Given that the sum of the first terms of the sequence is , and is the arithmetic mean of and .
(1) Prove that the sequence is a geometric sequence.
(2) Find the sum of the first terms, , of the sequence .
Solution
(1) Proof: Since is the arithmetic mean of and , we have
When , , which gives .
When , we have
Subtracting equation (2) from equation (1), we get
which simplifies to
Then,
Thus, is a geometric sequence with the first term and common ratio .
(2) Now let's find the sum :
Using partial fractions, we can rewrite as:
Now let's find the sum of the first terms, :
\begin{align*}
T_n &= \frac{1}{2}\left[ \left(1 - \frac{1}{3}\right) + \left(\frac{1}{2} - \frac{1}{4}\right) + \left(\frac{1}{3} - \frac{1}{5}\right) + \cdots + \left(\frac{1}{n-1} - \frac{1}{n+1}\right) + \left(\frac{1}{n} - \frac{1}{n+2}\right) \right] \\
&= \frac{1}{2}\left[ 1 + \frac{1}{2} - \frac{1}{n+1} - \frac{1}{n+2} \right] \\
&= \boxed{\frac{3}{4} - \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{n+1} + \frac{1}{n+2}\right)}
\end{align*}