Civil Engineering Nov 2020
1. A proposal was lost in which 600 persons
voted; the same persons having voted again on
the same proposal, it was carried by twice as
many as it was before lost by and the new
majority is to the former as 8:7. How many
changed their minds? Answer: 150
Sequences and Series
Sequence is a succession of numbers formed
according to some fixed rule. Example is 1, 8, 27, 64,
125, ... which is a sequence so that the nth term is
given by n3.
Series is the indicated sum of a sequence of
numbers. Thus,
a1 + a2 + a3 + ... + an + ...
is the series corresponding to the sequence
a1, a2, a3, ..., an, ...
Arithmetic Progression (A.P.)
A sequence of numbers is in A.P. if any number
after the first is obtained by adding a fixed number
to the one immediately preceding it. The fixed
number that is added is called the common
difference, d.
Example: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17
Formulas for A.P.
d = a2 − a1 = a3 − a2 = a4 − a3 = ...
an = a1 + (n − 1)d or an = am + (n − m)d
n n
Sn
=
2
( a1 + an ) or S=
n
2
 2 a1 + (n − 1)d 
Harmonic Progression (H.P.)
A sequence of numbers are in H.P. if their
reciprocals form an A.P.
Example: 1/2, 1/5, 1/8, 1/11, 1/14, 1/17
:
Review Innovations
Problems:
2. How many three-digit numbers are not
divisible by 3? Answer: 600
3. Find the sum of n consecutive odd integers
beginning with 1. Answer: n2
4. Three numbers are in an arithmetic sequence
whose sum is 21 and whose product is 280.
Find the sum of their squares.
Answer: 165
5. Show that if the sides of a triangle are in
arithmetic sequence, their ratio is 3:4:5.
6. In a potato race, 8 potatoes are placed 6 ft apart
on a straight line, the first being 6 ft from the
basket. A contestant starts from the basket and
puts one potato at a time into the basket. Find
the total distance she must run in order to finish
the race. Answer: 432 ft.
7. A besieged fortress is held by 5,700 men who
have provisions for 66 days. If the fortress loses
20 men each day, for how long will the
provisions hold out? Answer: 76 days
For Practice:
1. Find the 16th term of the arithmetic sequence:
4, 7, 10, ... Answer: 49
2. Determine the sum of the first 12 terms of the
arithmetic sequence: 3, 8, 13, ... Answer: 366
3. Find the 40th term and the sum of the first 40
terms of the arithmetic sequence: 10, 8, 6, ...
Answer: a40 = -68, S40 = -1160
4. Which term of the sequence 5, 14, 23,... is 239?
Answer: 27th
5. Compute the sum of the first 100 positive
integers exactly divisible by 7. Answer: 35,350
6. How many consecutive integers, beginning
with 10, must be taken for their sum to equal
2035? Answer: 55
Algebra 3
7. How long will it take to pay off a debt of $880
if $25 is paid the first month, $27 the second
month, $29 the third month, etc.?
Answer: 20 months
8. How many terms in the arithmetic sequence 24,
22, 20, ... are needed to give the sum of 150?
Write the terms.
Answer: 10 and 15
For n = 10: 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6
For n = 15: 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0, -2, -4
9. Determine the arithmetic sequence whose sum
to n terms is n2 + 2n. Answer: 3, 5, 7, 9, ...
10. Three numbers are in an arithmetic sequence
such that the sum of the first and third is 12 and
the product of the first and second is 24. Find
the sum of these three numbers. Answer: 18
11. Three numbers are the ratio 2:5:7. If 7 is
subtracted from the second, the resulting
numbers form an arithmetic sequence.
Determine the original numbers. Ans: 28, 70, 98
12. Compute the sum of all integers between 100
and 800 that are divisible by 3. Answer: 104,850
13. A slide of uniform grade is to be built on a level
surface and is to have 10 supports equidistant
from each other. The heights of the longest and
shortest supports will be 42'6" and 2'
respectively. Determine the required height of
the 6th support starting from the shortest.
Answer: 24'6"
14. A freely falling body, starting from rest falls 16
ft during the first second, 48 ft during the
second second, 80 ft during the third second,
etc. Calculate the distance it falls during the
fifteenth second. Answer: 464 ft
15. How many arithmetic means will be inserted
between 1 and 36 so that the sum of the
resulting arithmetic sequence will be 148.
Answer: 6