Summation Notation
Summation Notation
Summation Notation
Summation Notation is a mathematical notation for finding the sum of the terms of any sequence. The mathematical symbol for summation is the Greek letter sigma,
. In the previous book we used the following example to denote the sum of the first five terms of a sequence:
. The notation that describes the summation of the first term through the fifth term of a sequence is
. Therefore,
.
The notation for the sum of n terms is
. In summation notation, the letter n is called the index of summation . The value below the sigma represents the initial term. The value above the sigma represents the final term. an represents the explicit formula for the sequence.
![Summation1-1 Summation1-1](https://claregladwinresd.glk12.org/pluginfile.php/1013/mod_book/chapter/613/Sequence_and_Series/Images/Summation1-1.png)
![Summation1-2 Summation1-2](https://claregladwinresd.glk12.org/pluginfile.php/1013/mod_book/chapter/613/Sequence_and_Series/Images/Summation1-2.png)
![summation1-3 summation1-3](https://claregladwinresd.glk12.org/pluginfile.php/1013/mod_book/chapter/613/Sequence_and_Series/Images/Summation1-3.png)
![Summation1-4 Summation1-4](https://claregladwinresd.glk12.org/pluginfile.php/1013/mod_book/chapter/613/Sequence_and_Series/Images/Summation1-4.png)
The notation for the sum of n terms is
![Summation1-5 Summation1-5](https://claregladwinresd.glk12.org/pluginfile.php/1013/mod_book/chapter/613/Sequence_and_Series/Images/Summation1-5.png)