Find the Next Term 9 , 16 , 25 , 36

$9$ , $16$ , $25$ , $36$

Step 1

Find the first level differences by finding the differences between consecutive terms.

$7, 9, 11$

Step 2

Find the second level difference by finding the differences between the first level differences. Because the second level difference is constant, the sequence is quadratic and given by $a_{n} = a n^{2} + b n + c$ .

$2$

Step 3

Solve for $a$ by setting $2 a$ equal to the constant second level difference $2$ .

Set $2 a$ equal to the constant second level difference $2$ .

$2 a = 2$

Divide each term in $2 a = 2$ by $2$ and simplify.

Divide each term in $2 a = 2$ by $2$ .

$\frac{2 a}{2} = \frac{2}{2}$

Simplify the left side.

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{2 a}{2} = \frac{2}{2}$

Divide $a$ by $1$ .

$a = \frac{2}{2}$

Simplify the right side.

Divide $2$ by $2$ .

$a = 1$

Step 4

Solve for $b$ by setting $3 a + b$ equal to the first first level difference $7$ .

Set $3 a + b$ equal to the first first level difference $7$ .

$3 a + b = 7$

Substitute $1$ for $a$ .

$3 \cdot 1 + b = 7$

Multiply $3$ by $1$ .

$3 + b = 7$

Move all terms not containing $b$ to the right side of the equation.

Subtract $3$ from both sides of the equation.

$b = 7 - 3$

Subtract $3$ from $7$ .

$b = 4$

Step 5

Solve for $c$ by setting $a + b + c$ equal to the first term in the sequence $9$ .

Set $a + b + c$ equal to the first term in the sequence $9$ .

$a + b + c = 9$

Substitute $1$ for $a$ and $4$ for $b$ .

$1 + 4 + c = 9$

Add $1$ and $4$ .

$5 + c = 9$

Move all terms not containing $c$ to the right side of the equation.

Subtract $5$ from both sides of the equation.

$c = 9 - 5$

Subtract $5$ from $9$ .

$c = 4$

Step 6

Substitute the values of $a$ , $b$ , and $c$ into the quadratic sequence formula $a_{n} = a n^{2} + b n + c$ .

$a_{n} = 1 n^{2} + 4 n + 4$

Step 7

Multiply $n^{2}$ by $1$ .

$a_{n} = n^{2} + 4 n + 4$

Step 8

Substitute in the value of $n$ to find the $n$ th term.

$a_{5} = {(5)}^{2} + 4 (5) + 4$

Step 9

Simplify each term.

Raise $5$ to the power of $2$ .

$a_{5} = 25 + 4 (5) + 4$

Multiply $4$ by $5$ .

$a_{5} = 25 + 20 + 4$

Step 10

Simplify by adding numbers.

Add $25$ and $20$ .

$a_{5} = 45 + 4$

Add $45$ and $4$ .

$a_{5} = 49$

Find the Next Term 9 , 16 , 25 , 36

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