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Someone pls help I don't undertand

Determine whether the following sequence is arithmetic or geometric and then
calculate the 8

th and 10th terms

-25, -15, -5, 5, 10, ...

The sequence is arithmetic / geometric. (Circle one)

8
th term: 10th term:

2-4) Removed

1 Answer

1 vote

The jump from -25 to -15 is +10

The jump from -15 to -5 is also +10

The jump from -5 to 5 is also +10

Unfortunately, this pattern doesn't hold up. The jump from 5 to 10 is +5

Because the gap isn't the same each time, this tells us the sequence is not arithmetic.

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We can show the sequence isn't geometric either. Pick any term to divide it over its previous term

-15/(-25) = 0.6

-5/(-15) = 0.333 approximate

The result isn't the same, so we don't have a common ratio and that's why this sequence isn't geometric.

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It seems like your teacher made a typo. Please double check with them to make sure that they typed the correct sequence. I have a feeling that 10 should be 15, but I'm not entirely sure.

User Georg Mavridis
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