What is the nth term -1,-6,-11,-16,-21
To find the nth term of a sequence, you need to identify the pattern or rule that governs the sequence. In this case, we observe that the numbers are decreasing by 5 each time.
To determine the nth term, we start by examining the initial term. The first term is -1. If we want to find the second term, we subtract 5 from the first term: -1 - 5 = -6, which is the second term. For the third term, we subtract 5 from the second term: -6 - 5 = -11.
So, we can derive a general rule: each term is obtained by subtracting 5 from the previous term.
Now we can determine the nth term of the sequence. Given that the first term is -1 and the common difference is -5, we can use the formula for an arithmetic sequence:
nth term = first term + (n - 1) * common difference
Plugging in the values, we get:
nth term = -1 + (n - 1) * -5
Therefore, the nth term of the sequence -1, -6, -11, -16, -21 is given by the formula -1 + (n - 1) * -5.
Notice that each consecutive term is 5 less than the previous one, so ..
so
a= -1, d = -5
term(n) = a+(n-1)d = -1 + (n-1)(-5)
= -1 - 5n + 5
= 4 - 5n