I'm a bit confused by the phrasing of this problem. Is the recurrence relation just the $ a_n $ statement without the initial conditions?
I am confused as well, anyone have any diection? -ERaymond 10/16/08 10:20am
The recurrence relation is an equation relating $ a_n $ to previous values of $ a_n $ i.e. $ a_{n-1} $. For example, a recurrence relation would be $ a_n $ = $ a_{n-1} $ + 2.
In part b), you are asked for an explicit formula. This is an equation from which we can compute $ a_n $ directly. i.e. $ a_n $ = 27n. However, in general, I dont think it is always possible to obtain an explicit forumla.
Note: you will need some initial conditions to derive the explicit formula.
I hope this helps,
Tom --Tsnowdon 15:05, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
