Combinations of Series (Edexcel International A Level Further Maths)
Revision Note
Author
Mark CurtisExpertise
Maths
Combinations of Series
How do I find combinations of series?
Use the three formulae:
Coefficients of , and can come out of the sum
Constants are multiplied by
You may have to expand expressions in
It is often possible to factorise final answers, in particular taking out:
fractional coefficients
You may be required to write series as the difference of two sums
Exam Tip
Exam questions often refer to these three formulae as the "standard summation formulae".
Worked Example
(a) Using standard summation formulae, show that
Expand and simplify the left-hand side
Substitute in the formulae and
Factorise out the quarter, and then simplify
Factorise the quadratic on the right-hand side
Rearrange into the form asked for by the question
(b) Hence find the value of
It helps to write out the first few terms in the series
The question stops at 20 x 21 x 22
This is actually the 21st term (not the 20th term)
To find the sum of the first 21 terms, substitute into part (a)
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(c) If , find .
Substitute the answer from part (a) into the left-hand side
Substitute the standard formula into the right-hand side
Cancel the terms and from both sides
It also helps to multiply both sides by 12 to remove fractions
Expand, then form and solve a quadratic in
must be a positive integer (as it is used in sigma notation, )
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