The teacher gave this pattern to the class: the first term is 5 and the rule is add 4, subtract 1. Each student says one number. The first student says 5. Victor is tenth in line. What number should Victor say?

1 Answer
Sep 22, 2016

Each student says the number that is 3 above the previous answer.

Explanation:

If the the first term is 5, then the first student will say 8.
Student 2 : 11
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
14 17 20 23 26 29 32

and the 10th student, Victor, will say 35

There is a simpler way that works with even larger numbers far faster.

Take "n" to be the number in line the student is.
The students number is 3n + 5

Victor would say (3 xx 10) + 5 which is 35

The 100th student would say 305 (3 xx 100) + 5