Geometric series: calculate quotient and number of elements from sum and first & last element
Question:
Creating evenly spaced numbers on a log scale (a geometric progression) can easily be done for a given base and number of elements if the starting and final values of the sequence are known, e.g., with numpy.logspace and numpy.geomspace. Now assume I want to define the geometric progression the other way around, i.e., based on the properties of the resulting geometric series. If I know the sum of the series as well as the first and last element of the progression, can I compute the quotient and number of elements?
For instance, assume the first and last elements of the progression are 
and 
and the sum of the series should be equal to 
. I know from trial and error that it works out for n=9 and r≈1.404, but how could these values be computed?
Answers:
You have enough information to solve it:
Sum of series = a + a*r + a*(r^2) ... + a*(r^(n-1))
= a*((r^n)-1)/(r-1)
= a*((last element * r) - 1)/(r-1)
Given the sum of series, a, and the last element, you can use the above equation to find the value of r.
Plugging in values for the given example:
50 = 1 * ((15*r)-1) / (r-1)
50r - 50 = 15r - 1
35r = 49
r = 1.4
Then, using sum of series = a*((r^n)-1)/(r-1):
50 = 1*((1.4^n)-1)(1.4-1)
21 = 1.4^n
n = log(21)/log(1.4) = 9.04
You can approximate n and recalculate r if n isn’t an integer.
We have to reconstruct geometric progesssion, i.e. obtain a, q, m (here ^ means raise into power):
a, a * q, a * q^2, ..., a * q^(m - 1)
if we know first, last, total:
first = a # first item
last = a * q^(m - 1) # last item
total = a * (q^m - 1) / (q - 1) # sum
Solving these equation we can find
a = first
q = (total - first) / (total - last)
m = log(last / a) / log(q)
if you want to get number of items n, note that n == m + 1
Code:
import math
...
def Solve(first, last, total):
a = first
q = (total - first) / (total - last)
n = math.log(last / a) / math.log(q) + 1
return (a, q, n);
If you put your data (1, 15, 50) you’ll get the solution
a = 1
q = 1.4
n = 9.04836151801382 # not integer
since n is not an integer you, probably want to adjust; let last == 15 be exact, when total can vary. In this case q = (last / first) ^ (1 / (n - 1)) and total = first * (q ^ n - 1) / (q - 1)
a = 1
q = 1.402850552006674
n = 9
total = 49.752 # now n is integer, but total <> 50
You have to solve the following two equations for r and n:
a:= An / Ao = r^(n - 1)
and
s:= Sn / Ao = (r^n - 1) / (r - 1)
You can eliminate n by
s = (r a - 1) / (r - 1)
and solve for r. Then n follows by log(a) / log(r) + 1.
In your case, from s = 50 and a = 15, we obtain r = 7/5 = 1.4 and n = 9.048...
It makes sense to round n to 9, but then r^8 = 15 (r ~ 1.40285) and r = 1.4 are not quite compatible.
Creating evenly spaced numbers on a log scale (a geometric progression) can easily be done for a given base and number of elements if the starting and final values of the sequence are known, e.g., with numpy.logspace and numpy.geomspace. Now assume I want to define the geometric progression the other way around, i.e., based on the properties of the resulting geometric series. If I know the sum of the series as well as the first and last element of the progression, can I compute the quotient and number of elements?
For instance, assume the first and last elements of the progression are and
and the sum of the series should be equal to
. I know from trial and error that it works out for
n=9 and r≈1.404, but how could these values be computed?
You have enough information to solve it:
Sum of series = a + a*r + a*(r^2) ... + a*(r^(n-1))
= a*((r^n)-1)/(r-1)
= a*((last element * r) - 1)/(r-1)
Given the sum of series, a, and the last element, you can use the above equation to find the value of r.
Plugging in values for the given example:
50 = 1 * ((15*r)-1) / (r-1)
50r - 50 = 15r - 1
35r = 49
r = 1.4
Then, using sum of series = a*((r^n)-1)/(r-1):
50 = 1*((1.4^n)-1)(1.4-1)
21 = 1.4^n
n = log(21)/log(1.4) = 9.04
You can approximate n and recalculate r if n isn’t an integer.
We have to reconstruct geometric progesssion, i.e. obtain a, q, m (here ^ means raise into power):
a, a * q, a * q^2, ..., a * q^(m - 1)
if we know first, last, total:
first = a # first item
last = a * q^(m - 1) # last item
total = a * (q^m - 1) / (q - 1) # sum
Solving these equation we can find
a = first
q = (total - first) / (total - last)
m = log(last / a) / log(q)
if you want to get number of items n, note that n == m + 1
Code:
import math
...
def Solve(first, last, total):
a = first
q = (total - first) / (total - last)
n = math.log(last / a) / math.log(q) + 1
return (a, q, n);
If you put your data (1, 15, 50) you’ll get the solution
a = 1
q = 1.4
n = 9.04836151801382 # not integer
since n is not an integer you, probably want to adjust; let last == 15 be exact, when total can vary. In this case q = (last / first) ^ (1 / (n - 1)) and total = first * (q ^ n - 1) / (q - 1)
a = 1
q = 1.402850552006674
n = 9
total = 49.752 # now n is integer, but total <> 50
You have to solve the following two equations for r and n:
a:= An / Ao = r^(n - 1)
and
s:= Sn / Ao = (r^n - 1) / (r - 1)
You can eliminate n by
s = (r a - 1) / (r - 1)
and solve for r. Then n follows by log(a) / log(r) + 1.
In your case, from s = 50 and a = 15, we obtain r = 7/5 = 1.4 and n = 9.048...
It makes sense to round n to 9, but then r^8 = 15 (r ~ 1.40285) and r = 1.4 are not quite compatible.