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What is this geometric sequence?
The sum of the first few terms in a geometric progression is 11, the sum of their squares is 341, and sum of their cubes is 3641. Find the terms of the sequence.


Problem Moderated by: Graeme
Problem Solution
The answer is 1, -2, 4, -8, 16, or the same terms in reverse order.

Proof is as follows: take the first n terms of the sequence
(we will solve for n later). Then we have

a(1 + r + r2 + ... + rn-1) = 11
a2(1 + r2 + r4 + ... + r2n-2) = 341
a3(1 + r3 + r6 + ... + r3n-3) = 3641

Using the standard geometric progression formulae,

a (rn - 1)/(r-1) = 11
a2 (r2n - 1)/(r2-1) = 341
a3 (r3n - 1)/(r3-1) = 3641

We want to get rid of the a's, and the simplest way to do this is to divide the second equation by the first one squared:

(r2n - 1) (r - 1)2 / ( (r2 - 1)(rn - 1)2) =
341/112 =
31/11

Now we have an equation with only two unknowns, r and n. I'm going to put u = rn and solve for it in terms of r.

We have

(u2 - 1) (r - 1)2 / ( (r2 - 1)(u - 1)2) = 31/11
(u+1)(u-1)(r-1)2 / ( (r+1)(r-1)(u-1)2) = 31/11
(u+1)(r-1) / ( (r+1)(u-1) ) = 31/11
11(u+1)(r-1) = 31(r+1)(u-1)
11ur-11u+11r-11 = 31ur-31r+31u-31
20ur+42u = 42r+20
u(20r+42) = 42r+20
u = (42r+20)/(20r+42)
u = (21r+10)/(10r+21)

Now, let's repeat the whole process. Go back to the three equations we started with and divide the third by the cube of the first.

We have

( (r3n - 1)/(r3-1) ) / ( (rn - 1)3/(r-1)3 ) =
3641/113 =
331/121

Letting u=rn again, and putting the u's in

( (u3 -1) (r-1)3 ) / ( (u -1)3(r3-1) ) = 331/121
121(u3 -1) (r-1)3 = 331 (u -1)3(r3-1)
121(u-1)(u2+u+1) (r-1)3 = 331 (u -1)3(r-1)(r2+r+1)
121(u2+u+1) (r-1)2 = 331 (u -1)2(r2+r+1)
121(u2r2+ur2+r2-2u2r-2ur-2r+u2+u+1)= 331(u2r2-2ur2+r2+u2r-2ur+r+u2-2u+1)
-210u2r2+783ur2-210r2-573u2r+420ur-573r-210u2+783u-210 = 0
(-210r2-573r-210)u2 + (783r2+420r+783)u + (-210r2-573r-210) = 0
(-210r2-573r-210)((21r+10)/(10r+21))2 + (783r2+420r+783)((21r+10)/(10r+21)) + (-210r2-573r-210) = 0
(-210r2-573r-210)(21r+10)2 + (783r2+420r+783)(21r+10)(10r+21) + (-210r2-573r-210)(10r+21)2 = 0
50820r4 + 25410r3 - 152460r2 + 25410r + 50820 = 0
2r4 + r3 - 6r2 + r + 2 = 0
(r-1)2(2r2+5r+2)=0
(r-1)2(r+2)(2r+1)=0

which has solutions r = 1 or r = -2 or r = -1/2.

Let's consider r = -2 first. We must have rn = u = (21r + 10)/(10r + 21) = (-32)/(1) = -32. So n=5.

Now, we see that

a(rn-1)/(r-1) = 11
a (-32 - 1)/(-2-1) = 11
11a = 11
a=1

which gives us the sequence as (1, -2, 4, -8, 16).

If r = -1/2, then rn = u = (21r + 10)/(10r + 21) = (-1/2)/(16) = -1/32. So n=5.

Now, we see that

a(rn-1)/(r-1) = 11
a(-1/32 - 1)/(-1/2-1) = 11
a(-33/32)/(-3/2) = 11
a(-3/32)/(-3/2)=1
a(1/16)=1
a=16

This gives us the same progression backwards --

(16, -8, 4, -2, 1)

Finally, if r=1, then rn = u = (21r + 10)/(10r + 21) = 1, so there's no telling what n might be. Any "n" would make rn=1.

Now, we see that

Since r=1, the sum of the series is an=11,
the sum of their squares a^2n=341, so a=341/11=31, but then n=11/31, which isn't an integer, so there is no solution with r=1.

In summary, the solutions are

(1, -2, 4, -8, 16)

and

(16, -8, 4, -2, 1)


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