How do you find the first five terms of the given sequence?

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1 Answer
Apr 15, 2018

#a_1=1#, #a_2=1/2#, #a_3=1/6#, #a_4=1/24#, #a_5=1/120#

Explanation:

#a_1=1#

#a_n=1/na_(n-1)#

For #n=2#

#a_2=1/2a_1=1/2(1)=1/2#

For #n=3#

#a_3=1/3a_2=1/3(1/2)=1/6#

For #n=4#

#a_4=1/4a_1=1/4(1/6)=1/24#

For #n=5#

#a_5=1/5a_4=1/5(1/24)=1/120#

Note that the closed form solution to this recursive relation is

#a_n=1/(n!)#