Question
Willow is in her fourth year working for the same company. Her starting salary was $48,000. The next year, her salary was $50,400. The following year, her salary was $52,920. This year, her salary is $55,566. Willow’s boss says her salary will continue
to increase by the same percentage each year.
A. Write the values given in the scenario as a sequence. already done.
Year 1: $48,000
Year 2: $50,400
Year 3: $52,920
Year 4: $55,566
$48,000, $50,400, $52,920, $55,566.
B. Is this an example of an arithmetic sequence, a geometric sequence, or
another type of sequence? Explain. already done.
This is a geometric sequence because Willow's salary is increasing by a certain percentage each year, not by adding the same amount. In simpler terms, every year her salary gets bigger by multiplying it by a specific number. For example, from Year 1 to Year 2, her salary went up by 5% (which is a little bit more than $2,400), and that same idea happens each year. So, it's not just adding a certain number each time; it's multiplying by a factor that makes it grow faster each year.
C. Create a function that models this sequence/scenario
make it simple in a small paragraph and like a kid wrote it.
to increase by the same percentage each year.
A. Write the values given in the scenario as a sequence. already done.
Year 1: $48,000
Year 2: $50,400
Year 3: $52,920
Year 4: $55,566
$48,000, $50,400, $52,920, $55,566.
B. Is this an example of an arithmetic sequence, a geometric sequence, or
another type of sequence? Explain. already done.
This is a geometric sequence because Willow's salary is increasing by a certain percentage each year, not by adding the same amount. In simpler terms, every year her salary gets bigger by multiplying it by a specific number. For example, from Year 1 to Year 2, her salary went up by 5% (which is a little bit more than $2,400), and that same idea happens each year. So, it's not just adding a certain number each time; it's multiplying by a factor that makes it grow faster each year.
C. Create a function that models this sequence/scenario
make it simple in a small paragraph and like a kid wrote it.
Answers
GPT-4o mini
To find Willow's salary each year, we can use a function that shows how it grows. Let's call her starting salary \( S \), which is $48,000. The factor we multiply by each year is 1 plus the percentage increase (in decimal form). If her salary increases by 5% every year, the factor is 1.05. So, we can write the function like this:
\[ \text{Salary} = S \times (1.05)^{(n-1)} \]
Here, \( n \) is the year number. So, each year we take her starting salary and multiply it by 1.05 for every year after the first. This way, we can find out how much she makes each year!
\[ \text{Salary} = S \times (1.05)^{(n-1)} \]
Here, \( n \) is the year number. So, each year we take her starting salary and multiply it by 1.05 for every year after the first. This way, we can find out how much she makes each year!