Brenda earns $1,700 per month after taxes. She is working on her budget and has the first three categories finished.Housing $612
Food $238
Transportation $370
What is the problem with this budget?
The answer is => She has allotted more than 36% of her income for housing
Compute successive differences of the terms.
If they are all the same, the sequence is arithmetic and the common difference is the difference you have found.
If successive pairs of differences have the same ratio, the sequence is geometric and the common ratio is the ratio you have determined.
Example of arithmetic sequence:
1, 3, 5, 7
Successive differences are 3-1 = 2, 5-3 = 2, 7-5 = 2. All the differences are 2, which is the common difference of the sequence.
Example of geometric sequence:
1, -3, 9, -27
Successive differences are -3-1 = -4, 9-(-3) = 12, -27-9 = -36. These are not the same, so the sequence is not arithmetic. Ratios of successive pairs of differences are 12/-4 = -3, -36/12 = -3. These are the same, so the sequence is geometric with common ratio -3.
Graphing them and see what the difference is