SOLUTION: Okay so last question wouldnt pop up the link so ill do my best to explain what the graph looks like. Alright so its a close up showing the first quadrent of a graph in the far

Question 548362: Okay so last question wouldnt pop up the link so ill do my best to explain what the graph looks like.
Alright so its a close up showing the first quadrent of a graph in the far right corner where the X should be to symbolize X-axis there is (n)
the graph counts by 2's... 2,4,6,8.
the line is curving from point (1,8) and it doesnt pass the (n)or X-axis its right on the edge. from point (1,8) there is a point at (2,4) , (4,1) and thats when the points get a lil weird it look like the next point is at (5,1/2), another one at (6,1/4) and the last point looks ploted at (almost touching x-axis but not,7)
The question and choices it gives is.
Which choice shows the first term and the ratio of the sequence?
A.First term = 8, ratio = 1/8
B.First term = 1, ratio = 1/4
C.First term = 4, ratio = 1/2
D.First term = 8, ratio = 2
E.First term = 8, ratio = 2

Thank you for your time, Valeria
P.S. I hope I explained the graph clear enough. Any questions on how the graph looks please email, valeria_fl@yahoo.com I really need to figure out how to do this problem. All help with this is appreciated very much!
Answer by KMST(5328) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
I get it (I think). It looks like this (but with n instead of x).
What they are representing is a sequence with terms

It starts at (the first term of your sequence), and each term is half of the previous one.
This is what they call a geometric sequence, where each term equals the previous one multiplied times a constant number, called the common ratio. In your sequence, the common ratio is 1/2. For every value of , the corresponding term, , is the one before multiplied by .
The correct answer should be:
First term = 8, ratio = 1/2
In the set of multiple choice answers you listed, D and E were the same. They should not be the same. And the correct answer was not listed!!
Someone made a mistake in copying the problem. If you copied it as it was written, your handout, or your book, or your online course had an error. It happens a lot more often than it should. No wonder you were puzzled.
Another example of a geometric sequence is 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, ....
In that example, each number is the one before times 3. If you divide one number by the one before you realize that the result (the ratio) is 3 for any pair of consecutive numbers in the sequence.
When the first term is positive, and the common ratio is a number between 0 and 1, the terms of the sequence get smaller and smaller, never reaching zero, but getting closer and closer. Then you get a graph that hugs the x-axis (or the n-axis if that's what they call it). If you are in (or get to) pre-calculus and calculus, you'll see that a line that is hugged like that by the graph of a function is called an asymptote. (Feel free to file that bit of information in your memory bank).
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