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The sum of a sequence (Posted on 2004-12-14) Difficulty: 4 of 5
Find the sum of the sequence: x, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, ... , nxn.

See The Solution Submitted by Mohammad    
Rating: 3.4286 (7 votes)

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A non-calculus solution | Comment 6 of 10 |

As Charlie rightly points out in the previous post, the formulas break down when x is 1 since they require division by x-1.  When x is 1, the answer is clearly n(n+1)/2.

Suppose now that x is not 1. Since

1+x+x^2+...+x^n=[x^(n+1)-1]/(x-1), we have

x^k+x^(k+1)+...+x^n=[x^(n+1)-x^k]/(x-1)=y_k, say. Thus the quantity we seek the sum of is 


 y_1+y_2+...+y_n={nx^(n+1)-y_1}/(x-1)

={nx^(n+1)-[x^(n+1)-x]/(x-1)}/(x-1)

=x[nx^(n+1)-(n+1)x^n+1]/(x-1)^2, the same result as previously obtained.


  Posted by Richard on 2004-12-15 00:41:42
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