Edexcel P2 2023 October — Question 8

Exam BoardEdexcel
ModuleP2 (Pure Mathematics 2)
Year2023
SessionOctober
TopicArithmetic Sequences and Series

  1. In a large theatre there are \(n\) rows of seats, where \(n\) is a constant.
The number of seats in the first row is \(a\), where \(a\) is a constant.
In each subsequent row there are 4 more seats than in the previous row so that
  • in the 2 nd row there are \(( a + 4 )\) seats
  • in the 3rd row there are ( \(a + 8\) ) seats
  • the number of seats in each row form an arithmetic sequence
Given that the total number of seats in the first 10 rows is 360
  1. find the value of \(a\). Given also that the total number of seats in the \(n\) rows is 2146
  2. show that $$n ^ { 2 } + 8 n - 1073 = 0$$
  3. Hence
    1. state the number of rows of seats in the theatre,
    2. find the maximum number of seats in any one row.