Grade 10 Mathematics

Quarter 1 – Competency #1

Generating Patterns
Finding the terms of the sequence given
the nth term.

By John Reimar S. Peña

 General term or Nth Term of a
Sequence
The general term or the nth
term of a sequence is used to
determine the terms of a
sequence.
 Question:
How to find the terms of a
sequence if the nth term is
given?
 Let’s have the first example.

Find the first 3 terms of the

sequence whose nth term is given
by .
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to .

If n = 1, then
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to .

If n = 2, then
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to .

If n = 3, then
 Conclusion:
Therefore, the first 3 terms of
are 9, 11, and 13.
 Let’s have the second example.

Find the first 5 terms of the

sequence whose nth term is given
by
 Solution:
To find the first 5 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
to .

If n = 1, then
 Solution:
To find the first 5 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
to .

If n = 2, then
 Solution:
To find the first 5 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
to .

If n = 3, then
 Solution:
To find the first 5 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
to .

If n = 4, then
 Solution:
To find the first 5 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
to .

If n = 5, then
 Conclusion:
Therefore, the first 5 terms of
are 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17.
 Let’s have the third example.

Find the first 4 terms of the

sequence whose nth term is given
by
 Solution:
To find the first 4 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, and 4 to
.

If n = 1, then
 Solution:
To find the first 4 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, and 4 to
.

If n = 2, then
 Solution:
To find the first 4 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, and 4 to
.

If n = 3, then
 Solution:
To find the first 4 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, 3, and 4 to
.

If n = 4, then
 Conclusion:
Therefore, the first 4 terms of
are -1, -4, -7, and -10.
 Let’s have the fourth example.

Find the first 3 terms of the

sequence whose nth term is given
by .
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to .

If n = 1, then
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to .

If n = 2, then
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to .

If n = 3, then
 Conclusion:
Therefore, the first 3 terms of
are 4, 16, and 64.
 Let’s have the fifth example.

Find the first 3 terms of the

sequence whose nth term is given
by .
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to.

If n = 1, then
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to.

If n = 2, then
 Solution:
To find the first 3 terms, substitute n = 1, 2, and 3 to.

If n = 3, then
 Conclusion:
Therefore, the first 3 terms of are , , and .
 Let’s have the sixth example.

Show the difference between the

two terms obtained by and .
 Solution:
n n
An = ( −7 ) A n = −(7)
= -7 = -7
= 49 = -49
= -343 = -343
 Up next…
Finding the nth
term given the
terms of a
sequence.