MATHS UNIT 3: PROGRESSIONS

UNIT 3: PROGRESSIONS 1. SECUENCES OF NUMBERS

The secuences are sets of numbers done in a certain order. For example: a) 1, 5, 9, 13, 17,... b) 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36,... c) 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64,... d) 1, -3, 9, -27, 81, -243,... e) 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,... f) 170, 120, 70, 20, -30, -80,... g) 1, 3, 6, 8, 16, 18, 36,... The elements of a secuence are called terms and they are named by a letter with a subscript that indicates the place occupied in the secuence : a1 for the first term, a2 for the second term, a3 for the third term,... and so on and so for.

General term of a secuence

The general term of a secuence, an, is the expresion which represents any term in the secuence. For example, the general term of the previous secuences are: a) an = 4n - 3 b) bn = n2 c) cn = 2n 1 d) dn = - (-3)n 3 e) en = its a recurrent secuence called Fibonacci secuence. F1 = 1, F2 = 1, Fn+2 = Fn+1 + Fn f) fn = 220 - 50n g) gn = its a recurrent secuence formed by adding 2 and multiplying by 2 successively.

Fibonacci secuence
The Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,13, 21, 34, 55, ... In mathematical terms, the sequence Fn of Fibonacci numbers is defined by the recurrence relation
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F1 = 1, F2 = 1, Fn+2 = Fn+1 + Fn The Fibonacci sequence is named after Leonardo of Pisa, who was known as Fibonacci. Fibonacci's 1202 book Liber Abaci introduced the sequence to Western European mathematics, although the sequence had been described earlier in Indian mathematics. Fibonacci numbers are intimately connected with the golden ratio,

where

is the golden ratio .

Applications include computer algorithms such as the Fibonacci search technique and the Fibonacci heap data structure, and graphs called Fibonacci cubes used for interconnecting parallel and distributed systems. They also appear in biological settings, such as branching in trees, arrangement of leaves on a stem, the fruit spouts of a pineapple, the flowering of artichoke, an uncurling fern and the arrangement of a pine cone.

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The Fibonacci numbers are the sums ot the shallow diagonals (shoen in red) of Pascals triangle

Fibonaccis rabbits

The original problem that Fibonacci investigated (in the year 1202) was about how fast rabbits could breed in ideal circumstances. Suppose a newly-born pair of rabbits, one male, one female, are put in a field. Rabbits are able to mate at the age of one month so that at the end of its second month a female can produce another pair of rabbits. Suppose that our rabbits never die and that the female always produces one new pair (one male, one female) every month from the second month on. The puzzle that Fibonacci posed was... How many pairs will there be in one year? 1. At the end of the first month, they mate, but there is still one only 1 pair. 2. At the end of the second month the female produces a new pair, so now there are 2 pairs of rabbits in the field. 3. At the end of the third month, the original female produces a second pair, making 3 pairs in all in the field. 4. At the end of the fourth month, the original female has produced yet another new pair, the female born two months ago produces her first pair also, making 5 pairs.
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The number of pairs of rabbits in the field at the start of each month is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ... Can you see how the series is formed and how it continues?

2. ARITHMETIC PROGRESSIONS
An arithmetic progression or arithmetic sequence is a sequence of numbers such that the difference between the consecutive terms is constant. For instance, the sequence 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, is an arithmetic progression with common difference 2. If the initial term of an arithmetic progression is a1 and the common difference of successive members is d, then the nth term of the sequence is given by:

and in general

A finite portion of an arithmetic progression is called a finite arithmetic progression and sometimes just called an arithmetic progression.
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The behavior of the arithmetic progression depends on the common difference d. If the common difference is:

Positive, the members (terms) will grow towards positive infinity. Negative, the members (terms) will grow towards negative infinity.

Sum
The sum of the members of a finite arithmetic progression is called an arithmetic series. Expressing the arithmetic series in two different ways:

Adding both sides of the two equations, all terms involving d cancel:

Dividing both sides by 2 produces a common form of the equation:

An alternate form results from re-inserting the substitution: an = a1 + (n 1)d:

So, for example, the sum of the terms of the arithmetic progression given by an = 3 + (n-1)(5) up to the 50th term is

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2. GEOMETRIC PROGRESSIONS
A geometric progression, also known as a geometric sequence, is a sequence of numbers where each term after the first is found by multiplying the previous one by a fixed non-zero number called the common ratio. For example, the sequence 2, 6, 18, 54, ... is a geometric progression with common ratio 3. Similarly 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25, ... is a geometric sequence with common ratio 1/2. The sum of the terms of a geometric progression is known as a geometric series. Thus, the general form of a geometric sequence is

and that of a geometric series is

where r 0 is the common ratio and a is a scale factor, equal to the sequence's start value. ELEMENTARY PROPERTIES The n-th term of a geometric sequence with initial value a and common ratio r is given by

