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Please give the next 3 terms of this sequence with the formula, or explanation if possible:
1, 2, 3, 8, 15, 48, 105, 384, 945......
Thanks for any help.

 Apr 15, 2017
 #1
avatar+312 
+1

I think i got the answer.

 

 

The sequence can be described by the following formula: an+2=an*(n+2), a1=1 and a2=2

 

That means the next 3 terms are: 384*10=3840, 945*11=10395, 3840*12=46080

 

But there is something else i want to add about this type of questions:

 

I feel its a little bit silly, because you could always find another pattern or another way. Of course, if you need to answer that type of questions in a test, you cant write that, you'll have to do what they expect you to do. But i feel its wrong NOT to mention what im going to.

 

I once heard a joke about a mathematician that has an interesting way of answering those questions: he simply writes "19" when he's asked to find the next term. He justifies that with one of the theorems of a famous mathematician called Lagrange. And in my opinion he's right. Saying that there is a finite amount of answers is silly, because there isnt. There is always a way to make order out of what seems to be chaos.

 

I dont know if you love math or care about it, but if you do, remember it.

 Apr 15, 2017
 #2
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+1

True, what you say! The more patterns you see and can explain clearly and coherently the better!.

However, in this sequence, I see a VERY CLEAR pattern, which is very familiar to me!

 

The sequence is: 1, 2, 3, 8, 15, 48, 105, 384, 945, 3840, 10,395, 46,080......etc.
This is the double factorial function of all positive integer 1, 2, 3 4,.....etc. It is a generalization of the usual factorial n! defined by n!!. For odd n {n·(n - 2)...5·3·1, the product is odd.  For even n·(n - 2)...6·4·2, the product is even.  Note that -1!! = 0!! = 1, by definition. 

 Apr 15, 2017
 #3
avatar+128079 
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Very nice, Erlich  and Guest.........!!!

 

 

cool cool cool

 Apr 15, 2017

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