Beyond a plain A.P. or G.P., many sequences are built from sums or products of simpler patterns, and can be summed using three standard results together with the linearity of summation: the sum of the first n natural numbers is ∑r=2n(n+1), the sum of their squares is ∑r2=6n(n+1)(2n+1), and the sum of their cubes is ∑r3=[2n(n+1)]2. Summation is linear -- ∑(ar+br)=∑ar+∑br and ∑ktr=k∑tr for a constant k, and ∑1 (n times) =n -- so a complicated-looking series is handled by first finding the algebraic expression for its general term tr (often a polynomial in r, built from two arithmetic 'factor' sequences multiplied together), expanding it into separate powers of r, and then applying the three results term by term before recombining and simplifying the resulting polynomial in n.