I like how Purple Math so eloquently puts it: if you subtract (i.e., find the difference) of two successive terms, you’ll always get a common value, and if you divide (i.e., take the ratio) of two successive terms, you’ll always get a common value. Then, we either subtract or divide these two adjacent terms and viola we have our common difference or common ratio.Īnd it’s this very process that gives us the names “difference” and “ratio”. And adjacent terms, or successive terms, are just two terms in the sequence that come one right after the other. Well, all we have to do is look at two adjacent terms. It’s going to be very important for us to be able to find the Common Difference and/or the Common Ratio.
Comparing Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences
