An arithmetic sequence is a list of numbers where the difference between consecutive terms stays constant. That constant change is called the common difference.

For example, 5, 8, 11, 14 is an arithmetic sequence because each term increases by 3. The calculator uses that pattern to find any term and the total of the first n terms.

The common difference can be positive, negative, or zero. A positive difference makes the sequence grow, a negative difference makes it decrease, and a zero difference keeps every term the same.

The calculator uses this value to move from the first term to any later term without listing every number in between.

One of the main advantages of an arithmetic sequence is that you do not need to calculate every previous term. The nth-term formula lets you jump directly to any position in the sequence using only the first term, the common difference, and the term number.

This becomes especially useful when working with large sequences, where listing every term would take far too long.

An arithmetic sequence is the ordered list of values, while an arithmetic series is the sum of those values. For example, 2, 5, 8, 11 is a sequence, while 2 + 5 + 8 + 11 = 26 is the corresponding series.

The calculator reports both because they answer different questions: one tells you the value of a term, and the other tells you the total of the first n terms.