Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

MAT syllabus
Sequences defined iteratively and by formulae. Arithmetic and geometric progressions*.
Their sums*. Convergence condition for infinite geometric progressions*.
* Part of full A-level Mathematics syllabus.

Revision
• A sequence an might be defined by a formula for the nth term like an = n2 − n.

• A sequence an might be defined with an relation like an+1 = f (an ) for n > 0, if we’re
given the function f (x) and also given a first term like a0 = 1. (The “first term” might
be a0 if we feel like counting from zero).

n−1
X
• The sum of the first n terms of a sequence ak can be written with the notation ak
k=0
n
X
(if the first term is a0 ) or ak (if the first term is a1 ).
k=1

• An arithmetic sequence is one where the difference between terms is constant. The
terms can be written as a, a + d, a + 2d, a + 3d, . . . , where a is the first term and d is
the common difference.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

• The sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic sequence with first term a and common
n
difference d is (2a + (n − 1)d), which you can remember as “first term plus last term,
2
times the number of terms, divided by two”.

• A geometric sequence is one where the ratio between consecutive terms is constant.
The terms can be written as a, ar, ar2 , ar3 , . . . where a is the first term and r is the
common ratio.

• The sum of the first n terms of a geometric sequence with first term a and common
a(1 − rn )
ratio r is . One way to remember this is to remember what happens if we
1−r
multiply the sum of the first n terms of a geometric series by (1 − r),

(1 − r)(a + ar + · · · + arn−1 ) =(a − ar) + (ar − ar2 ) + · · · + (arn−1 − arn )

=a − arn .

∞
X
• For a geometric sequence an , the sum to infinity is written as ak . If the common
k=0
a
ratio r satisfies |r| < 1 then this is equal to . If |r| > 1 then this sum to infinity
1−r
does not converge (it does not approach any particular real number).

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

Warm-up
1. A sequence is defined by an = n2 − n. What is a3 ? What is a10 ? Find an+1 − an in
terms of n. Find an+1 − 2an + an−1 in terms of n.

2. A sequence is defined by a0 = 1 and an = an−1 + 3 for n > 1. Find a0 + a1 + · · · + a10 .

Find a1000 .

3. A sequence is defined by a0 = 1 and an = an−13

for n > 1. Find a0 + a1 + · · · + a10 . Find
a1000 . Does the sum of all the terms of this sequence converge? If it does, what is the
sum to infinity?

4. A sequence is defined by a0 = 1 and an = 3an−1 + 1 for n > 1. A sequence bn is defined

by bn = A × 3n + B where A and B are real numbers. Find values for A and B such
that an = bn for all n > 0.

5. A sequence is defined by an = An2 + Bn + C where A, B, and C are real numbers.

Find A, B, and C in terms of a0 , a1 , and a2 . Hint: you’ll need to solve 3 simultaneous
equations.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

6. Simplify 21 + 22 + 23 + · · · + 2n for n > 1.

7. Simplify 34 + 35 + 36 + · · · + 3n for n > 4.

8. When does the sum 1 + x3 + x6 + x9 + x12 + ... converge? Simplify it in the case that
it converges.

x2 x3
9. When does the sum 2 − x + − + . . . converge? Simplify it in the case that it
2 4
converges.

10. Consider the sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic sequence a1 , a2 , . . . , an with
a1 = a and a2 = a + d. Explain why the sum of the ith term and the (n + 1 − i)th
term doesn’t depend on i, as long as 1 6 i 6 n. By considering separate cases where
n is even or where n is odd, deduce that the sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic
sequence is n times the average term.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

11. Consider the sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic sequence with first term a and
constant difference d. Consider the special case d = 0. Write down the sum in this
case. Now consider the case a = 0. In this case, write the sum in terms of the triangle
numbers Tn = 1 + 2 + 3 + · · · + n = 12 n(n + 1). Hence write down the sum of the first
n terms of an arithmetic sequence. Check that this agrees with the formula above.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

MAT questions
MAT 2016 Q1A
A sequence an has first term a1 = 1, and subsequent terms defined by an+1 = lan for n > 1.
What is the product of the first 15 terms of the sequence?

(a) l14 , (b) 15 + l14 , (c) 15l14 , (d) l105 , (e) 15 + l105 .

Hint: note that this question is asking for the product and not the sum. Also note that the
first term is a1 and not a0 , so the first 15 terms will be a1 , a2 , . . . , a14 , a15 .

