<p>This problem comes from my Kaplan's 12 Practice Tests for the SAT:</p>
<p>-2,-1,0,1,2,1,0,-1,-2,-1,0,1</p>
<p>The first ten terms of a sequence are shown above. What is the sum of the first 88 terms?</p>
<p>The answer is supposed to be 0 because the sequence repeats itself after every 8th term, but I drew the pattern out myself and did not come up with the same answer, so there is either a flaw in my thinking or an error in the book..</p>
<p>Can someone explain this problem to me?</p>
<p>the pattern does repeat every 8, i guess it is hard to see because you'd think it repeats every 5, but after those first five, a second pattern comes up, the -1,0,1... which makes the total of 8 items repeating. 88 is divisable by 8, so you would get no remainder when you put the pattern with 88 terms. Also, each 8 individually add up to 0.... it makes sense to me, but I might not have explained it too well</p>
<p>I can see it a bit better now...but these number sequences usually trip me up because I am not that good at visualizing.</p>
<p>Join the club :(</p>