From owner-cse191-sp08-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU  Wed Apr  9 15:45:21 2008
Date:         Wed, 9 Apr 2008 15:40:29 -0400
From: "William J. Rapaport" <rapaport@cse.Buffalo.EDU>
Subject: Question about HW #10
To: CSE191-SP08-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU

A student asks:

> ...I wanted to ask what it is that number 62 in homework ten is asking. I 
> understand the "first difference" and all of that
> (that's the difference between the An and the An-1 terms 
> right?), 

Right.

>but how do I find the An-1 term? 

Well, if A_n = f(n), then A_n = f(n-1), where "f" is the function that
computes the value of sequence "a" for input "n".

So, for example, if a_n = 3n + 1, the sequence is:

a0 = 1
a1 = 4
a2 = 7
...
a_n = 3n+1

which means that a_(n-1) = 3*(n-1) + 1 (which, of course, = 3n-2)

I hope that helps.