VII Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 What's it called when you take a series of numbers, starting from one variable and working either higher or lower till you get to zero, adding the sum of all the numbers along the way? i.e. number is 50 so declining from 50 to 0 we add 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, etc till we get a total of all the numbers until reaching zero? Does someone know if there's an option on calculators to figure this quickly with larger numbers? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
44MLX Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Not sure for adding but I know factorial which is like 9! = 9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 usually scientific calculators have the '!' Function Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biohead Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 I don't think the function has a name as such... but if what I think you're talking about is correct it has a much more generalised formula: Where n is the variable in question, the addition of all the numbers from 0 to n is: (n*(n+1))/2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramesees Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 What you are talking about is called Summation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summation You will find a quick formula for doing what you want at that link but its basically as follows: Say you want to find the sum of numbers from 1 to 50 (in your example) So you take the max number (50) and multiply it by one higher (51) This gives the value 2550. You then divide this by 2 giving the answer 1275 and that is the value of the sum of numbers 1 - 50. You can test this out with a smaller range (eg the sum of numbers 1-5) So Max number is 5 multiplied by one higher (6) = 30. Then divide by 2 = 15. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15 QED :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+theblazingangel MVC Posted April 9, 2013 MVC Share Posted April 9, 2013 Summation Arithmetic progression Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VII Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 Wonderful! Thank you all for your replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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