Question

Evaluating a Sum Find the sum.

$\sum _{k=1}^{4}k$

Short answer

The sum is 10.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1.  Given

The given sequence is $\sum _{k=1}^{4}k$.

Step 2.  To determine

We have to find thesum of the given sequence.

Step 3.  Calculation

We’ll plug the values of k and get rid of the summation sign to simplify:

$\begin{array}{l}\sum _{k=1}^{4}k\\ =1+2+3+4\\ =10\end{array}$

Hence, the sum is 10.