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Algebra Difficulty 2.2 Junior Find the answer

How many of the numbers in Grace's sequence, starting from 43 and each number being 4 less than the previous one, are positive?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

We write out the numbers in the sequence until we obtain a negative number: 43,39,35,31,27,23,19,15,11,7,3,143,39,35,31,27,23,19,15,11,7,3,-1. Since each number is 4 less than the number before it, then once a negative number is reached, every following number will be negative. Thus, Grace writes 11 positive numbers in the sequence.

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