Revision Notes
Class - 10 Maths
Chapter 5 - Arithmetic Progression
Definition of Arithmetic Progression
● An arithmetic progression is a sequence of numbers, obtained by adding a fixed
number to the preceding term starting from the first term such that the difference
between each consecutive term remains the same.
● Each of the numbers in the list is called a term and the fixed number is called the
common difference of the AP which can be any integer.
For example: 2,5,8,11.... having common difference of 3 .
General term of an AP
1. The general form of an AP is:
a ,a d ,a 2d ,a 3d ,....,a (n 1)d
2. An AP with finite number of terms is called a finite AP having a (n 1)d as
the last term. An AP which neither has a finite number of terms nor has a last
term is called an infinite AP.
For example:
a) Finite AP: 1,3,5,7,....,25
b) Infinite AP: 2,4,6,8.....
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3. The n th term of the AP: an a (n 1)d , where a is the first term of the
sequence and d is the common difference.
The Second term: a 2 a (2 1)d a d
Similarly, the third term a 3 a (3 1)d a 2d
The fourth term a 4 a (4 1)d a 3d and so on till the last term.
Example 1:
An AP has a first term 3 , common difference 4 . Find the third and fifth term of
the AP.
Solution:
a 3, d 4
a 3 3 (3 1)4
a 3 11
Similarly,
a 5 3 (5 1)4
a 5 19
4. n th term of an AP from the end: tn L (n 1)d , where L is the last term of
the AP.
Example 2:
An AP has a common difference 2 and last term 24 . Find the fourth term of the
AP from the end.
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Solution:
d 2, L 24
t 4 24 (4 1)2
t 4 18
Sum of the terms of an AP
1. Sum of n terms of an AP if first term and common difference is given:
n
S (2a (n 1)d)
2
2. Sum of n terms of an AP if first term and last term l is given:
n
S (a l)
2
Example 3:
Find the sum of first 10 terms of the AP 1,4,7,10.....34.
Solution:
10
S (2 1 (10 1)3)
2
5(2 27)
5 29
145
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