Introduction to Sequences and Their Notations

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Write the terms of a sequence defined by an explicit formula.
  • Write the terms of a sequence defined by a recursive formula.
  • Use factorial notation.

A video game company launches an exciting new advertising campaign. They predict the number of online visits to their website, or hits, will double each day. The model they are using shows 2 hits the first day, 4 hits the second day, 8 hits the third day, and so on.

Day 1 2 3 4 5 …
Hits 2 4 8 16 32 …

If their model continues, how many hits will there be at the end of the month? To answer this question, we’ll first need to know how to determine a list of numbers written in a specific order. In this section, we will explore these kinds of ordered lists.