A robotic printing head deposits layers of concrete to form a structural support pillar. The first layer has a thickness of 15.0 mm. Each subsequent layer is 2.5 mm thicker than the layer immediately preceding it. This process continues until the total height of the pillar reaches a specific requirement.
(i) State, with a reason, whether an arithmetic series or a geometric series should be used to model the thickness of the layers.
(ii) Determine an expression for the thickness of the nnn-th layer, TnT_nTn, in terms of nnn.
Given that the final height of the pillar must be at least 2100 mm, calculate the minimum number of layers required to complete the pillar.
308 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Maths 1.4 Sequences and Series, covering 1.4.1 Binomial expansion for positive integer n, 1.4.2 Link to binomial probabilities, 1.4.3 Binomial expansion for rational n (A-level only), 1.4.4 Validity of the expansion (A-level only), 1.4.5 Sequences (A-level only), 1.4.6 Increasing, decreasing and periodic sequences (A-level only), 1.4.7 Sigma notation (A-level only), 1.4.8 Arithmetic sequences and series (A-level only), 1.4.9 Geometric sequences and series (A-level only), 1.4.10 Sum to infinity of a geometric series (A-level only), and 1.4.11 Modelling with sequences and series (A-level only). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.