Find the 12th term of the geometric sequence 1, -2, 4,..

This means each time we are multiply in by -2
First term = 1
Second term = -2
Third term = 4
Fourth term = -8
Fifth term = 16
Sixth term = -32
Seventh term = 64
Eighth term = -128
Ninth term = 256
Tenth term = - 512
Eleventh term = 1024
Twelfth term = -2048

This law is sometimes called the grouping property. as you can see, regardless of how the numbers are grouped, the answer is still 13. the associative law of multiplication is similar to the same law for addition. it says that no matter how you group numbers you are multiplying together, you will get the same answer.