Sequences and Series IB SL, 2016 [62 marks]

[Questions 1-3 Non Calculator]

1a. In an arithmetic sequence, the third term is 10 and the fifth term is 16. [2 marks]

Find the common difference.

1b. Find the first term. [2 marks]

1c. Find the sum of the first 20 terms of the sequence. [3 marks]

2a. The sums of the terms of a sequence follow the pattern [4 marks]

S 1 = 1 + k, S 2 = 5 + 3k, S 3 = 12 + 7k, S 4 = 22 + 15k, … , where k ∈ ℤ.

Given that u1 = 1 + k , find u2 , u3 and u4 .

[4 marks]
2b. Find a general expression for un .

[2 marks]
3a. The first three terms of a infinite geometric sequence are m − 1, 6, m + 4 , where m ∈ ℤ .

Write down an expression for the common ratio, r .

[2 marks]
3b. Hence, show that m satisfies the equation m 2 + 3m − 40 = 0 .

3c. Find the two possible values of m . [2 marks]

3d. Find the possible values of r . [2 marks]

3e. The sequence has a finite sum. [2 marks]

State which value of r leads to this sum and justify your answer.

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3f. The sequence has a finite sum. [2 marks]

Calculate the sum of the sequence.

[Questions 4-8 CALCULATOR allowed]

4a. In a geometric series, u1 = 1 and u4 = 1 . [3 marks]
81 3

Find the value of r .

4b. Find the smallest value of n for which S n > 40 . [4 marks]

7
5a. Expand ∑ 2r as the sum of four terms. [1 mark]
r=4

30
[3 marks]
5b. (i) Find the value of ∑ 2r .
r=4
∞
r
(ii) Explain why ∑ 2 cannot be evaluated.
r=4

6. A city is concerned about pollution, and decides to look at the number of people using taxis. At the end of the year 2000, there [4 marks]

were 280 taxis in the city. After n years the number of taxis, T, in the city is given by

T = 280 × 1.12n .

(i) Find the number of taxis in the city at the end of 2005.

(ii) Find the year in which the number of taxis is double the number of taxis there were at the end of 2000.

7a. Consider an infinite geometric sequence with u1 = 40 and r = 1 . [4 marks]

2

(i) Find u4 .
(ii) Find the sum of the infinite sequence.

7b. Consider an arithmetic sequence with n terms, with first term (−36) and eighth term (−8) . [5 marks]

(i) Find the common difference.

(ii) Show that S n = 2n2 − 38n .

7c. The sum of the infinite geometric sequence is equal to twice the sum of the arithmetic sequence. Find n . [5 marks]

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 [6 marks]
8. The sum of the first three terms of a geometric sequence is 62.755, and the sum of the infinite sequence is 440. Find the

common ratio.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2016

International Baccalaureate® - Baccalauréat International® - Bachillerato Internacional®

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