Large Geometric Progression

Algebra Level 2

A geometric progression has one million terms. The last term is 2020 2020 and the common ratio is 2 2 . What is the sum of the last 10 10 terms? Give your answer to the nearest integer.


The answer is 4036.

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2 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
Nov 11, 2020

The sum of the last 10 10 terms of the geometric progression is given by:

S = 2020 + 2020 2 + 2020 2 2 + + 2020 2 9 = 2020 ( 1 + 1 2 + 1 2 2 + + 1 2 9 ) = 2020 × 1 1 2 10 1 1 2 = 4040 ( 1 1 1024 ) 4040 4040 1000 4036 \begin{aligned} S & = 2020 + \frac {2020}2 + \frac {2020}{2^2} + \cdots + \frac {2020}{2^9} \\ & = 2020 \left(1 + \frac 12 + \frac 1{2^2} + \cdots + \frac 1{2^9} \right) \\ & = 2020 \times \frac {1-\frac 1{2^{10}}}{1-\frac 12} \\ & = 4040 \left(1 - \frac 1{1024} \right) \\ & \approx 4040 - \frac {4040}{1000} \\ & \approx \boxed{4036} \end{aligned}

Hypergeo H.
Nov 10, 2020

Count backwards!
The common ratio of the reverse GP is the reciprocal of the common ratio of the original GP.
Using ' to indicate the reverse GP, we have: a = 2020 , r = 1 2 S 10 = a ( 1 r n ) 1 r = 2020 ( 1 ( 1 2 ) 10 ) 1 1 2 = 4036 \begin{aligned} a'&=2020, r'=\frac 12\\ S'_{10}&=\frac {a'(1-r'^n)}{1-r'}\\ &=\frac {2020(1-(\tfrac 12)^{10})}{1-\tfrac 12}\\ &=4036\end{aligned}

@Hypergeo H. , you don't need to go to the next line for a new sentence. Just continue to type. So that when the screen size changes (for example from desktop to phone), the sentences flow without breaks,

Chew-Seong Cheong - 7 months ago

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It was intentionally broken up for emphasis, i.e. like bullet points, to make it easier to read.

Hypergeo H. - 7 months ago

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I see. Unnecessary for such a short problem statement. The statement looks broken.

Chew-Seong Cheong - 7 months ago

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