A Geometric Progression (GP) is formed by multiplying a starting number (a1) by a number r, called the common ratio.

Example 1:

5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, has a1 = 5, r = 2. In this example, we started with 5 and multiplied by 2 each time to get the next number in the progression.

Formula for the n-th term of a GP

The n-th term of a geometric progression is given by: an = a1rn-1

Example 2
Find the 50th term of the geometric progression 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, ... Since a1= 5, r = 2, and using an = a1rn-1, we have: a50 = (5)(2501) = 2,814,749,767,106,560 2.81 1015

The Sum of a Geometric Progression

The sum to n terms of a GP means: a1 + a1r + a1r2 + a1r3 + ... + a1rn-1 We can show (using Proof by Induction) that this sum is equivalent to:

3. Infinite Geometric Series

by M. Bourne If -1 < r < 1, then the infinite geometric series a1 + a1r + a1r2 + a1r3 + ... + a1rn-1 converges to a particular value. This value is given by:

The series converges because each term gets smaller and smaller (since -1 < r < 1).

Example 1
For the series:
5 + 2.5 + 1.25 + 0.625 + 0.3125... ,

the first term is given by a1 = 5 and the common ratio is r = 0.5. Since the common ratio has value between -1 and 1, we know the series will converge to some value. Let's do the sum of the first few terms: a1 = 5 a1 + a1r = 5 + 2.5 = 7.5 a1 + a1r + a1r2 = 5 + 2.5 + 1.25 = 8.75 a1 + a1r + a1r2 + a1r3 = 5 + 2.5 + 1.25 + 0.625 = 9.375 Continuing this pattern, we will get the following sums (correct to 9 decimal places): Sum to 5 terms = 9. 84375 Sum to 6 terms = 9. 921875 Sum to 7 terms = 9. 9609375 Sum to 8 terms = 9. 98046875

Sum to 9 terms = 9. 990234375 Sum to 10 terms = 9. 995117188 Sum to 11 terms = 9. 997558594 Sum to 12 terms = 9. 998779297 Sum to 13 terms = 9. 999389648 Applying the formula now, we get the same result:

Example 2
Find the value of the infinite geometric series:

Here,

Example Find the sum of the geometric series 2 + 6 + 18 + 54 + . . . where there are 6 terms in the series. Solution For this series, we have a = 2, r = 3 and n = 6. So Sn = a(1 rn) 1r S6 = 2(1 36) 13 = 2(1 729) 2 = (728) = 728 Example Find the sum of the geometric series 84+21+... where there are 5 terms in the series.

Solution

For this series, we have a = 8, r = 1 2 and n = 5. So Sn = a(1 rn) 1r S5 = 8(1 1 2_5 ) 1 1 2_ = 8(1 1 32_)
3 2

= 28
32

33

3 =
2 2

11

= 51 Example How many terms are there in the geometric progression 2, 4, 8, . . . , 128 ? Solution In this sequence a = 2 and r = 2. We also know that the n-th term is 128. But the formula for the n-th term is arn1. So 128 = 2 2n1 64 = 2n1 26 = 2n1 6=n1 n=7

progression with a = 1 and r = 11. We want to find the smallest value of n such that Sn > 20. Now Sn = a(1 rn) 1r , www.mathcentre.ac.uk 11 c mathcentre 2009 so 1 (1 11n) 1 11 > 20

1 11n 01 > 20 (11n 1) 10 > 20 11n 1 > 2 11n > 3 . If we now take logarithms of both sides, we get n ln 11 > ln 3 and as ln 11 > 0 we obtain n > ln 3/ ln 11 = 11.5267 . . . and therefore the smallest whole number value of n is 12.

Exercise 6 (a) Find the sum of the first five terms of the GP with first term 3 and common ratio 2. (b) Find the sum of the first 20 terms of the GP with first term 3 and common ratio 1.5. (c) The sum of the first 3 terms of a geometric series is 37 8 . The sum of the first six terms is 3367 512 . Find the first term and common ratio. (d) How many terms in the GP 4, 3.6, 3.24, . . . are needed so that the sum exceeds 35? Answers: 6. (a) 93 (b) 19,946 (c) 2,
34

(d) 20 terms