what is the 4th term in the sequence?

Question

a(1)=-11

a(n)=a(n-1)•10

Answer 1

Hi Sara,

The general form of this equality (i.e. the part with the n's in it) simply means that a(n) is equal to the previous term multiplied by 10. I'll work this out for you so you can see:

1st term: a(1) = -11

2nd term: a(2) = a(2-1)*10 = a(1)*10 = -11*10 = -110

3rd term: a(3) = a(3-1)*10 = a(2)*10 = -110*10 = -1100

4th term: a(4) = a(4-1)*10 = a(3)*10 = -1100*10 = -11000

Does this make sense to you?

Kristen