What does this mean?

[Marks256]

**broken link removed**

What does this little symbol mean? I asked my geometry teacher, who also teaches algebra III, and she explained it to me as if it were a FOR:NEXT statement.

She said the variable went on the bottom with its equality(n=1), and the max value on the top(100). So, that would mean 1to100.

BUT

As i was surfing the net, i found that it means "the sum of".



Who is right? I really want to know.

 

[JimB]

Both are correct.

The symbol is the Greek letter Sigma (Upper Case version), and it is used in mathemetics to say "the sum of"

As regards the FOR:NEXT connection, what is happening here, the value of the statement following the symbol is calculated when the variable n is equal to 1, 2, 3,....99, 100 and then all the answers are added together.

I hope this makes sense.

JimB

 

[Marks256]

Yep. Makes sense. Thanks. I will bug my teacher some more tomorrow.