1975 AHSME Problems/Problem 15

Problem

In the sequence of numbers $1, 3, 2, \ldots$ each term after the first two is equal to the term preceding it minus the term preceding that. The sum of the first one hundred terms of the sequence is

$\textbf{(A)}\ 5 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 4 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 2 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 1 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ -1$

Solution

First, write a few terms of the sequence: $1, 3, 2, -1, -3, -2, 1, 3, 2, \ldots$ Notice how the pattern repeats every six terms and every six terms have a sum of 0. Then, find that the $16*6=96$ th term is $-2$ and the sum of the all those previous terms is $0$ . Then, write the 97th to the 100th terms down: $1, 3, 2,-1$ and add them up to get the sum of $\boxed{\textbf{(A) } 5}$

1975 AHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 14	Followed by Problem 16
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
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1975 AHSME Problems/Problem 15

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