A quadratic sequence is generated by any rule of the form
The problem is often to find the rule for a particular given sequence.
An example of a quadratic sequence is: 2, 4, 8, 14, 22
When we find the difference line we obtain
The difference line is not constant so it cannot be an arithmetic sequence. However we can construct a second difference line – the difference between the differences:
Now we have a constant list.If the first difference line is not constant but the second difference line is, the sequence is a quadratic sequence
We start by find the first coefficient, of
This is equal to the second difference line divided by 2:

We now know the sequences
We Form an
line (1 4 9 16 25) and find the difference between the original sequence and the terms of this line. This will give us another sequence: an arithmetic sequence.
The difference is
The common difference is -1:
Because the common difference is -1 we know this sequence is a
sequence.We construct a -1 times table and compare it with the arithmetic sequence (1):
To get the sequence (1) from the -1 times table we have to add 2 so the arithmetic sequence is
We add this to the
to get the n th term or rule for the quadratic sequence:

Example: Find the rule for the sequence: 5, 9, 17, 29, 45
Construct a first and second difference lines:
The second difference line is 4 so we know it is a 4 divided by
sequence.Form a
line and find the difference between this and the original quadratic sequence.
The difference is
This is an arithmetic or simple sequence. The common difference for this line is -2 so we havea
sequence. Form a -2 times table and find the difference between it and the arithmetic sequence.
The difference is 5 so the arithmetic sequence is
Add this to the
to get the formula for the n th term: