Saturday, December 26, 2009

`2, 10, 50, 250...` Determine whether the sequence is geometric. If so, find the common ratio.

You need to verify if the sequence is a geometric sequence, hence, you need to use the following property, such that:


`a_n = sqrt(a_(n-1)*a_(n+1))`


Replacing 10 for `a_n, 2` for `a_(n-1)` and 50 for `a_(n+1)` yields:


`10 = sqrt(2*50) => 10 = sqrt(100) => 10=10`


Since the given sequence is geometric, you may find the ratio such that:


`q = (a_n)/(a_(n-1)) => q = 10/2 => q = 5`


Hence, the given sequence is geometric and its ratio is q = 5.

No comments:

Post a Comment