Question

at the left you can see 4 clusters of circles with the number of circles in each cluster written below it. determine if the function s(x) that maps the cluster to its number of circles is a linear function. if it is linear, find the equation of the function s(x). s(1)=8 s(2)=13 s(3)=20 s(4)=29 s(x) is not a linear function s(x)= incorrect. hint: how is each term different from the term before it? 8 13 20 29

Explanation:

Step1: Check differences between terms

Calculate differences between consecutive $s(x)$ values. $s(2)-s(1)=13 - 8=5$, $s(3)-s(2)=20 - 13 = 7$, $s(4)-s(3)=29 - 20=9$. Since the differences are not constant, the function is not linear.

Answer:

$s(x)$ is not a linear function