

Since they constitute a major part of the question paper, here is a blog to help you with a long list of some sequence and series questions to practice and fetch some alluring score in your GMAT exam. The perplexing one out of all is the sequence and series questions which most of us are scared of. which together offer many baffling questions. Being a reputable examination, it evaluates candidates on various parameters like the English Language, Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude etc. With tantalizing GMAT score, you can get closer to seeking quality education. Nonetheless, it must be understood that:ġ.The sum of the terms in the sequence is not a concern.Ģ.The sum of the terms in a series is of utmost concern.ģ.The order or pattern of terms in a sequence is always important.Ĥ.The order or pattern of terms in a series is sometimes important.ĥ.A sequence is a listing of numbers or terms while a series is the summation of the terms.Graduate Management Aptitude Test ( GMAT) is one of the most prestigious competitive exams which thousands of students take every year who aspire to study abroad. In summary, the two terms “series” and “sequence” are understandably causing much confusion to many. So it is described as infinite or, more appropriately, as divergent. The answer or sum of the series is said to be very high. Using the same example (sequence 1 to 1/5), if you are to associate the sequence into a series, you can immediately write it as 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5 and so on, and so forth. However, there are also some series that result in a change in the sum given a different type of order in the terms.


These are termed as an absolutely convergent series. This is because a few series can have terms without a particular order or pattern but will still add up together. In a series, the order of appearance of each term is also important but not at all times as opposed to a sequence. Thus, a series has a sequence bearing terms (variables or constants) that were added.

However, as there will be no negative value or any number less than zero in the sequence, the limit or end of the sequence, no matter how long it will become, is assumed to be zero.īy contrast, a series is just adding up or summing a group of numbers (i.e., 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10). In the above example of the sequence 1 to 1/5, the behavior of the sequence is moving closer to the zero value. This also shows that sequences have behaviors. The same pattern continues if you are asked for the one millionth nth term, it will be 1/1,000,000. For example, in the sequence 1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5 and so on, if you are asked what the sixth 1/n term is, you can say that it is expected to be 1/6. There are other more complicated sequences that resemble some kind of pattern like 7, 6, 9, 8, 11, 10.īecause there is pattern in a sequence, one can readily guess the nth term. The sequence 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 is another file that is arranged in descending order. For example, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 is a sequence of numbers 6 to 10 in ascending order. So the order of the numbers in the list is of particular importance. However, these terms are very distinct from each other with respect to mathematical and scientific viewpoints.įoremost, when one talks about a sequence, it simply means a list or file of numbers or terms. The terms “series” and “sequence” are often used interchangeably in common and non-formal practice.
