Final answer:
The correct answer is (b) 2n² as doubling the sum of the first n odd numbers, which equates to n², results in 2n².
Step-by-step explanation:
If the 2nd difference of a quadratic pattern is "1", what does the "n squared" sequence become? The correct answer is (b) 2n². To understand why, let's consider the pattern of the sum of odd numbers, which relates to perfect squares. If we express the sum of the first n odd numbers, we find that it equates to n². Now, if we take a sequence '1, 3, 5, 7, …, (2n-1)' and add the sequence '1, 1, 1, …, 1' n times (which is the 2nd difference in this case), we essentially double each term in our original sequence and hence the series. Therefore, if the 2nd difference is '1', we are essentially summing each term twice, and the series becomes 2n².