The 7th term of an AP is - 4 and its 13th term is - 16. Find the AP.
Let a be the first term and d be the common difference.
Given: a7 = - 4
a13 = - 16
Now, Consider a7 = - 4
⇒ a + (7 - 1)d = - 4
⇒ a + 6d = - 4 ……….(1)
Consider a13 = - 16
⇒ a + (13 - 1)d = - 16
⇒ a + 12d = - 16 ……….(2)
Now, subtracting equation (1) from (2), we get,
6d = - 12
⇒ d = - 2
∴ from equation (1), we get,
a = - 4 - 6d
⇒ a = - 4 - 6 × (-2)
⇒ a = - 4 + 12
⇒ a = 8
Thus the AP is a, a + d, a + 2d, a + 3d, a + 4d,….
Therefore the AP is 8, 6, 4, 2, 0,….