From the course: Test Prep: GRE

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Sequence word problems

Sequence word problems

From the course: Test Prep: GRE

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Sequence word problems

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- [Voiceover] Some word problems are gonna have a sequence in them, and I think the weird thing about these kinds of problems at first, is the terminology or the notation. Let me explain that first, before we worry about the problem so let's say I have a sequence and I'm using a1, well a1, this just means this is the first term, so a1 could be equal to anything, but this notation is just telling us that it's the first term and this little subscript one, tells us what terms it is, so I could also say a8, and then you would know I'm talking the eighth term. Then if I said an subscript, that is the nth term. I know nth term doesn't mean much, but it's a way of thinking of, this is the number of the term, so whatever this is, that's the number term it is. Okay, so for this sequence here, we have got a direction, and it's kind of a definition. It's saying that the nth term is equal to that term minus one. It's not the value of the term, minus one, it's an-1 so let me show you what that…

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