The General Term of a

Sequence
Prepared by: Ms. Leah Rose Ducut
- A sequence is a list of numbers arranged in an order that depends
upon the position of each term in the list. The numbers are
called terms of the sequence.

Example:
3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23

3 7 11 15 19 23
a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6
a1 is the first term and its value is 3
a2 is the second term and its value s 7
a3 is the third term and its value is 11
a4 is the fourth term and its value is 15
a5 is the fifth term and its value us 19
a6 is the sixth term and its value is 23
Sequence 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23 - is called a
finite sequence. It starts with 3 and ends
with 23.

Sequence 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, …

Now this sequence is called an infinite
sequence.
General Term or “nth” term

-The 'nth' term is a formula with 'n' in it which enables

you to find any term of a sequence without having to
go up from one term to the next.

-'n' stands for the term number.

- If we were to asked to find the 50th term, we would

just substitute 50 in the formula in place of 'n'.
I. Finding terms of a sequence given the
general term/nth term.
Examples:
Find the first 5 terms of the sequence given the nth term.

1. = n + 4

=1+4 =4+4
=5 =8 Final Answer: The first 5 terms of the
given sequence is 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
=2+4 =5+4
=6 =9

=3+4
=7
I. Finding terms of a sequence given the
general term/nth term.
Examples:
Find the 1st, 3rd and 7th term of the sequence given the nth term.

2. = + 10

= + 10 = + 10
= 1 + 10 = 49 + 10
= 11 = 59

= + 10
= 9 + 10 Final Answer: The 1st term is 11, the 3rd
= 19 term is 19 and the 7th term is 59.
II. Finding the general term/ nth term of a
sequence.
Examples:

5, 9, 13, 17, 21, … =?

- What is the common difference?
= 4n
d=4
- What is the term before the first term?
5, 9, 13, 17, 21, … = 4n + 1
1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, …

Checking:
= 4n + 1
= 4(5) + 1
= 21
II. Finding the general term/ nth term of a
sequence.
Examples:

1, 9, 17, 25, 33, … =?

- What is the common difference?
d=8 = 8n
- What is the term before the first term?
1, 9, 17, 25, 33, … = 8n - 7
-7, 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, …
Checking:
= 8n - 7
= 8(5) -7
= 33
II. Finding the general term/ nth term of a
sequence.
- What if the common difference is not constant?
- Please Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oFGZDamTDM
ACTIVITY #4