The first four terms of a Fibonacci sequence are
a
2a
3a
5a
The sum of the first five terms of this sequence is 228
Work out the value of a. - Edexcel - GCSE Maths - Question 6 - 2021 - Paper 3
Question 6
The first four terms of a Fibonacci sequence are
a
2a
3a
5a
The sum of the first five terms of this sequence is 228
Work out the value of a.
Worked Solution & Example Answer:The first four terms of a Fibonacci sequence are
a
2a
3a
5a
The sum of the first five terms of this sequence is 228
Work out the value of a. - Edexcel - GCSE Maths - Question 6 - 2021 - Paper 3
Step 1
The sum of the terms
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Answer
To find the value of a, we need to define the first five terms of the sequence. The terms can be expressed as follows:
The first term is a.
The second term is 2a.
The third term is 3a.
The fourth term is 5a.
The fifth term can be calculated as follows:
Since it's a Fibonacci sequence, the fifth term is the sum of the previous two terms, which is 5a+3a=8a.
Now we can sum these five terms:
extSum=a+2a+3a+5a+8a=19a
Step 2
Setting up the equation
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Answer
We know from the problem statement that this sum equals 228:
19a=228
To solve for a, we can divide both sides by 19.
Step 3
Solving for a
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