Thursdays With Ron: Sequences and Sequence Notation

by Manhattan Prep, Jul 15, 2010

Every other Thursday, our instructor Ron Purewal (known on the Beat the GMAT forums as lunarpower) hosts a free study hall session, calledThursdays with Ron, where anyone can submit questions ahead of time and attend. Ron chooses a few themes from the questions he gets and goes over strategies for them.

In this recording, Ron goes over Sequences and Sequence Notation:

Heres an outline of what Ron covers, with the minute markers. Make sure to watch the video, though, so that youre able to follow along!

• 0:00 What does it mean when you see a sequence definition?
• 2:20 If you see a sequence definition that only contains n as a subscript, then ideally you shouldnt be thinking of these only as substitutions. (Dont plug in numbers unless its absolutely necessary.)
• 4:15 There are two ways to describe a sequence: the first is to use an explicit formula.
• 8:00 The second way is to describe it the way it would be described in the real world.
• 12:15 A lot of people would try plugging in numbers, but the goal is to think in terms of real world examples instead.
• 16:07 Use the techniques that Ron has been teaching on a new formula.

If you want to view recordings of past Thursdays with Ron or submit questions for the next live session, which takes place on July 22, you can do so here.