Don't even think of counting manually

Algebra Level 3

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \color{#BA33D6}{1 \\ 3 \quad 5 \\ 7 \quad 9 \quad 11 \\ 13 \quad 15 \quad 17 \quad 19 \\ 21 \quad 23 \quad 25 \quad 27 \quad 29 \\ ........................... \\..............................} **Find the sum of numbers in the 123rd row.


You can try my other Sequences And Series problems by clicking here : Part II and here : Part I. .


The answer is 1860867.

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3 solutions

Nihar Mahajan
Jun 5, 2015

Consider the n t h n^{th} row and let t 1 ( n ) , t n ( n ) t_{1(n)} , t_{n(n)} denote its 1st and last term respectively. By observation we have the relation :

t 1 ( n ) + t n ( n ) 2 = n 2 \dfrac{t_{1(n)} + t_{n(n)}}{2} = n^2

Since in this problem , n n is odd and the n t h n^{th} row is an arithmetic progression , we have n 2 n^2 as the middle term and thus the sum of terms of n t h n^{th} row is given by :

n × ( m i d d l e t e r m ) = n ( n 2 ) = n 3 n \times(middle \ term) = n(n^2)=n^3

So required answer is 12 3 3 = 1860867 123^3 = \boxed{1860867} .

Bonus: What if n n is even?

If n is even, the answer would be n(n^2+1)

Mehul Arora - 6 years ago

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Wrong , think again.

Nihar Mahajan - 6 years ago

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n^3+n, this is what it is.

Mehul Arora - 6 years ago

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@Mehul Arora Wrong.Think again

Nihar Mahajan - 6 years ago

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@Nihar Mahajan -_- you think again.

Mehul Arora - 6 years ago

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@Mehul Arora Its still n 3 n^3 . Now think again -_-

Note: People who see these comments , please don't think that we are fighting. Thats our unique way of talking.

Nihar Mahajan - 6 years ago

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@Nihar Mahajan I'm assuming what you meant by 'n' is the row number, while what Mehul meant by 'n' is the pattern (even numbers instead of odd).

Vishnu Bhagyanath - 6 years ago

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@Vishnu Bhagyanath Yes. Absolutely! That was what I thought!

Mehul Arora - 6 years ago

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Here's a stronger result (covers all positive integral values of n n ):

Consider the arithmetic progression ( a k ) k = 1 (a_k)_{k=1}^\infty given by a k = 2 k 1 a_k=2k-1 . All the successive elements of the triangle follow this AP.

Now, consider the n th n^{\textrm{th}} row of the triangle. It can be observed that the sum we need is the sum of elements of ( a k ) (a_k) from k = ( T n 1 + 1 ) k=(T_{n-1}+1) to k = T n k=T_n where T x T_x is the x th x^{\textrm{th}} triangular number . Denote our sum of the elements of the n th n^{\textrm{th}} row as S n \mathcal{S_n} . Then,

S n = k = T n 1 + 1 T n a k \mathcal{S_n}=\sum_{k=T_{n-1}+1}^{T_n} a_k

Since ( a k ) (a_k) is an AP sequence and we know that T x T x 1 = x T_x-T_{x-1}=x (obviously), we use the summation formulas of AP. We get,

S n = T n ( T n 1 + 1 ) + 1 2 ( a T n 1 + 1 + a T n ) S n = n 2 ( 2 ( T n 1 + 1 ) + 2 ( T n ) 2 ) S n = n 2 ( 2 ( T n + T n 1 ) ) = n ( 2 T n 1 + n ) S n = n ( ( n 1 ) n + n ) = n ( n ( n 1 + 1 ) ) S n = n n n = n 3 \large\mathcal{S_n}=\frac{T_n-(T_{n-1}+1)+1}{2}\left(a_{T_{n-1}+1}+a_{T_n}\right)\\ \implies\mathcal{S_n}=\frac n2\bigg(2(T_{n-1}+1)+2(T_n)-2\bigg)\\ \implies \mathcal{S_n}=\frac n2\bigg(2(T_n+T_{n-1})\bigg)=n(2T_{n-1}+n)\\ \implies \mathcal{S_n}=n((n-1)n+n)=n(n(n-1+1))\\ \implies\mathcal{S_n}=n\cdot n\cdot n=n^3

S n = n 3 n Z + \therefore\quad \boxed{\mathcal{S_n}=n^3~\forall~n\in\Bbb{Z^+}}

Note / Clarification: By definition, we have T 0 = 0 T_0=0 .

Prasun Biswas - 6 years ago

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Nice work! BTW did you try my 1000 followers problem?

Nihar Mahajan - 6 years ago

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Yeah, I saw it. I'll try it out later. :)

Prasun Biswas - 6 years ago

Your solutions are so elegant that anyone can recognize it's written by you even without seeing your name. I did . Great solution . 😀😀

Anurag Pandey - 4 years, 9 months ago

Or we can simply continue from the quoted line as usual with simple sum formulas.

S n = k = T n 1 + 1 T n a k = k = T n 1 + 1 T n ( 2 k 1 ) S n = ( T n ) 2 ( T n 1 ) 2 = 1 4 ( n 2 ( n + 1 ) 2 ( n 1 ) 2 n 2 ) S n = 1 4 n 2 ( ( n + 1 ) 2 ( n 1 ) 2 ) = 1 4 n 2 ( 4 n 1 ) = n 3 \mathcal{S_n}=\sum_{k=T_{n-1}+1}^{T_n} a_k=\sum_{k=T_{n-1}+1}^{T_n} (2k-1)\\ \implies \mathcal{S_n}=(T_n)^2-(T_{n-1})^2=\frac 14\left(n^2(n+1)^2-(n-1)^2n^2\right)\\ \implies\mathcal{S_n}=\frac 14 n^2\left((n+1)^2-(n-1)^2\right)=\frac 14 n^2(4\cdot n\cdot 1)=\boxed{n^3}

Prasun Biswas - 6 years ago
Celso Camargo
Aug 29, 2015

First row sums 1, that is 1^3. Second row sums 8, that is 2^3. Third row sums 27, that is 3^3. Fourth row sums 64, that is 4^3. So, 123rd row sums 123^3 = 1860867

Hana Wehbi
Sep 13, 2018

Notice that:

3 + 5 = 8 = 2 3 3+5=8=2^3 the sum of elements in the 2 n d 2nd row.

7 + 9 + 11 = 27 = 3 3 7+9+11= 27=3^3 the sum of numbers in the 3 r d 3rd row.

13 + 15 + 17 + 19 = 64 = 4 3 13+15+17+19=64=4^3 the sum of numbers in the 4 t h 4th row.

21 + 23 + 25 + 27 + 29 = 125 = 5 3 21+23+25+27+29= 125=5^3 the sum of numbers in the 5 t h 5th row.

Thus, the sum of numbers in the 123 r d 123rd row is 12 3 3 = 1860867 . 123^3=\boxed{1860867}.

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