you are miguel cervantes de navas y colin, captain in the royal spanish army in sevilla in the year 1842. Outside your barracks
window is a stack of cannonballs. on an idle afternoon you decide to calculate the number on cannonballs. what is the number of the cannonballs?
2 answers:
You might be interested in
Answer:
see explanation
Step-by-step explanation:
The n th term ( explicit formula ) of an arithmetic sequence is
= a₁ + (n - 1)d
where a₁ is the first term and d the common difference
Given a₁₂ = - 95 and a₃₇ = - 270 , then
a₁ + 11d = - 95 → (1)
a₁ + 36d = - 270 → (2)
Subtract (1) from (2) term by term to eliminate a₁
25d = - 175 ( divide both sides by 25 )
d = - 7
Substitute d = - 7 into (1) and solve for a₁
a₁ + 11(- 7) = - 95
a₁ - 77 = - 95 ( add 77 to both sides )
a₁ = - 18 , thus
= - 18 - 7(n - 1) = - 18 - 7n + 7 = - 7n - 11
= - 7n - 11 ← explicit formula
--------------------------------------------------------------
The recursive formula allows a term in the sequence to be found by adding the common difference d to the previous term, thus
=
- 7 with a₁ = - 18 ← recursive formula