Question

Describe a situation when you think the common difference would be negative

Answer 1

One situation where the common difference in a sequence could be negative is when describing a decreasing trend or a decline in a particular phenomenon. For example, consider a company's revenue over several quarters. If the revenue decreases each quarter, the common difference would be negative as each subsequent value in the sequence is smaller than the previous one. Similarly, in a population study, if the number of individuals in a particular species decreases over time, the common difference would be negative. In these scenarios, the negative common difference indicates a trend of decrease or decline.