ARITHMETIC PROGRESSIONS

MAIN CONCEPTS AND RESULTS

** An arithmetic progression (AP) is a list of numbers in which each term is obtained by adding a fixed
number d to the preceding term, except the first term a. The fixed number d is called its common difference.
The general form of an AP is a, a + d, a + 2d, a + 3d,...
** In the list of numbers a1, a2, a3,... if the differences a2 – a1, a3 – a2, a4 – a3,... give the same value, i.e.,
if ak + 1 – ak is the same for different values of k, then the given list of numbers is an AP.
** The nth term an (or the general term) of an AP is an = a + (n – 1) d, where a is the first term and d is the
common difference.
n
** The sum Sn of the first n terms of an AP is given by Sn = [2a + (n – 1) d]
2
If l is the last term of an AP of n terms, then the sum of all the terms can also be given by
n
Sn = [a + l]
2
Sometimes Sn is also denoted by S.
QUESTIONS FROM NCERT BOOKS

1. For the AP : 0.6, 1.7, 2.8, 3.9, . . ., write the first term a and the common difference d.
1 5 9 13
2. For the AP : , , , , . . ., write the first term a and the common difference d.
3 3 3 3
3. Which of the following are APs ? If they form an AP, find the common difference d and write three more
terms.
(i) – 1.2, – 3.2, – 5.2, – 7.2, . . . (ii) 3, 3 + 2 ,3+ 2 2 ,3+ 3 2 ,...
(iii) 0.2, 0.22, 0.222, 0.2222, . . . (iv) 12, 32, 52, 72, . . .
4. Find the 10th term of the AP : 2, 7, 12, . . .
5. In the given AP, find the missing terms in the boxes : – 4, , , , ,6
6. In the given AP, find the missing terms in the boxes : , 38, , , , , – 22

7. Which term of the AP : 3, 8, 13, 18, . . . ,is 78?

8. Find the number of terms in the AP : 7, 13, 19, . . . , 205
9. Check whether – 150 is a term of the AP : 11, 8, 5, 2 . . .
10. Find the 31st term of an AP whose 11th term is 38 and the 16th term is 73.
11. An AP consists of 50 terms of which 3rd term is 12 and the last term is 106. Find the 29th term.
12. If the 3rd and the 9th terms of an AP are 4 and – 8 respectively, which term of this AP is
zero?
13. The 17th term of an AP exceeds its 10th term by 7. Find the common difference.
14. Which term of the AP : 3, 15, 27, 39, . . . will be 132 more than its 54th term?
15. Two APs have the same common difference. The difference between their 100th terms is 100, what is
the difference between their 1000th terms?
16. How many three-digit numbers are divisible by 7?
17. How many multiples of 4 lie between 10 and 250?
18. For what value of n, are the nth terms of two APs: 63, 65, 67, . . . and 3, 10, 17, . . . equal?
19. Determine the AP whose third term is 16 and the 7th term exceeds the 5th term by 12.
20. Find the 20th term from the last term of the AP : 3, 8, 13, . . ., 253.
21. The sum of the 4th and 8th terms of an AP is 24 and the sum of the 6th and 10th terms is 44. Find the first
three terms of the AP.
22. Subba Rao started work in 1995 at an annual salary of ₹ 5000 and received an increment of ₹ 200 each
year. In which year did his income reach ₹ 7000?
23. Ramkali saved Rs 5 in the first week of a year and then increased her weekly savings by ₹1.75. If in the
nth week, her weekly savings become ₹ 20.75, find n.
24. A sum of Rs 1000 is invested at 8% simple interest per year. Calculate the interest at the end of each
year. Do these interests form an AP? If so, find the interest at the end of 30 years making use of this fact.
25. In a flower bed, there are 23 rose plants in the first row, 21 in the second, 19 in the third, and so on.
There are 5 rose plants in the last row. How many rows are there in the flower bed?
26. Find the sum of the first 22 terms of the AP : 8, 3, –2, . . .
27. If the sum of the first 14 terms of an AP is 1050 and its first term is 10, find the 20th term.
28. How many terms of the AP : 24, 21, 18, . . . must be taken so that their sum is 78?
29. How many terms of the AP : 9, 17, 25, . . . must be taken to give a sum of 636?
30. The first term of an AP is 5, the last term is 45 and the sum is 400. Find the number of terms and the
common difference.
31. The first and the last terms of an AP are 17 and 350 respectively. If the common difference is 9, how
many terms are there and what is their sum?
32. Find the sum of first 22 terms of an AP in which d = 7 and 22nd term is 149.
33. Find the sum of first 51 terms of an AP whose second and third terms are 14 and 18 respectively.
34. If the sum of first 7 terms of an AP is 49 and that of 17 terms is 289, find the sum of first n terms.
35. Find the sum of the first 40 positive integers divisible by 6.
36. Find the sum of the first 15 multiples of 8.
37. Find the sum of the odd numbers between 0 and 50.
38. A contract on construction job specifies a penalty for delay of completion beyond a certain date as
follows: ₹ 200 for the first day, ₹ 250 for the second day, ₹ 300 for the third day, etc., the penalty for
each succeeding day being ₹ 50 more than for the preceding day. How much money the contractor has
to pay as penalty, if he has delayed the work by 30 days?
39. A sum of ₹ 700 is to be used to give seven cash prizes to students of a school for their overall academic
performance. If each prize is ₹ 20 less than its preceding prize, find the value of each of the prizes.
40. In a school, students thought of planting trees in and around the school to reduce air pollution. It was
decided that the number of trees, that each section of each class will plant, will be the same as the class, in
which they are studying, e.g., a section of Class I will plant 1 tree, a section of Class II will plant 2 trees
and so on till Class XII. There are three sections of each class. How many trees will be planted by the
students?