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

MAT 2016 Q1G

The sequence xn , where n > 0, is defined by x0 = 1 and
n−1
X
xn = xk for n > 1.
k=0

The sum ∞
X 1
k=0
xk
equals
6 8 27
(a) 1, (b) , (c) , (d) 3, (e) .
5 5 5

Hint: work out a few of the values x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . before trying to work out the sum to infinity.

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

MAT 2017 Q1C

A sequence (an ) has the property that
an
an+1 =
an−1
for every n > 2. Given that a1 = 2 and a2 = 6, what is a2017 ?
1 2 3
(a) , (b) , (c) , (d) 2, (e) 3.
6 3 2

Hint: again, work out a few of the values x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . .

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

MAT 2016 Q5
This question concerns the sum sn defined by

sn = 2 + 8 + 24 + · · · + n2n .

(i) Let f (n) = (An+B)2n +C for constants A, B and C yet to be determined, and suppose
sn = f (n) for all n > 1. By setting n = 1, 2, 3, find equations that must be satisfied by
A, B and C.

(ii) Solve the equations from part (i) to obtain values for A, B and C.

(iii) Using these values, show that if sk = f (k) for some k > 1 then sk+1 = f (k + 1).

You may now assume that f (n) = sn for all n > 1.

(iv) Find simplified expressions for the following sums:

tn = n + 2(n − 1) + 4(n − 2) + 8(n − 3) + · · · + 2n−1 1,

1 2 3 n
un = + + + · · · + n .
2 4 8 2

(v) Find the sum

n
X
sk .
k=1

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

Hints: At the start, take a moment to understand the definition of sn . How do the num-
bers 8 and 24 relate to the +n2n part of the definition? What are the values of s1 and s2
and s3 ? Be careful: s2 is not 8.

In part (iii) we’re being asked to investigate what happens when we go from sk to sk+1 .
From the definition at the top, what changes when we go from sk to sk+1 ? If we do that to
f (k), do we get to f (k + 1)?

In part (iv), it would be good if we could find a link between tn and sn , perhaps by
spotting a copy of the sum that defines sn hiding in there. Then we want to find a link
between un and sn , or a link between un and tn . If that doesn’t work, we can go back to the
idea in part (i) and try to find a general expression for the nth term of tn or un by guessing
a function like (An + B)2n + C or maybe like (An + B)2−n + C.

In part (v), we know an expression for sk in terms of things like 2k and k2k . We know
how to sum the first of those things, and the sum of the second thing there is oddly familiar
from earlier in this question...

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Oxford MAT Livestream 2022 – Sequences and series

Extension
A future session of the Oxford MAT Livestream will be on “recursion”, and we’ll look at
more expressions that are like an = f (an−1 ) but more complex.

The following material is included for your interest only, and not for MAT preparation.

There’s a general formula for sequences where the difference between terms is itself an arith-
metic sequence. The sequences are sometimes called quadratic sequences, and they have
an = An2 + Bn + C for some A, B, and C. You can probably guess what happens if the
difference between terms of a sequence is itself a quadratic sequence.

In MAT 2016 Q5, we found a formula for the sum of the first n terms of the sequence
ak = k2k with one particular method (guess the formula, check the formula). Here’s a more
direct proof; expand and sum and sum.
• Expand out each term into 2k s, so that we’ve got
n
X
k2k = (21 ) + (22 + 22 ) + (23 + 23 + 23 ) + · · · + (2| n + 2n + n
{z · · · + 2}).
k=1 n

• Regroup the terms and sum

n
X
k2k = 21 + 22 + · · · + 2n + (22 + 23 + · · · + 2n ) + · · · + (2n−1 + 2n ) + 2n


k=1
=21 (2n − 1) + 22 (2n−1 − 1) + · · · + 2n−1 (22 − 1) + 2n (21 − 1)

• Expand these brackets, bring together all the 2n+1 s and notice that the remaining terms
are another geometric series
n
X
k2k =n2n+1 − 21 − 22 − 23 − · · · − 2n
k=1
=n2n+1 − 21 (2n − 1)
=(2n − 2)2n + 2

You might be able to adapt this method to similar sums nk=1 kxk for other numbers x.
P
(Watch out for a factor of (x − 1) from the geometric sums, which is 1 above when x = 2.)
x
For the sum to infinity, if |x| < 1, then we get x + 2x2 + 3x3 + 4x4 + · · · = . This
(1 − x)2
agrees with a different, more advanced calculation using calculus; the sum is
 
2 3 4 d 2 3

d 1 x
x + 2x + 3x + 4x + · · · = x 1 + x + x + x + ... = x =
dx dx 1 − x (1 − x)2
but this calculation uses the “chain rule” for differentiation, which is not on the MAT syllabus!

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