Is my summation notation correct?

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    Notation Summation
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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the correctness of summation notation in various examples provided by the original poster, focusing on the interpretation and application of summation indices in mathematical expressions.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster presents several summation examples and questions whether their notation and calculations are correct. They express uncertainty about the role of the index in their summation expressions.

Discussion Status

Some participants affirm the original poster's calculations, while others clarify the purpose of the summation index, indicating that it defines the range of terms included in the summation.

Contextual Notes

The original poster appears to be grappling with the implications of the summation index and its relevance to the calculations, suggesting a need for deeper understanding of summation notation.

Lo.Lee.Ta.
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It has been a while since I've had to figure out summation notation.
Would you please look through my solutions, and tell me if they're correct?
Thank you so much! :)
1a.

6
Ʃ 1/6 = ?
i=1

1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 +1/6 = 6/6 = 1

What makes me doubt my answer is that it seems like the i=1 was for nothing...

If the summation was for i/6, though, would this be correct?

(1/6) + (2/6) + (3/6) + (4/6) + (5/6) + (6/6) = 21/6 = 7/2

And if the summation were written like this:

6
Ʃ i/6 = ?
i=3

Would this be correct? (3/6) + (4/6) + (5/6) + (6/6) = 18/6 = 3

1b.

10
Ʃ 1/10 = ?
i=1

(1/10)*10 = 10/10 = 1

1c.

100
Ʃ 1/100 = (1/100)*100 = 100/100 = 1
i=1
 
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Looks fine to me.
 
Oh, okay. Thank you! :)
 
Lo.Lee.Ta said:
What makes me doubt my answer is that it seems like the i=1 was for nothing...
No, it serves a purpose. The index i doesn't explicitly appear in each term, but i = 1 gives the starting value of the index, and 6 gives the ending value. That says that there are 6 terms in the summation (6 - 1 + 1).

In this summation ## \sum_{n = 3}^{25} n^2##, there are 25 - 3 + 1 = 23 terms.
 

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