Analyzing the Setup
Welcome, fellow traveler of the mathematical realm. Today, we are going to dissect a series that might look intimidating at first glance: 1+3+52+7+92+… up to 40 terms.
When you see a series like this, your first instinct might be to panic, but I want you to take a deep breath. Mathematics is not about brute force; it is about pattern recognition.
Look closely at the rhythm: 1, then 3, then 52, then 7, then 92. It is a dance between squared numbers and linear numbers. If we try to find one general term for this entire sequence, we will end up in a labyrinth. Instead, we use the strategy of Divide and Conquer.
The Divide and Conquer
Splitting the Series
Since we have 40 terms in total and the pattern alternates perfectly, we can split this into two distinct sub-series. Each sub-series will have exactly 20 terms.
Our first sub-series, which we will call S1, consists of the odd-positioned terms: 12+52+92+… (up to 20 terms). Note that 1 is simply 12.
Our second sub-series, S2, consists of the even-positioned terms: 3+7+11+… (up to 20 terms). By separating them, we have turned one impossible problem into two very manageable ones.
The General Term
Finding the Soul of the Series
Let us look at the bases of the first sub-series: 1,5,9,…. This is a classic Arithmetic Progression (AP) where the first term a=1 and the common difference d=4.
The general term for these bases is a+(r−1)d=1+(r−1)4=4r−3. Since our terms are squared, the general term for S1 is T1,r=(4r−3)2.
Now, for the second sub-series: 3,7,11,…. This is another AP with a=3 and d=4. Its general term is T2,r=3+(r−1)4=4r−1. We have successfully captured the essence of both series.
The Algebraic Symphony
Summation and Expansion
Now, we combine them into a single summation:
S=r=1∑20[(4r−3)2+(4r−1)]
Before we can calculate this, we must expand the quadratic term. Using the identity (a−b)2=a2−2ab+b2, we expand (4r−3)2 to get 16r2−24r+9.
Adding the linear term (4r−1), our expression becomes 16r2−24r+9+4r−1, which simplifies beautifully to 16r2−20r+8. We are now looking at the sum:
The Final Calculation
Reaching the Summit
We can now distribute the summation:
S=16r=1∑20r2−20r=1∑20r+r=1∑208
Using the standard formulas ∑r=1nr2=6n(n+1)(2n+1) and ∑r=1nr=2n(n+1) with n=20, we calculate:
S=16(620⋅21⋅41)−20(220⋅21)+8(20)
This simplifies to 16(2870)−20(210)+160, which results in 45920−4200+160.
The final answer is 41880. The beauty of this problem lies not just in the final number, but in the elegance of the process.