SEQUENCE &

SERIES
ECC 3001 ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS
 LEARNING OUTCOME
to define and represent sequences and
series
to compute the limit of sequences
to test the convergence of infinite series
and
compute the sum of specific series
to write and solve recursive relations
2
 SEQUENCE
Sets of terms
List of things number or any other things typically in order
INFINITE VS FINITE
Goes on forever e.g your wish list infinite sequence
Otherwise it is finite money to be spent daily or weekly or monthly
Examples

{1,2,3,4,5,...} simple and infinite sequence

{1,3,5,7} simple (a sequence of the first four odd numbers) and finite sequence
{E,C,C,3,0,0,1} the sequence of letter and alphabet to denote the code of
ECC3001 course
In order is important
So what is the difference between a sequence and a set?
A RULE
It is fine if it is only up to 10th

Can you says what will be the

100th term
1000th term
Test rule: 2*n
Nth terms where n could be
Calculate for each n term any value
2*1 = 2 (we require it to be 3)
2*2 = 4 (the result should be 5)
2*3 = 6 (indeed it should be 7) So?
We are down by 1 We require a suitable formula

Test Rule: 2*n+1

to represent this sequence of
2*1+1 = 3 number
2*2+1 = 5
ARITHMETIC SEQUENCE
The difference between two
consecutive term is constant
Example

{1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,}

What can you see?

First term
In general
Difference
{a, a+d, a+2d,a+3d,}
between
xn=a +d(n-1) terms
(common
difference)
THE GENERAL FORM OF AN ARITHMETIC
SEQUENCE.
First Term: a1
Second a2 a1 d
Term:
Third Term: a3 a1 2d
Fourth Term: a4 a1 3d
Fifth Term: a5 a1 4d

nth Term: an a1 n 1 d

7
GEOMETRIC SEQUENCE
Each term multiplying previous
term by a constant
{a, ar, ar2, ar3, ... }

ais the first term, and

ris the factor between the terms

(called the"common ratio"
xn= ar(n-1)
TRIANGULAR NUMBERS
{1,3,6,10,15,21,28,}

Other sequence square

numbers
- cube numbers
xn= n(n+1)/2
FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
{0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,}
Pattern:
2 is found by adding the two numbers before it (1+1)
21 is found by adding the two numbers before it (8+13)

xn= xn-1+ xn-2

Recursive formula
SERIES
Sums of sequence denoted by
sigma
Infinite series

We can expand this to various

useful formulas:
CONVERGE DIVERGE
The sum does not come to a
specific value or becomes larger
and larger or smaller and smaller
The sum approaches a finite
value
- series is convergent 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ...
Example
Term Sum so far Term Sum so far
1/2 0.5
1/4 0.75 1 1
1/8 0.875
2 3
1/16 0.9375
1/32 0.96875 3 6
4 10
5 15
... ...
Or the sequence of partial sum
has a finite limit
ARITHMETIC
SERIES
When the difference between
each term and the next is a
constant, it is called
anarithmetic series
GEOMETRIC
SERIES
When the ratio between each
term and the next is a constant, it
is called ageometric series
The ratio between each term is
 ARITHMETIC SERIES
Sum of first n terms of arithmetic series, S n

Sn = n(first term + last term)

1
Sn n[ 2a ( n 1) d ]
2
when a 1; d 1
1
Then Sn n( n 1)
2

14
GEOMETRIC SERIES
Geometric Seq= seq when ratio of succesive terms is a constant
no
{2,4,8,16,32} {2,-1,1/2,-1/4, 1/8, -1/16, 1/32}
has the form
a=first term
k n 1
(ar ) k 0
r=common ratio
n-no of terms in
sequence
Geometric series

Sn=a+ar+ar2.+arn-1 n 1
a (1 r n
)
Sum of first n terms S n ar
k

k 0 1 r

15
HARMONIC ALTERNATING
SERIES SERIES
Divergent or convergent?

check
 TRY THESE
What is the value of

The partial sum of the cubes of

the first n natural numbers is Find the value of the following
given by summation:
AND THESE
Find the number of terms in the
series 4+10+16+22+28+
required to exceed 500
Show that the sum to infinity of 8
+ 2+1/2+1/4+1 exists. Find this
sum.
Applications question:
Ahmad receives RM200 for his 10th t
birthday. His mum opened up a bank
account that provides 5% compound
interest per annum . Assuming that he
did not withdraw the money and did
not make any other deposit, how much
money will he have on his 18th birthday
If he receives RM200 on his every
birthday, how much will he have by her
eighteenth birthday
RECUSIVE
RELATION
START WITH SEQUENCE FIND THE RELATION & GENERAL TERM
RECURSIVE RELATION
You are given a sequence of
number
1, 4, 7, 10, _____,
The next number is ___
So we can develop:
Each term exceeds the previous
one by ___
Each term has a relation with a

How do you develop the previous term in the sequence

sequence This is very important when we

a1 = 1
develop an algorithm for a
process involve feed of a
a2 =a1+___ variable or parameter and create
a relationship between the data
a3 = a2+ __

a4= a3+ _____

OBSERVE THE FOLLOWING
PATTERN
1 = 13
3+5 = 23
7+9+11 = 33
13 + 15 + 17 + 19 = 43
. How many + sign should be in the
. box?
.
= 100 What are the smallest and largest
integer in the box?
TRY THESE
A staircase consists of n steps. A
If n = 10, what is the number of
boy walks from the bottom to the
ways in which he can climb up
top, each time climbing 1 or 2
the stairs?
steps

To solve

Let an = the number of ways to

climb up a stairs of n steps
Each time climbing, 1 or 2 steps

We want to compute a10

NEXT
The possibility of climbing are

1 step: so the number of climbing to be

done
2 steps: the number of climbing is

What is the recurrence relation that can

be developed:
an =

What is the initial conditions?

a1 = 1

a2 = 2
ANOTHER ONE
Can of soft drinks are arranged as
follows
(a) How many cans are there in the
10th array?
(b) How many cans are there in the
2004th array?
(c) What is the total number of
cans in the first 2004 arrays?
RECURSIVE
RELATION
KNOW THE SEQUENCE & THE GENERAL TERM, FIND THE RELATION
CHECK THIS
For positive integer ,n, let (a) Find , , f(1) and f(2).
f(n) = (b) Show that

and are roots of the equation f(n+2) = f(n) +f(n+1)

and > for all positive integers n.

For equation x2 x -1 = 0 (c) Show that f(n) is an integer for all

positive integers n.

This gives some insights on how to

solve for the general terms of a
sequence with a form of
an+2 =pan+1 + qan
CHECK SECTION
7.4 OF THE
TEXTBOOK
LIMIT OF A
SEQUENCE
Convergent sequence
CONVERGENT SEQUENCES

Tends to limit {ak }
k 0 Typical form
Has a limiting value

Converges
an a
Is convergent

lim an a notation
n
EXAMPLE

As n increases, the sequence get

closer and closer to zero
Zero is the limit

Or the limiting value

WORKING DEFINITION
an approaches L as n approaches
infinity

an approaches negative infinity as

an approaches infinity as n n approaches infinity
approaches infinity
 Divergence
sequence
If exists or is finite,
so the sequence converges
If does not exists or
is infinite, then the sequence
diverges
PROPERTIES (SIMILAR TO
LIMIT OF FUNCTIONS)
Determine the following sequence. Check whether it
diverges or converges. If converges, determine its limit