Effective Guide Mathematics - Topical Revision

Arithmetic Sequence
An arithmetic sequence is a sequence in which each term differs from the previous one by the same
fixed number. If can also be referred to as an arithmetic progression.

Let’s take below sequence as an example

�1 + �2 + �3 + �4 + �5 + �6 + �7 ,……………….

Suppose the first term of an arithmetic sequence is �1 and the common difference is � . Then

�2 = �1 + � , �3 = �1 + 2 � , �4 = �1 + 3� .

For an arithmetic sequence with first term �1 and common difference � the general term or ��ℎ term is

�� = �1 + ( � - 1) �

Summation of Arithmetic series

The sum of this series can be calculated using this general formula
�
�� = (�1 + �� )
2
�
�� = (2 �1 + � − 1 � )
2
1. The first term of an arithmetic sequence is 4 and the tenth term is 67.
(a) What is the common difference?

(b) Find the 15th term

(c) Find the sum of 20 terms

2. In an arithmetic sequence, �1 = 3 and �3 = 9

(a) Find �

(b) Find �20

(c) Find �20

3. In an arithmetic sequence �1 = 8 �20 = 179 and �� = 566

(a) Find the value of the common difference.

(b) Find the value of n.

 4. In an arithmetic sequence 3, 9, 15, …,1353.
(a) Write down the common difference.

(b) Find the number of terms in the sequence.

(c) Find the sum of the sequence.

5. An arithmetic sequence, �1 , �2 , �3 …, has d=11 and �27 = 263.

(a) Find �1
(b) (i) Given that �� = 516, find the value of n.

(ii) For this value of n, find ��

6. The n term of an arithmetic sequence is given by �� = 5 + 2n

(a) Write down the common difference.

(b) (i) Given that the nth term of this sequence is 115, find the value of n.

(ii) For this value of n, find the sum of the sequence

Gerak Gempur PdPR SPM -TINGKATAN 4

7. Given ana arithmetic progression 17, 13, 9, …, find the number of terms required so that its
sum is -33.

8. Given …, y, y – 3, y – 6, … are three consecutive terms of an arithmetic progression.

(a) Find the common difference.

(b) Hence, if y is the 8th term of the progression, find the sum of the first 10 terms in terms of
y.
9. Calculate the number of terms of an arithmetic progression -9, -6, -3, …, that must be taken
for the sum of the terms to be 741.

10. Given the first three terms of an arithmetic progression are 56, 52, and 48. If the nth term is
negative, find the smallest value of n.

11. A circle is divided into 15 sectors of different sizes. The angels of the sectors form an
arithmetic progression and the angel of the largest sector s 31°.
(a) Find the angel of the seventh sector.

(b) Determine whether 33° is one of the angels of the sectors.

12. An arithmetic progression has the first term -79 and common difference 6. Given the
arithmetic progression has two times as many positive terms as its negative terms. Find
(a) the total number of terms in the progression
 (b) the sum of the positive terms of the progression

13. Diagram (a) shows a role of wire and Diagram (b) is a cube

The wire is divided into 25 portions with the lengths follow an arithmetic progression. Given
the sum of the lengths of the three smallest portions is 84 cm and the length of the longest
portion is 304 cm.
(a) Find the length of the roll of wire.

(b) If the second longest portion of the wire is bent to form the cube as above, find the value
of � .
 14. (a) Given an arithmetic progression is such that the 5th term is 3 times the 2ndterm. Show that
the sum of the first 8 terms is 4 times the sum of the 4 terms.

(b) An experiment is carried to test the speed of a racing car over a distance of 1km. In the
first second, the car covers a distance of 10 m. On each successive second, the car covers
1.2 times the distance in the previous second, until the whole journey has been covered. Find

(i) the distance that is covered at the 8th second.

(ii) the time, in seconds, needed to cover the whole journey.

Essential SPM
15. Determine whether each of the following sequence is an arithmetic progression or not.
(a) 2, ,5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, …
(b) -21, -17, -13, -10, -6, -2, 2, …
(c) 1 , 3 , 1 1 , 1 3 , 2 1 , 2 3 , …
4 4 4 4 4 4
(d) 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, …

16. For the arithmetic progression -9, -6, -3, …, find the 21st term.

17. For the arithmetic progression 2, 7, 12, …, find the sum of from the 11th term to the 18th term.

18. The fifth term of an arithmetic progression is 4 and the ninth term is 16. Find the fifteenth term.

19. In the arithmetic progression -13, -9, -5, …, find the smallest value of n such that the n term is
greater than 69.

20. � − 7, 2� − 8, ��� − 3� + 9 are three consecutive terms in an arithmetic progression. Find the
value of �.

21. The sum of the first n terms in an arithmetic progression is given by�� = 2�2 − 7�. Find
(a) The first term and the common difference

(b) The 13th term.

22. Given that an arithmetic progression is 10, 15, 20, …. Find the largest value of n such that the
nth term is less than 5113.

23. The distance between town A and town B on a bicycle 120 m. the distance covered for every
subsequent minute increased by 20 m. At what answer correct to the nearest minute.

