The second term of the arithmetic progression (an) is 4, and its ninth term is 13. Find the difference of this progression.
Let’s use the formula by which we will find the term of the progression. This formula is shown at the very top in the screenshot. Although we are given the second and ninth terms of the progression, to find out the difference, we need to find the first term of the progression first. We will find the first term through the difference unknown to us so far, but knowing the values of the second and ninth terms, we bring the equations to the form d = 4-a1 and 8d = 13-a1. That is, you can see that if you multiply the first equation by 8, then both equations will be equal to each other. We simplify them and do not touch the difference in progression yet. We get that the first term of the progression is 19/7. And already the difference of the progression can be calculated by the formula d = 4-a1. By subtracting the fractions, we get the difference 9/7.
The answer is 9/7.