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| | === Olympiad Problem === | | === Olympiad Problem === |
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| − | In mathematics, an arithmetic progression (AP) or arithmetic sequence is a sequence of numbers such that the difference between the consecutive terms is constant. For instance, the sequence <math>5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 …</math> is an arithmetic progression with common difference of 2.
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| − | If the initial term of an arithmetic progression is<math>a_1</math> and the common difference of successive members is d, then the nth term of the sequence <math>(a_n)</math> is given by:
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| − | <math>\ a_n = a_1 + (n - 1)d,</math>
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| − | and in general
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| − | <math>\ a_n = a_m + (n - m)d.</math>
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| − | A finite portion of an arithmetic progression is called a finite arithmetic progression and sometimes just called an arithmetic progression. The sum of a finite arithmetic progression is called an arithmetic series.
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| − | The behavior of the arithmetic progression depends on the common difference d. If the common difference is:
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| − | Positive, the members (terms) will grow towards positive infinity.
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| − | Negative, the members (terms) will grow towards negative infinity.
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| − | Contents
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| − | 1 Sum
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| − | 1.1 Derivation
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| − | 2 Product
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| − | 3 Standard deviation
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| − | 4 See also
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| − | 5 References
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| − | 6 External links
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| − | Sum
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| − | This section is about Finite arithmetic series. For Infinite arithmetic series, see Infinite arithmetic series.
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| − | <math>2 + 5 + 8 + 11 + 14 = 40</math>
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| − | <math>14 + 11 + 8 + 5 + 2 = 40</math>
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| − | <math>16 + 16 + 16 + 16 + 16 = 80</math>
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| − | Computation of the sum<math> 2 + 5 + 8 + 11 + 14.</math> When the sequence is reversed and added to itself term by term, the resulting sequence has a single repeated value in it, equal to the sum of the first and last numbers <math>(2 + 14 = 16). </math>Thus <math>16 × 5 = 80</math> is twice the sum.
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| − | The sum of the members of a finite arithmetic progression is called an arithmetic series. For example, consider the sum:
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| − | <math> 2 + 5 + 8 + 11 + 14</math>
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| − | This sum can be found quickly by taking the number n of terms being added (here 5), multiplying by the sum of the first and last number in the progression (here <math>2 + 14 = 16</math>), and dividing by 2:
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| − | <math> \frac{n(a_1 + a_n)}{2}</math>
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| − | In the case above, this gives the equation:
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| − | <math> 2 + 5 + 8 + 11 + 14 = \frac{5(2 + 14)}{2} = \frac{5 \times 16}{2} = 40.</math>
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| − | This formula works for any real numbers <math>a_1</math> and <math> a_n.</math> For example:
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| − | <math> \left(-\frac{3}{2}\right) + \left(-\frac{1}{2}\right) + \frac{1}{2} = \frac{3\left(-\frac{3}{2} + \frac{1}{2}\right)}{2} = -\frac{3}{2}.</math>
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| − | Derivation
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| − | To derive the above formula, begin by expressing the arithmetic series in two different ways:
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| − | <math> S_n=a_1+(a_1+d)+(a_1+2d)+\cdots+(a_1+(n-2)d)+(a_1+(n-1)d)</math>
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| − | <math> S_n=(a_n-(n-1)d)+(a_n-(n-2)d)+\cdots+(a_n-2d)+(a_n-d)+a_n.</math>
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| − | Adding both sides of the two equations, all terms involving d cancel:
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| − | <math> \ 2S_n=n(a_1 + a_n).</math>
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| − | Dividing both sides by 2 produces a common form of the equation:
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| − | <math>S_n=\frac{n}{2}( a_1 + a_n).</math>
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| − | An alternate form results from re-inserting the substitution: <math>a_n = a_1 + (n-1)d:</math>
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| − | <math> S_n=\frac{n}{2}[ 2a_1 + (n-1)d].</math>
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| − | Furthermore the mean value of the series can be calculated via: <math>S_n / n:</math>
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| − | <math> \overline{n} =\frac{a_1 + a_n}{2}.</math>
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| − | In 499 AD Aryabhata, a prominent mathematician-astronomer from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy, gave this method in the Aryabhatiya (section 2.18).
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| − | An n member arithmetical progression.
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| − | Product
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| − | The product of the members of a finite arithmetic progression with an initial element a1, common differences d, and n elements in total is determined in a closed expression
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| − | <math> a_1a_2\cdots a_n = d \frac{a_1}{d} d (\frac{a_1}{d}+1)d (\frac{a_1}{d}+2)\cdots d (\frac{a_1}{d}+n-1)=d^n {\left(\frac{a_1}{d}\right)}^{\overline{n}} = d^n \frac{\Gamma \left(a_1/d + n\right) }{\Gamma \left( a_1 / d \right) },</math>
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| − | where <math>x^{\overline{n}}</math> denotes the rising factorial and \Gamma denotes the Gamma function. (Note however that the formula is not valid when a_1/d is a negative integer or zero.)
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| − | This is a generalization from the fact that the product of the progression <math>1 \times 2 \times \cdots \times n</math> is given by the factorial<math> n!</math> and that the product
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| − | <math>m \times (m+1) \times (m+2) \times \cdots \times (n-2) \times (n-1) \times n \,\!</math>
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| − | for positive integers m and n is given by
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| − | <math>\frac{n!}{(m-1)!}.</math>
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| − | Taking the example from above, the product of the terms of the arithmetic progression given by an = 3 + (n-1)(5) up to the 50th term is
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| − | <math> P_{50} = 5^{50} \cdot \frac{\Gamma \left(3/5 + 50\right) }{\Gamma \left( 3 / 5 \right) } \approx 3.78438 \times 10^{98}. </math>
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| − | Standard deviation
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| − | The standard deviation of any arithmetic progression can be calculated via:
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| − | <math>\sigma = |d|\sqrt{\frac{(n-1)(n+1)}{12}}</math>
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| − | where <math>n</math> is the number of terms in the progression, and d is the common difference between terms
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| | == See also == | | == See also == |
![\[2S = (2a+(n-1)d)+(2a+(n-1)d)+(2a+(n-1)d)+...+(2a+(n-1)d)\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/b/f/e/bfe3c605cd87a957d64c1777860d0333b4fa885e.png)
, so the sum is 
.
