FIRST FIND THE THE FIRST AND SECOND DIFFERENCES ON THE GIVEN SEQUENCE OF NUMBERS. FOR EXAMPLE IF YOU ARE GIVEN THIS SEQUENCE 2,4,6,8............AND YOU ARE ASKED TO FIND THE GENERAL FORMULA.... STEP 1:FIND THE FIRST DIFFERENCE BY SUBTRACTING THE FIRST TERM FROM THE SECOND TERM,AND THE SECOND FROM THE THIRD AND SO ON. STEP 2:FIND THE SECOND DIFFERENCE BY APPLYING STEP 1 TO THE ANSWERS OBTAINED.EG 4-2=2,6-4=2,8-6=2 THEREFORE THE SECOND DIFFERENCE WILL BE 2-2=0,2-2=0 STEP 3:DIVIDE THE SECOND DIFFERENCE BY 2 TO GET THE VALUE OF (A). STEP 4:WRITE 3a-b=the first term of the first term of the first difference which is the difference between 4 and 2.and solve for the value of b.3(0)-b=2 therefore b=-2 STEP 5:FIND THE VALUE OF c BY term 1=a=b=c