the middle two terms = Average of 15th and 16th
terms = 0
AM of 1st 30 terms = Average of the middle two terms = Average of 15th and 16th terms = 0
Thus sum of first 30 terms = Average of two middle terms 15th and 16 th 30 = 0

3) If a, b, c are in AP, then b + c, c + a, a + b will be in

a.AP
b. GP
c. HP

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d. Cannot be determined uniquely

a, b, c are in AP, then a - (a + b + c), b - (a + b + c), c - (a + b + c) will be in AP.
- (b + c), - (a + c) and - (a + b) will be in AP.
(b + c), (a + c) and (a + b) will also be in AP.

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