Question

Find the 3rd term of an arithmetic sequence with t2= 9/2 and t5= 6

Answer 1

well a simply way is to look at the problem as

Term 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
----------------------------
Value | 9/2 | | | 6


there are 3 terms from 2 to 5

and the value increases 6 - 9/2 = 3/2

so the common difference is 3/2 divided by 3

so the common difference is 1/2

so to find the 3rd term add 1/2 to the 2nd term

the pattern is each term is increasing by 1/2.. or 1/2 is added to the previous term.