You are given the 3rd and 5thterm of an arithmetic sequence. Describe in words how to determine the general term.

In an arithmetic sequence, the general term can be written as xₙ = y + d(a-1), where xₐ represents the ath term, y is the first value, and d is the common difference. Given the third term and the fifth term, and knowing that the difference between each term is d, we can say that the 4th term is x₃+d and the fifth term is the fourth term plus d, or (x₃+d)+d = x₃+2d. =x₅ Given x₃ and x₅, we can subtract x₃ from both sides to get x₅-x₃ = 2d divide by 2 to isolate d (x₅-x₃)/2 = d This lets us solve for d. Given d, we can say that x₃ = y+d(2) subtract 2*d from both sides to isolate the y x₃ -2*d = y Therefore, because we know x₃ and d at this point, we can solve for y, letting us plug y and d into our original equation of xₙ = y + d(a-1)