Explanation:
Initially, there's only 1 letter.
Tania sends the letter to 4 friends.
Each friend sends a letter to 4 more friends (4 × 4 = 16).
Each of those friends sends to 4 more friends (16 × 4 = 64).
The pattern is 1, 4, 16, 64, etc.
This is a geometric sequence. The first term is 1 and each term is 4 times the previous term.
a₁ = 1
aₙ = 4 aₙ₋₁
The explicit formula is:
aₙ = 1 (4)ⁿ⁻¹