Tuesday 9 January 2018

sequences and series - A problem about the ratio of atoms



I'm trying to find the ratio of the number of atoms in the core of a nanoparticle, and the outermost shell with each shell containing:



$10k^2+2$ atoms



Then the total number up to the $k^{th}$ shell is (I believe)




$\sum\limits_{n=1}^{k-1}(10(k-n)^2+2)$



It's this expression I'm stuck on. I'm not 100% on what I'm allowed to do to evaluate this summation. I couldn't find much about operations on summations when I went looking.



Is this expression equivalent?



$10\bigg(\sum\limits_{n=1}^{k-1}k^2+\sum\limits_{n=1}^{k-1}n^2-\sum\limits_{n=1}^{k-1}2kn\bigg)+\sum\limits_{n=1}^{k-1}2$



If so how can I evaluate these?




Edit: Note, errors fixed thanks to Gerry's advice in his answer


Answer



Remember $(k-n)^2=k^2+n^2-2kn$, so you're missing a factor of 2. Also, the 10 doesn't multiply the +2 in the sum, so your last sum shouldn't be in the parentheses.



But you are making it a bit harder than it has to be. Do you see that $$\sum_{n=1}^{k-1}(10(k-n)^2+2)=\sum_{n=1}^{k-1}(10n^2+2)$$ On the left, as $n$ goes from $1$ to $k-1$, $k-n$ goes from $k-1$ to $1$, so the form on the right adds up the same numbers.



Now all you need is the formula for $\sum_{n=1}^{k-1}n^2$, which you can find in any number of places. .


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