Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Determine the sum of the first 20 terms of an A.P. if a4 - a2 = 4 and a1 + a3 + a5 + a6 = 30.

We'll write, for the beginning, the sum of n terms of an
arithmetic series:


Sn =
(a1+an)*n/2


a1 - the 1st
term


an - the n-th term


n -
the number of terms


Since n  = 20, we'll re-write the sum
for the first 20 terms:


S20 = (a1 +
a20)*20/2


S20 = (a1 +
a20)*10


We'll have to calculate the first term and the
common difference d, to determine any term of the arithmetic
series.


From enunciation, we
have:


a4 - a2 = 4


a4 = a1 +
3d


a2 = a1 + d


We'll write a4
and a2 with respect to a1 and d:


a1 + 3d - a1 - d =
4


We'll combine and eliminate like
terms:


2d = 4


d =
2


 We also know, from enunciation,
that:


a1 + a3 + a5 + a6 =
30


We'll write the terms with respect to a1 and
d:


a1 + a1 + 2d + a1 + 4d + a1 + 5d =
30


We'll combine  like terms and substitute
d:


4a1 + 11d = 30


4a1 = 30 -
11d


4a1 = 30 - 22


4a1 =
8


a1 = 2


Now, we can calculate
a20:


a20 = a1 + 19d


a20 = 2 +
19*2


a20 = 2 + 38


a20 =
40


S20 = (a1 + a20)*10


S20 =
(2 + 40)*10


S20 =
42*10


S20 =
420


The sum of the first 20
terms of the arithmetic progression is S20 = 420.

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