In Exercises 1–14, write the first six terms of each arithmetic sequence. a1= -8, d=5

Key Concepts

Arithmetic Sequence

An arithmetic sequence is a sequence of numbers in which the difference between consecutive terms is constant. This difference is known as the common difference (d). In this case, the first term (a1) is -8, and the common difference is 5, meaning each term is obtained by adding 5 to the previous term.

First Term and Common Difference

The first term of an arithmetic sequence is the initial value from which the sequence begins, denoted as a1. The common difference (d) is the fixed amount added to each term to get the next term. For the given sequence, a1 = -8 and d = 5, which will guide the calculation of subsequent terms.

Finding Terms of the Sequence

To find the terms of an arithmetic sequence, you start with the first term and repeatedly add the common difference. For example, starting from a1 = -8, the second term is a1 + d, the third term is a1 + 2d, and so on. This process continues until the desired number of terms is reached, in this case, the first six terms.