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Aritmetic Sequence Notes

Nth term of an Arithmetic Sequence with the first term a1 and a common difference d is given by: explicit formula. Recursive Formula tells how an is related to one or more preceding terms.

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464 views

Aritmetic Sequence Notes

Nth term of an Arithmetic Sequence with the first term a1 and a common difference d is given by: explicit formula. Recursive Formula tells how an is related to one or more preceding terms.

Uploaded by

api-212541854
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Arithmetic Sequences

In order for a sequence to be called


arithmetic, it must have a common difference between consecutive terms.

Objective: 1. Evaluate the nth term of an arithmetic sequence 2. Write sequences in explicit and recursive form.

Extra Example #1
Decide whether each sequence is arithmetic.

a. 10, -6, -2, 0, 2,

b. 5, 11, 17, 23, 29,

2 2

a 2 a1 4

Explicit formula for an Arithmetic Sequence


The nth term of an arithmetic

sequence with the first term a1 and a


common difference d is given by:

an a1 (n 1)d

Recursive Formula for an Arithmetic Sequence

What is meant by a Recursive Rule?


A recursive rule gives the beginning term or terms of a sequence and then a recursive equation that tells how an is related to one or more preceding terms.

Why might it be hard to find the 100th term of a sequence given the recursive formula?

Example
Write an explicit rule for the nth term of the sequence 32, 47, 62, 77, Then find a12.

d 47 32 15
a1 32

an a1 (n 1)d
an 32 ( n 1)(15) a12 32 (12 1)(15) 197

Extra Example
One term for an arithmetic sequence is a8 = 50. The common difference is d =0.25 Write the expicit rule for the nth term.

an a1 (n 1)d

a8 a1 (8 1) 0.25
50 a1 (8 1) 0.25

48.25 a1

a n 48.25 ( n 1) 0.25 an 48 0.25n

Extra Example #2
Write the rule for the arithmetic sequence a1=15 and d=5. a. Explicit rule b. Recursive rule To obtain the recursive equation, use the fact that you can obtain an by adding the common difference to the previous term.

an a1 (n 1)d

an 15 (n 1)5

an 5n 10

an an 1 d
an an 1 5

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