SERIES

LECTURE
BY
L.Msonthe

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 LECTURE OBJECTIVES
• Understand what a series is
• Know the types of series
• Series notation
• Express a series in sigma notation

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 DEFINITION
Recall :A sequence is an ordered set of
numbers that most often follows some rule
(or pattern) to determine the next term in
the order.

A series is a summation of the terms of a

sequence.

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 Examples

x, x2, x3, x4, ... . is a sequence

while x+x2+x3+ x4, ... is a series

1,4,7,10,…………. is a sequence
while 1+4+7+10, ……… is a series

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 Cont’d
Finite series: is a summation of a finite
number of terms i.e. a series that ends after a
finite number e.g.1+3+5+………..+97
Infinite series: has an infinite number of
terms and an upper limit of infinity i.e. a series
that does not end but continues indefinitely
e.g. 2+4+6+8+……………………….

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 Types of series
Two types based on the origin of the
sequence
a) Arithmetic series: the sum of the terms
of an arithmetic progression.
e.g. 2+5+8+11+14+…………….
b) Geometric series: the sum of the terms
of a geometric progression.
e.g. 2+4+8+16+……………..
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 Series notation

The greek letter sigma  is used to represent the

summation of terms of a sequence of numbers
 is used for " the summation of terms such as"
The notation is written with a formula
and it defines whether the summation is for a
finite or an infinite number of number of terms

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 Sigma notation examples

4
1.  p  1  2  3  4 (finite number of terms)
p 1
10
2.  2
k 4
k
 2 4
 2 5
 2 6
 2 7
 2 8
 2 9
 210


1 1 1 1 1
3.  2  2  2  2  2  .......(infinite number of terms)
m2 m 2 3 4 5

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 GENERAL FORMULA OF AP
n

a
i 1
i  a1  a2  a3  .........an

where the index of summation, i takes

consecutive integer values from the
lower limit, 1 to the upper limit, n.
The term a i is known as the general term.
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 Cont’d
5

 2n
n 1
means " the summation of all terms of the form

2n where n takes all integral values from1 to

5 inclusive.
5
i.e.  2n  2  4  6  8  10
n1


n
n 1
2
means " the summation of all terms of the form

n2 where n takes all integral values from

1 to infinity i.e. there is no last term.

i.e. n
n1
2
 1  4  9  16  25  ...........................................

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 Expressing series in sigma
notation
Write down the following series in the
sigma notation :
2 - 4  8 - 16  32 - 64  ...........................  128
The given series can be written as :
  2
  3
  4

2 - 2  2  2  ......................... 2  7

n
In general the terms take the form;  2
where if n is odd (i.e. 1,3,5 etc) the term is positive
where if n is even (i.e. 2,4,6 etc) the term is negative
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 Cont’d
The general term for the series is  - 1 n 1 n
2
hence the sigma notation is
7

 
n1
 1 n 1 n
2

Write another general formula for the series.

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 cont’d

Write down the following series in the

sigma notation :
1  8  27  64  125
The given series can be written as :
13  23  33  43  53
In general the terms take the form; r 3
where n is an integer

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 Cont’d

Hence the sigma notation for

5
1  8  27  64  125   r 3

r 1

Write another general formula for the series

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 Cont’d

Note that the two examples are finite series

5
2 - 4  8 - 16  ..........  128   
n1
- 1 n 1 n
2

5
1  8  27  64  125  
n1
n3

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 Examples-infinite series
Write down the following series in the
sigma notation :
2  4  6  ................
The given series can be written as :
2  1  2  2  2  3  .......... .......... .......... ..
In general the terms take the form; 2n
where n is an integer
Hence in sigma notation

2  4  6  .......... ......   2n
n1
The  above  shows that n takes integral values
to  i.e. it' s an infinite series
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 ADVANTAGES OF USING
SIGMA NOTATION
• Reduces the work of listing all terms in a
series.
• A particular term in a series may be
selected without writing down all the
earlier terms.

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 Example

Consider the series

5


n0
2n

The 1st term is the value of 2n when n  0 i.e. 2 0  1

The 4 th term is the value of 2n when n  3 i.e. 2 3  8 and
The last term is the value of 2n when n  5 i.e. 2 5  32

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 Examples
Write down the terms indicated in brackets and the
number of terms in the following series :

1
1. n
n 0
2
1
5 th term

th 1 1
5 term, n  4, 2  .
4  1 17
Number of terms  (infinite)

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 Class Exercise

Write the series in sigma notation and

the number of terms in the series :
1. 3  6  9  12  ...........  99
1 1 1 1
2.     ................
2 3 4 5
3. - 4 - 1  2  5  8  ..............  116

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 Solutions to class exercise

33
1  3n number of terms 33
1


1
 2  number of terms   undefined 
n 2 n

40 41
 3   - 4  3n  or   3n - 7  number of terms 41
n 0 n 1

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 Practice Exercise

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 Evaluating series

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 Practice Questions

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 Practice Questions

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