Question

Suppose the first two terms of a pattern are 1, 2. Sarah says that each term is multiplied by two to get the next term. Jacob agrees. Can you find a counterexample to prove them false?

a) Yes
b) No

Answer 1

Yes, we can find a counterexample to disprove the statement; for example, the sequence 1, 2, 3 does not follow the rule of doubling each term.

Step-by-step explanation:

Can we find a counterexample to prove false the statement that each term in the pattern is multiplied by two to get the next term, if the first two terms are 1, 2? The answer is yes. A simple counterexample could be the sequence 1, 2, 3 where the third term is not the result of the second term multiplied by two. This shows that it is not a rule that each term must be multiplied by two to get the next term in a numerical pattern, contrary to the belief of Sarah and Jacob.