plaguerabbit
sumande
nfa1rhp
From GMAT PREP
I don't understand what the following equals 2^9? Thanks.
2+2+2^2+2^3+2^4+2^5+2^6+2^7+2^8=
KillerSquirrel will hate me for this

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But I can't help but see the GP in the sequence

.
2+
(2+2^2+2^3+2^4+2^5+2^6+2^7+2^8)=2 + [2(2^8-1)/(2-1)]
=2 + (2^9-2)
=2^9
can you explain how you got from
2+(2+2^2+2^3+2^4+2^5+2^6+2^7+2^8)
to
2 + [2(2^8-1)/(2-1)]?
i got the answer the way KillerSquirrel did, but your way looks intriguing. Do you mind elaborating?
I used the formula for the sum of a geometric progression.
Sn = a*[(r^n - 1)/(r - 1)], r>1 and
Sn = a*[(1 - r^n)/(1 - r)], r<1
where a is the first term in the sequence.
r is the common ratio and n is the number of terms.
Check out this thread for some material on progressions.
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=47969
But, as is discussed in the thread above, it is better not to learn formulas unless you are very comfortable with the concept of progressions. Just my opinion.