24. The sum of first five terms of an arithmetic progression is 15. The sum of the first four terms is
1
17
of the sum of the next four terms.

Find

(a) The first term,

(b) The common difference,
(c) The sum of the first eight terms.

25. The third term of an arithmetic progression is 4 and the seventh term is 16.
(a) Find the
(i) First term and its common difference,
(ii) Sum of the first 15 terms.
(b) Show that 294 is not a term in this arithmetic progression.

26. (a) �, 3� + 1, ��� 6� are the first three terms in an arithmetic progression. Find
(i) The value of �,
(ii) The sum of the first fifteen terms.

1 16
(c) The second and the sixth terms of a geometric progression are 3 �3 and 243
�7 respectively.
Find the common ratio.

27. In an arithmetic progression, the seventh term is 34 and the sum of the first fifteen terms is
585. Find
(i) The first terms and the common difference.
(ii) The sum from the seventh term to the eighteen term.

Find the sum to infinity for the following series 64 + 16+ 4 +1 +0.25 + …

1
28. (a) The sum of the first n terms of an arithmetic progression is given by �� = 2(7�2 − 31�).
Find
(i) The common difference,
(ii) The fourth term.
(c) Find the common ratio of a geometric progression that has the first term as 18 and the
sum of the first n terms with n sufficiently large till �� ≈ 0 as 27.

29. An arithmetical progression has 11 terms. The sum of the first eight terms is 108 and the sum
of all the even number term is 25. Find
(a) The ninth term
(b) The sum of the first five terms.
30.
(a) A welfare fund has RM 1 000 000. Every month RM 10 000 is donated to orphanages.
Find
(i) The month in which the balance in the welfare fund is RM 480 000.
(ii) The amount of money in the fund after seven years.

(b) An arithmetic progression has 12 terms. The sum of the first term and the last term is 15.
Given that the ninth term is 20, find the first term and the common difference.

31. For the arithmetic progression

43, 35, 27, 19, …,
(a) Find the term which has the value of -37.
(b) Calculate the sum from the 12th term to the 18th term.

32.
(a) Three consecutive terms in an arithmetic progression are Type equation here.
2h – 1, 3k, and 4h – 5. Find � in terms of ℎ.

33. The sum of the first five terms of an arithmetic progression is 95. The sum of the next four
terms is 202. Find
(a) The first term,
(b) The common difference.

34. Find four consecutive terms of the arithmetic progression -39, -34, -29, -24, … such that the
sum of these terms is 14.

35. The common difference of an arithmetic progression is 5 and the sum of the first 10 terms is
255. Find
(a) The first term
(b) The sum of the first 5 terms after the 6th term.

36. The fourth term of an arithmetic progression is 250 and the sum of the fifth term to eight term
is 900. Find
(a) The first term and the common difference of the progression.
(b) The minimum value of n such that the sum of the first n terms is greater than 3000.

37. � + 1, 3� + 1 ��� 4� + 6 are three consecutive terms in an arithmetic progression. Calculate

the value of �.
38. What is the least number of terms needed in the sequence 1, 4, 16, … to produce the sum of
21 845?
39. In an arithmetic progression, the sum of the first 5 terms is -40 and the common difference is
5. Find
(a) The third term,
(b) The sum from the 4th term to the 8th term.

1
40. The sum of the first n terms in an arithmetic progression is �� = 7�2 + 9� . Find
2
(a) The first term,
(b) The common difference.
41. The sum of the first 15 terms of an arithmetic progression is 975. Given that the fifth term is
38. Find
(a) The first term and the common difference,
(b) The sum from the 3rd term to the 8th term.

1
42. The first three terms of a particular magazine is 30 sen. The cost reduces by 2 sen for each
subsequent copy. Calculate the cost for printing
(a) The 20th copy,
(b) The 40th copy.

43. A wire 6 m long is cut into 25 pieces. Each piece is 1 cm longer than the preceding piece.
Find the length of the first and the last pieces.
44. The fourth term of an arithmetic progression is 10. The difference between the sum of the first
4 terms and the sum of the next 4 terms is 96.
Find
(a) The first term and the common difference,
(b) The sum of the first 20 terms.
(c) The smallest value of n such that the sum of the first n terms is greater than 3000.

45. An arithmetic progression has 11 terms. The third term is -7 and the difference between the
sum of the odd terms and the sum of the even terms is 8. Find
(a) The first term,
(b) The common difference,
(c) The sum of the last 4 terms of the progression.

46. The 3rd, 4th and the 5th terms of an arithmetic progression are 8� + 4, 6� + 12 ��� 5� + 1
respectively. Find
(a) The value of p,
(b) The first term,
(c) The sum of the first 15 terms.

47. For an arithmetic progression the sum of the first n terms is given by �� = 3�2 − 2�. Find
(a) The first term and the common difference,
(b) The 12th term,
(c) The sum of the 5th to the 15th terms.

48. For the arithmetic progression -20, -13, -6, …, find

(a) The sum of first 20 terms,
(b) The sum from the 6th to the 12th terms,
(c) The largest value of n such that the nth term is less than 450.