Analyzing the Setup
The sequence consists of multiples of 3: 3,6,9,12,15,…. These are grouped into sets where the kth set contains nk=2k−1 elements.
The number of elements in each set follows the sequence of odd numbers: 1,3,5,…. This structure allows us to determine the position of any set within the infinite sequence of multiples.
The Cumulative Leap
To find the sum of the 11th set, we must first identify the starting position. We calculate the total number of elements contained in the first 10 sets.
The sum of the first n odd numbers is given by n2. For n=10, the total number of elements preceding the 11th set is:
This confirms that the 11th set begins immediately after the 100th multiple of 3. Therefore, the first term of the 11th set is the 101st multiple of 3.
The Heart of the Set
The first term a of the 11th set is:
Using the formula nk=2k−1, the number of terms in the 11th set is:
Since the set starts at the 101st multiple and contains 21 terms, it ends at the (100+21)st=121st multiple of 3. The last term l is:
The Grand Finale
We now treat the 11th set as an Arithmetic Progression with n=21 terms, first term a=303, and last term l=363. The sum S11 is calculated using the formula:
Substituting our values into the equation:
The sum of the 11th set is 6993.