Can someone help me explain working out the nth term in a REALLY simple way?

[WilburIsSomePig]

To a Y7 child who really can't see it. I'm obviously not explaining it very well and she's getting so frustrated that it's making it worse for her.

The sequence is as follows:

1 2 3 4 5

4 9 14 19 24 ..... what is the 21st term?

I'm losing the will to live so would appreciate some help!

The difference between each term is +5. This gives the multiplier of n.....in this case 5n.
The term before the first term would be -1...(4 take away 5)...this give what you add or take away.
So the rule for the sequence is 5n-1
The 21st term is 5×21-1=104

That's a nice explanation Living
I like the use of the 0th term - haven't seen that before.

Thank you, I'll try that! Will leave it til tomorrow now, I think she's looked at it so much she can't see it properly if you know what I mean. I'm hoping it'll click into place!

Flashbacks to gcse maths!

** < runs away >

[grin[ Bezalelle I hated maths at school - I still do!

Hopefully I can help, I hope my picture attaches. I don’t have any spare paper lying around but happy to write it out better tomorrow if you like. The more she practices this one the more it will stick in her head. Have a look at maths genie, it’s really helpful. I found that writing it out the long way as I have shown each time helps you to remember the steps.

Obviously you replace the (21) for whatever term you are looking for, so (15) would be the 15th term and so on. Hope my example helped?!

Did she figure it out yet op?

Yes, thank you, I did mean to come back to this and say thanks. It did just 'click' into place and made sense to her!