Such a geometric sequence also follows the recursive relation for every integer GEOMETRIC SERIES A geometric series is the sum of the numbers in a geometric progression:

We can find a simpler formula for this sum by multiplying both sides of the above equation by 1 r, and we'll see that

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since all the other terms cancel. Because r 1 for geometric series (r = 1 would give us an arithmetic progression), we can rearrange(for r 1) the above to get the convenient formula for a geometric series:

If one were to begin the sum not from k=0, but from a higher term, say m, then

Differentiating this formula with respect to r allows us to arrive at formulae for sums of the form

For example:

For a geometric series containing only even powers of r multiply by 1 r2:

Then

For a series with only odd powers of r

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and

INFINITE GEOMETRIC SERIES An infinite geometric series is an infinite series whose successive terms have a common ratio. Such a series converges if and only if the absolute value of the common ratio is less than one ( | r | < 1 ). Its value can then be computed from the finite sum formulae

Since:

Then:

CARL FRIEDRICH GAUSS (1777-1855) Perhaps one of the reasons that Carl Friedrich Gauss was able to create so much mathematics in his lifetime was that he got a very early start. Just consider the following two events: when he was 3 years old he corrected his father's arithmetic, and in school, when he was in the third grade, he developed a formula for finding the sum of any arithmetic progression. Gauss was born in Brunswick, Germany as the only son of poor peasants living in miserable conditions. He exhibited such early genius that his family and neighbors called him the "wonder child". When he was two years old, he gradually got his parents to tell him how to pronounce all the letters of the alphabet. Then, by sounding out combinations of letters, he learned (on his own) to read aloud. He also picked up the meanings of the number symbols and learned to do arithmetical calculations. The story as told by Eric T. Bell: "One Saturday Gerhardt Gauss was making out the weekly payroll for the laborers under his charge, unaware that his young son was following the proceedings with critical attention. Coming to the end of his long computations, Gerhardt was startled to hear the little boy pipe up, 'Father,
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the reckoning is wrong, it should be ..." A check of the account showed that the figure named by the young Gauss was correct." Eric Temple Bell, Men Of Mathematics , Simon Schuster, Inc., New York, 1937 When Gauss was ten years old he was allowed to attend an arithmetic class taught by a man (Buttner) who had a reputation for being cynical and having little respect for the peasant children he was teaching. The teacher had given the class a difficult summation problem in order to keep them busy and so that they might appreciate the "shortcut" formula he was preparing to teach them. Gauss took one look at the problem, invented the shortcut formula on the spot, and immediately wrote down the correct answer. This act was apparently so astonishing that Herr Buttner was transformed into a champion for this young boy. "Out of his own pocket he paid for the best textbook on arithmetic obtainable and presented it to Gauss. The boy flashed through the book." (E. T. Bell). Buttner, realizing that he could teach this young genius no more, recommend him to the Duke of Brunswick, who granted him financial assistance to continue his education into secondary school and finally into the University of Gottingen. In 1799, Gauss got his doctorate; his dissertation was a brilliant proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra. In 1801 when he was 24, he completed his work Disquisitiones Arithmeticae which became the most significant contribution to number theory up to that time. In that volume he led the way to many new areas of mathematics, including the use of imaginary numbers and his theory of congruent numbers. Immediately following this abstract work in pure mathematics, Gauss plunged into the realm of applied mathematics -- in particular, astronomy. The newly discovered asteroid Ceres had been observed by many astronomers for 40 days, but none of them could get a correct computation for its orbit. Gauss was able to accurately compute the orbit after only three observations. This he did by inventing the method of least squares. On another occasion, while interested in the abstract problem of geodesics, (shortest distance between two points on a surface such as the Earth) he invented the heliotrope, a surveying instrument that used the sun's rays to obtain accurate measurements. He also developed the mathematics of error analysis for measurements in general, giving rise to probability analysis and hypothesis testing. The normal probability curve is known as the Gaussian curve. His work with Wilhelm Weber resulted in an advancement of the theory of electromagnetism. Because of his motto "few but ripe", there were certain ideas that Gauss had done work on but did not publish, since he felt that they were incomplete. Some of these unknown works included complex variables, non-euclidean geometry, and the mathematical foundations of physics. Every one of these ideas were discovered later by other mathematicians. Although he didn't get credit for these particular discoveries, his reward in pursuing such research was the pleasure of finding the truth for its own sake. It is rightfully said that Gauss was probably the greatest mathematician of all time. EXERCISES 1. How did Gauss learn to read and how old was he at the time? 2. What event made Gauss's third grade teacher become interested in helping the boy get financial assistance to go to high school and the university? 3. What method did Gauss invent in order to calculate the orbit of Ceres? 4. What was Gauss's motto and how did it affect the mathematical work that he published? 5. Speculate on how a modern Gauss might be handled in today's school systems in various countries.

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