diff --git a/guide/english/mathematics/proof-of-finite-arithmetic-series-formula-by-induction/index.md b/guide/english/mathematics/proof-of-finite-arithmetic-series-formula-by-induction/index.md index 08e796473a..0a0ca2645e 100644 --- a/guide/english/mathematics/proof-of-finite-arithmetic-series-formula-by-induction/index.md +++ b/guide/english/mathematics/proof-of-finite-arithmetic-series-formula-by-induction/index.md @@ -3,13 +3,96 @@ title: Proof of Finite Arithmetic Series Formula by Induction --- ## Proof of Finite Arithmetic Series Formula by Induction -This is a stub. Help our community expand it. +An arithmetic *sequence* is a sequence of numbers with every consecutive pair having the same difference. For example, +``` +1, 4, 7, 10 +``` +is an arithmetic sequence because `4 - 1 = 3`, `7 - 4 = 3` and `10 - 7 = 3`. An arithmetic *series* is the sum of an arithmetic sequence, for example +``` +1 + 4 + 7 + 10. +``` +The sum of an infinite arithmetic series is not a number, so the question 'what is the value of an arithmetic series' is only interesting for finite arithmetc sequences/series, so we only focus on these here. -This quick style guide will help ensure your pull request gets accepted. +The positive integers up to (and including) 100 is another arithmetic sequence, and we can ask what the corresponding series is, i.e., what is +``` +1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 98 + 99 + 100? +``` +Famously, [Carl Friedrich Gauss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss) solved this problem at the age of 7 faster than anyone else in his class by noting a pattern, +``` + 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 98 + 99 + 100 +100 + 99 + 98 + ... + 3 + 2 + 1 +---------------------------------------- +101 + 101 + 101 + ... + 101 + 101 + 101 +``` +To find the sum we can take twice the sum instead and notice that every opposite pair `(1, 100), (2, 99), etc...` has the same sum `101`, with `100` terms in the series, so adding two coipes of the series gives `100*101`, then dividing by two to get the sum of the original series, the value is +``` +100*101/2. +``` +This idea immediately generalizes to showing +``` +1 + 2 + 3 + ... + n = n*(n + 1)/2 +``` +for any positive integer `n`, as there are `n` terms pairing up with sums `n + 1`. - +But our first example above did not start at 1, nor increment by 1, so what can we do here? If we simply shift the sequence to start at `a` instead of 1 then we have +``` + a + (a + 1) + ... + (a + (n-1)) + (a + n) + (a + n) + (a + (n-1) + ... + (a + 1) + a +------------------------------------------------------ +(2*a + n) + (2*a + n) + ... + (2*a + n) + (2*a + n) +``` +and its sum can be read off easily once again, as +``` +(2*a + n)*n/2. +``` +Lastly, if instead of incrementing by 1 with each term we increment by some value `k`, the same trick can be used and we see that an arithmetic series +``` +a + (a + k) + (a + 2*k) + (a + 3*k) + ... + (a + n*k) +``` +that starts at `a`, increases by `k` each term and has `n+1` terms has the value +``` +(2*a + n*k)*(n + 1)/2. +``` -#### More Information: - +However, in case one feels like this is just a trick and prefers algebraic manipulation, we can also prove this formula by [mathematical induction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_induction). +The base case with `n = 0` is clear, the sum of the series +``` +a +``` +is +``` +a = (2*a + 0)*(0 + 1)/2, +``` +so our formula is correct for the base case. +For the inductive hypothesis, suppose we have a series +``` +a + (a + k) + (a + 2*k) + (a + 3*k) + ... + (a + (n-1)*k) +``` +with value given by the formula, +``` +(2*a + (n-1)*k)*n/2. +``` +Then +``` + a + (a + k) + (a + 2*k) + (a + 3*k) + ... + (a + (n-1)*k) + (a + n*k) += [a + (a + k) + (a + 2*k) + (a + 3*k) + ... + (a + (n-1)*k)] + (a + n*k) += (2*a + (n-1)*k)*n/2 + (a + n*k) +``` +by the induction hypothesis, and this can be simplified as follows +``` +(2*a + (n-1)*k)*n/2 + (a + n*k) = [(2*a + (n-1)*k)*n + 2*a + 2*n*k]/2 (common denominator) + = [2*a*n + (n-1)*n*k + 2*a + 2*n*k]/2 (expanding brackets) + = [(2*a*n + 2*a) + (n^2 - n + 2*n)*k]/2 (collecting like terms) + = [2*a*(n + 1) + n*(n + 1)*k]/2 (simplifying) + = (2*a + n*k)*(n + 1)/2. (factoring the (n + 1)) +``` +Thus, by the principal of mathematical induction, the sum of the arithmetic series +``` +a + (a + k) + (a + 2*k) + (a + 3*k) + ... + (a + (n-1)*k) + (a + n*k) +``` +is indeed the formula given above, +``` +(2*a + n*k)*(n + 1)/2. +```