Asked by kassandra

george entered a function into his calculator andfound the following partail sums
s1=0.0016
s2= 0.0096
s3= 0.0496
s4= 0.2496
s5= 1.2496

determine the genral term of the corresponding sequence

how would I approach this question?



If this is a series then s<sub>n</sub> is the sum of the first n terms. So
s<sub>1</sub> = 0.0016 = t<sub>1</sub>
s<sub>2</sub> = 0.0016 + t<sub>2</sub> or s<sub>2</sub> - 0.0016 = t<sub>2</sub>
s<sub>3</sub> = s<sub>2</sub> + t<sub>3</sub> or s<sub>3</sub> - s<sub>2</sub> = t<sub>3</sub>
s<sub>4</sub> = s<sub>3</sub> + t<sub>4</sub> or s<sub>4</sub> - s<sub>3</sub> = t<sub>4</sub>


Now determine t<sub>1</sub>, t<sub>2</sub>, t<sub>3</sub>

Then determine what kind of sequence this is, arithmetic or geometric.

Determining the general term should follow fairly quickly.