How do I find the common difference of the arithmetic sequence 5, 9, 13, 17,...?

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Answer 1 · 2018-05-17T19:46:13

4n+1

Each term increases by 4

Something to do with the four times table

4 8 12 16

You have to add one o each term so the rule is 4n+1

Answer 2 · 2018-05-18T00:04:48

The common difference is $4$ .

The common difference is the difference between two consecutive terms in a sequence. To find it, we just need to do simple subtraction.

$9-5=4$
$13-9=4$
$17-13=4$
etc.

Each time, we get $4$ . There is a difference of $4$ between each consecutive number in the sequence. Therefore, the common difference is $4$ .