Thursday, May 23, 2013

What is the nth term of the arithmetic sequence a[7]=34, a[18]=122?

the common difference is essentially the slope of an arithmetic progression. 
a%5B7%5D=34a%5B18%5D=122 

leads us to 
%0D%0Ad=%28a%5Bn%5D-a%5Bm%5D%29%2F%28n-m%29=%28122-34%29%2F%2818-7%29=8%0D%0A 
We can rewrite the nth term as 

%0D%0Aa%5B1%5D=a%5Bn%5D-%28n-1%29d%0D%0A 


Now using the 7th term we write 


%0D%0Aa%5B1%5D=34-%287-1%298=-14%0D%0A 


nth term: 

a%5Bn%5D=-14%2B%28n-1%298 



:)

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