The successive differences of a sequence are shown in this image. What is the degree of its associated polynomial expression? (1 point)

1 answer

To determine the degree of the polynomial associated with a sequence based on its successive differences, you would typically follow these steps:

  1. Calculate the First Differences: Find the differences between consecutive terms of the sequence.

  2. Calculate the Second Differences: Find the differences between the first differences.

  3. Continue Calculating Differences: Keep calculating successive differences until you reach a level of differences that are constant.

  4. Determine the Degree: The degree of the polynomial is equal to the number of times you need to take differences until you reach a constant value.

If you have the successive differences from an image, you would ideally look for the first level of differences that are constant.

  • If the first differences are constant, the degree is 1 (linear polynomial).
  • If the second differences are constant, the degree is 2 (quadratic polynomial).
  • If the third differences are constant, the degree is 3 (cubic polynomial).
  • And so on.

Without the specific numbers from the image, I cannot provide a definitive answer, but you can follow this process with the actual data from the image to find the polynomial degree.