Hi All,
With sequence questions, you will almost always be given 'instructions' about how the sequence works - and those instructions will be technical in nature. Here, the wording ultimately means that each 'term' after the first term is equal to 3 TIMES the prior term. For example, a sequence built on this definition COULD be 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, etc. There is an additional piece of information though: we're told that the (5th term) - (2nd term) = 156. We're asked for the value of the 1st term. This question can be solved by TESTing THE ANSWERS.
Based on the initial example I listed, the difference between the 5th and 2nd terms would be 81 - 3 = 78... which is exactly HALF of what we need it to be. This means that the first terms MUST be greater than 1; based on the Answer choices, let's TEST Answer B first....
Answer B: 2
If the first term is 2, then the terms in the sequence would be....
2, 6, 18, 54, 162
The 5th term - the 2nd term = 162 - 6 = 156
This is an exact match for what we were told, so this MUST be the answer.
Final Answer: B
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
