Help find the rule for the following table

 

X.              Y

4.             13

7.             25

1.             28

5.             41

13.           58
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1 Answer

Let's put the values in order:

x y
1 28
4 13
5 41
7 25
13 58

The y values do not increase as x increases, and the x values do not increase in steps of 1.

If we write y=f(x) then f(5)=f(1)+f(4) because 41=28+13. This could mean f(a+b)=f(a)+f(b). If we apply this to find f(3), we get f(4)=f(1)+f(3), so f(3)=f(4)-f(1)=13-28=-15. f(2)=f(1)+f(1)=56 and f(5)=f(3)+f(2)=-15+56=41. f(7)=f(4)+f(3)=13-15=-2, which isn't true. Also f(7)=f(5)+f(2)=41+56=97, not true. So the rule fails. f(a+b)=f(a)+f(b) where a not equal to b. This is a modification which might work. Apply it: f(6)=f(1)+f(5)=28+41=69. But it's clear this can't work because f(7) doesn't equal f(1)+f(6). Try another rule.

The next try is to expand the table so that we have a column for x^2 and x^3 (to start with) so that we can consider polynomials.

x x^2 x^3 y
1 1 1 28
4 16 64 13
5 25 125 41
7 49 343 25
13 169 2197 58

More...

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