ANSWERS
1 4
1. a = 0.6, d = 1.1 2. a = d=
3 3
3. (i) Yes. d = – 2; – 9.2, –11.2, – 13.2,
(ii) Yes. d = 2 ;3+ 4 2 ,3+ 5 2 ,3+ 6 2,
(iii) No
(iv) No
4. 47 5. – 2 , 0 , 2 , 4 6. 53 , 23 , 8 , –7
th
7. 16 term 8. 34 9. No
10. 178 11. 64 12. 5th term
13. 1 14. 65th term 15. 100
16. 128 17. 60 18. 13
19. 4, 10, 16, 22, . . . 20. 20th term from the last term is 158.
21. –13, –8, –3 22. 11th year 23. 10
24. ₹ 2400 25. 10 rows 26. – 979
27. 200 28. 4 or 13 29. 12
8
30. n = 16, d = 31. n = 38, S = 6973 32. Sum = 1661
3
33. S51 = 5610 34. n2 35. 4920
36. 960 37. 625 38. Rs 27750
39. Values of the prizes (in Rs) are 160, 140, 120, 100, 80, 60, 40. 40. 234

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS
1. The 7th term of an AP is – 4 and its 13th term is –16. Find the AP.
2. The 4th term of an AP is zero. Prove that its 25th term is triple its 11th term.
3. If the sixth term of an AP is zero then show that its 33rd term is three times its 15th term.
4. The 4th term of an AP is 11. The sum of the 5th and 7th terms of this AP is 34. Find its common
difference.
5. The 9th term of an AP is –32 and the sum of its 11th and 13th terms is –94. Find the common difference
of the AP.
6. Determine the nth term of the AP whose 7th term is –1 and 16th term is 17.
7. If 4 times the 4th term of an AP is equal to 18 times its 18th term then find its 22nd term.
8. If 10 times the 10th term of an AP is equal to 15 times the 15th term, show that its 25th term is zero.
9. Find the common difference of an AP whose fi rst term is 5 and the sum of its first four terms is half the
sum of the next four terms.
10. The sum of the 2nd and the 7th terms of an AP is 30. If its 15th term is 1 less than twice its 8th term,
find the AP.
11. For what value of n, the nth terms of the arithmetic progressions 63, 65, 67, … and 3, 10, 17, … are
equal?
12. The 17th term of AP is 5 more than twice its 8th term. If the 11th term of the AP is 43, find its nth term.
13. The 24th term of an AP is twice its 10th term. Show that its 72nd term is 4 times its 15th term.
14. The 19th term of an AP is equal to 3 times its 6th term. If its 9th term is 19, find the AP.
40. If the p th term of an AP is q and its qth term is p then show that its (p + q)th term is zero.

ANSWERS
1. 8, 6, 4, 2, 0, … 4. 3 5. –5
6. Tn = (2n –15) 7. 0 9. 2
10. 1, 5, 9, 13, … 11. n = 13 12. Tn =(4n –1) 14. 3, 5, 7, 9, …