A circle is shown. Secants E G and D G intersect at point G outside of the circle. Secant E G intersects the circle at point F and secant D G intersects the circle at point H. The length of E F is x, the length of F G is 6, the length of D H is x + 3, and the length of H G is 5. What is the length of line segment DG?

4 units
7 units
12 units
23 units

hello from mrbilldoesmath!

answer:

a(n) - a(n-1) -3

discussion:

this ones a bit interesting. given a(n) = 5 - 3n consider this:

a(n-1) = 5 - 3(n-1)

          = (5 - 3n) + 3             => but a(n) = 5 - 3n, the first term

          = a(n)   + 3                 => subtract 3 from both sides

a(n-1) -3 = a(n)  

or

a(n) - a(n-1) -3

you,

mrb

to plot points   for x just start at the origin (middle) and go to the left however many times it say(if the number is a positive) if the number is a negative then go right however many times it says if it is 0 go nowhere

now keep you pencil there and go up however many times it says on y(if it is positive) if it is negative then go down however many times it says. if it says 0 go nowhere.

you have just plotted a point! now when you finish plotting all of them connect them with a ruler

plot each point as (-3, 7), (0,4), (3,1), (8,-4)   in the parenthesis on the left of the comma is x and the right is y.