Question

Find the first three terms of the sequence defined below, where n represents the position of a term in the sequence. Start with n = 1.an = 3n − 8

Answer 1

To find the first three terms of the sequence defined as

This implies that we solve for

`a_n`

for n equals 1, 2, and 3.

Thus,

first term: n=1

`\begin{gathered} a_1=3(1)-8 \\ \Rightarrow a_1=-5 \end{gathered}`

second term: n =2

`\begin{gathered} a_2=3(2)-8 \\ \Rightarrow a_2=-2 \end{gathered}`

third term: n = 3

`\begin{gathered} a_3=3(3)-8 \\ \Rightarrow a_3=1 \end{gathered}`

Hence, the first three terms of the sequence are

`-5,\text{ -2, 1}`