Algebra 2/Trig – Notes Day 16-2: Geometric

Sequences
Read pages 1-3 and complete the notes and practice problems on pages 4-5.

Complete the Day 2 assignment for homework.

You will learn how to identify geometric sequences, calculate the nth term of geometric
sequences, and find the number of terms in a geometric sequence.

Inspect the three sequences below carefully. How are they all alike?

Sequence A: 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 , 16 , ...
Sequence B: 0.01 , 0.06 , 0.36 , 2.16 , 12.96 , ...
Sequence C: 16 , -8 , 4 , -2 , 1 , ...

Identifying a Geometric Sequence:

Sequences of numbers that follow a pattern of multiplying a fixed number from one term to the
next are called geometric sequences.
For sequence A, if we multiply by 2 to the first number we will get the second number. This
works for any pair of consecutive numbers. The second number times 2 is the third number: 2 ×
2 = 4, and so on.
For sequence B, if we multiply by 6 to the first number we will get the second number. This also
works for any pair of consecutive numbers.
Sequence C is a little different because it seems that we are dividing; yet to stay consistent with
the theme of geometric sequences, we must think in terms of multiplication. We need to multiply
by -1/2 to the first number to get the second number. This too works for any pair of consecutive
numbers.
Because these sequences behave according to this simple rule of multiplying a constant number
to one term to get to another, they are called geometric sequences. So that we can examine these
sequences to greater depth, we must know that the fixed number that binds each sequence
together is called a common ratio. Mathematicians use the letter r to represent a common ratio.

What is the common ratio for this sequence? 4, 12, 36, 108… Pause and think for a minute
about how you can combine any two consecutive terms in the sequence to get r.

o r can be calculated by dividing any two consecutive terms in a geometric sequence. The
an +1
formula for calculating r is... r = where n is any positive integer greater than 1.
an
Calculating the nth Term :
In order for us to know how to obtain terms that are far down these lists of numbers, we need to
develop a formula that can be used to calculate these terms. If we were to try and find the 20th
term, or worse the 2000th term, it would take a long time if we were to simply multiply a number
-- one at a time -- to find our terms.

If we had to find the 400th term of sequence A above, we would undertake a tedious task had we
decided to multiply by two each step of the way all the way to the 400th term. Luckily, there is a
way to arrive at the 400th term without the need for calculating terms 1 through 399.

The formula for the general term for each geometric sequence is...

an = a1 • r n −1

where a1 is the first term of the sequence and r is the common ratio.

Let's examine sequence A so that we can find a formula to express its nth term.
If we match each term with its corresponding term number, we get:

Term: 1 2 4 8 16 . . .
n= 1 2 3 4 5...

The fixed number, called the common ratio (r), is 2. So the formula will be an = 1 (2)n - 1

Now if we were asked to find the 12th term in this sequence, we would calculate for a12 :
an = a1 • r n −1
a12 = (1) • (2)12−1
(Think about how this means “start at 1, and multiply by 2, 11 times.”)
a12 = 211
a12 = 2048

Let's take a look at sequence B.

Term 0.01 0.06 0.36 2.16 12.96 . . .

n 1 2 3 4 5...

The fixed number, r, is 6. So the formula will be...

an = a1 • r n −1
an = (0.01) • (6) n −1

If we wanted to calculate the 8th term:

 an = a1 • r n −1
an = (0.01) • (6) n −1
a8 = (0.01) • (6)8−1
a8 = (0.01) • (6) 7
a8 = 2799.36

Finding the Number of Terms :

It may be necessary to calculate the number of terms in a certain geometric sequence. To do so,
we would need to know a couple of things:

1) The common ratio

2) The first number in the sequence.
3) The last number in the sequence.

For example:

How many terms are in the geometric sequence 4096, 2048, 1024, …. , 8, 4 ?

We note that r = ½, a1 = 4096, and an = 4, we want to find n.

an = a1 • r n −1
4 = (4096) • ( 12 )
n −1

= ( 12 )
1 n −1
1024

log ( 1024
1
) = ( n − 1) • log ( 12 )
log ( 1024
1
) = n −1
log ( 12 )
10 = n − 1
n = 11