Question

The function s(m)=5+4(m−1) represents the number of stamps in Rudy’s stamp collection in month m. What does the value 4 represent in this situation?

Answer 1

The answer is: "Rudy adds 4 more stamps to his collection every month." e this helps :)

Answer 2

Let's consider some values of m: 0, 1, 2, 3, ... (that is month 0, month 1, etc.)

s(0)=5+4(0-1)=5-4=1. This means that initially Rudy has 1 stamp.

s(1)=5+4(1-1)=5+4*0=5. So, after 1 month, Rudy has 5 stamps.

s(2)=5+4(2-1)=5+4*1=5+4=9

s(3)=5+4(3-1)=5+4*2=5+8=13...

Thus, we can form the sequence 1, 5, 9, 13, ... and see clearly that each month the number of stamps increases by 4.


In this situation, 4 represents the increase in number of stamps after each month.