Asequence is an ordered list of numbers. Each number in a sequence is called a
term.
In an arithmetic
sequence,
the difference between each pair of consecutive terms is constant. So, you can get from any term in the sequence to the next term by adding the same number, called the common
difference.
For example, the sequence below is an arithmetic sequence.
10, 13, 16, 19, 22, …
The common difference for the sequence is 3 because you can add 3 to any term in the sequence to get to the next term.
Here is another example of an arithmetic sequence.
135, 130, 125, 120, 115, …
The common difference for this sequence is
–
5
because you can add
–
5
to any term in the sequence to get to the next term.
