OCR C2 2005 January — Question 9

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleC2 (Core Mathematics 2)
Year2005
SessionJanuary
TopicGeometric Sequences and Series

9 A geometric progression has first term \(a\), where \(a \neq 0\), and common ratio \(r\), where \(r \neq 1\). The difference between the fourth term and the first term is equal to four times the difference between the third term and the second term.
  1. Show that \(r ^ { 3 } - 4 r ^ { 2 } + 4 r - 1 = 0\).
  2. Show that \(r - 1\) is a factor of \(r ^ { 3 } - 4 r ^ { 2 } + 4 r - 1\). Hence factorise \(r ^ { 3 } - 4 r ^ { 2 } + 4 r - 1\).
  3. Hence find the two possible values for the ratio of the geometric progression. Give your answers in an exact form.
  4. For the value of \(r\) for which the progression is convergent, prove that the sum to infinity is \(\frac { 1 } { 2 } a ( 1 + \sqrt { } 5 )\).