GEOMETRIC SEQUENCE

The number a is the first term, and r is the common ratio of the sequence.
A. What Are Geometric Sequence Formulas?

The geometric sequence formulas include the formulas for finding its nth term and the
sum of its n terms. We can also find the sum of infinite terms of a geometric sequence
when its common ratio is less than 1. We will see the geometric sequence formulas related
to a geometric sequence with its first term 'a' and common ratio 'r' (i.e., the geometric
sequence is of form a, ar, ar2, ar3, ....)

nth Term of Geometric Sequence Formula

The nth term of the geometric sequence is, an = a · rn – 1

In a Geometric Sequence each term is found by multiplying the previous term by a
constant.
In general, we write a Geometric Sequence like this:

{a, ar, ar2, ar3, ... }

where:
 a is the first term, and
 r is the factor between the terms (called the "common ratio")

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We can also calculate any term using the Rule:

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Example 2: Find the 10th term of the geometric sequence 1, 3, 9, 27, .....
Solution:
In the given geometric sequence,
The first term is, a = 1.
The common ratio is, r = 3/1 = 9/3 = 27/9 = ... = 3.
Using the geometric sequence formula, the nth term of a geometric sequence is,
an = a · rn - 1
To find the 10th term, we substitute n = 10 in the above formula. Then we get:
a10 = 1 (3)10 - 1 = 39 = 19683
Answer: The 10th term of the given geometric sequence = 19,683.

Challenge Yourself!
1. Charles is keen to grow tomatoes in his backyard. He plants 8 seeds on day 1, 16
seeds on day 2, 32 seeds on day 3, and so on in a geometric sequence. How many
seeds will Charles plant on the 10th day?

2. Nina and Zoe, two local Girl Scouts selling cookies, sold 3 cookies on Monday, 9
cookies on Tuesday, 27 cookies on Wednesday, and so on in a geometric sequence.
How many cookies did Nina and Zoe sell on Friday?

3. Anna runs a pretzel shop in the mall. She sells 90 pretzels in the first hour, 180
pretzels in the second hour, 360 pretzels in the third hour, and so on. How many
pretzels does Anna sell in the 6th hour?

4. The profit of a printer every month doubles the profit of the previous month. If the first
month's profit is Rp 600,000, then the printing profit in the sixth month is ...

5. A rope is cut into 4 parts, each forming a geometric sequence. If the shortest piece of
rope is 2 cm and the longest piece is 54 cm, what is the original length of the rope?

6. Bacteria A multiply to double every five minutes. After 15 minutes, the number of
bacteria is 400. The number of bacteria after 30 minutes is ...