McGraw Hill Glencoe Algebra 2, 2012
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McGraw Hill Glencoe Algebra 2, 2012 View details
5. Recursion and Iteration
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Exercise 14 Page 695

The given formula means that, after the first term of the sequence, every term a_(n+1) is the sum of the previous term a_n and n.

12, 13, 15, 18, 22

Practice makes perfect
We are asked to write the first five terms of a sequence, given a recursive formula.

a_1&=12 a_(n+1)&=a_n+n To do so, we will use a table. To find a_2, we will substitute 1 for n in the above formula. To find a_3, we will substitute 2 for n and so on.

n a_(n+1)=a_n+n a_n+n a_(n+1)
- a_1= 12 - -
1 a_(1+1)=a_1+ 1
⇕
a_2=a_1+ 1
a_2= a_1+1
⇓
a_2= 12+1
a_2= 13
2 a_(2+1)=a_2+ 2
⇕
a_3=a_2+ 2
a_3= a_2+2
⇓
a_3= 13+2
a_3= 15
3 a_(3+1)=a_3+ 3
⇕
a_4=a_3+ 3
a_4= a_3+3
⇓
a_4= 15+3
a_4= 18
4 a_(4+1)=a_4+ 4
⇕
a_5=a_4+ 4
a_5= a_4+4
⇓
a_5= 18+4
a_5= 22

The first five terms of the sequence are 12, 13, 15, 18, and 22.