Remark What you have to do to learn the difference between recursive and explicit is try try the first 3 or 4 terms to see what you have and how you did it.
a1 = - 3 a2 = - 3 (1/8) = -3 / 8
a3 = (a2) (1/8) a3 = (-3/8) * 1/8 a3 = (- 3/64)
a4 = a3 (1/8) a4 = -3/64 * 1/8 a4 = - 3 / 512
Take a good look at a4. What do you notice? No matter what, you are always multiplying by 1/8. That means that A and D are both wrong which they would have you raising by 3 or - 3 to some power.
So which one of B and C is correct? The answer is which ever one will not change sign from what it started out with. All four terms are minus.
In B the term is multiplied by plus 1/8. That will not change the sign of the next term.
So the answer is a_n = - 3 * (1/8)^(n - 1) <<<<< answer
