Question

Find the first six terms of the sequence. (1 point)

a1 = -8, an = 5 • an-1

Answer 1

these are my options:

-40, -200, -1000, -5000, -25,000, -125,000
0, 5, -40, -35, -30, -25
-8, -40, -200, -1000, -5000, -25,000
-8, -40, -35, -30, -25, -20

Answer 2

any ideas what \(\Large a_{\color{brown}{ n}}=5\cdot a_{{\color{brown}{ n}}-1}\) means?

Answer 3

i mean thats what i have to use to plug in a1=8 right?

Answer 4

hm?

Answer 5

do you know hmmm what \(\Large a_{\color{brown}{ n}}=5\cdot a_{{\color{brown}{ n}}-1}\) that means by any chance?

Answer 6

sort of, not really. i was confused

Answer 7

well... have you covered geometric sequences yet?

Answer 8

yeah

Answer 9

alrite... so... lemme hmm hmmm post something

Answer 10

\(\begin{array}{llllr}
a_{\color{brown}{ n}}&=&5\cdot &a_{{\color{brown}{ n}}-1}\\
the\ {\color{brown}{ n}}^{th}\textit{ term}&equals&5\ times&previous\ term
\end{array}\)

does that make any sense? =)

Answer 11

the notation \(\Large a_{\color{brown}{ n}}=5\cdot a_{{\color{brown}{ n}}-1}\)

simply means, "the current term value, is 5 times (whatever the n-1 or this term minus one, or the previous one was)"

Answer 12

which means that, to get the "next term", simply multiply your current term by 5
which means, 5 is the "common ratio"

you're asked to find the next 6 terms
well, you have the first one already, that is \(\Large a_1\)
to get the others \(\begin{array}{llll}
term&value
\\\hline\\
a_1&-8\\
a_2&5\cdot a_1\\
a_3&5\cdot a_2\\
a_4&5\cdot a_3\\
a_5&5\cdot a_4\\
a_6&5\cdot a_4
\end{array}\)

Answer 13

hmm \(\begin{array}{llll}
term&value
\\\hline\\
a_1&-8\\
a_2&5\cdot a_1\\
a_3&5\cdot a_2\\
a_4&5\cdot a_3\\
a_5&5\cdot a_4\\
a_6&5\cdot a_5
\end{array}\) rather