Aclerk in the sports department of a store is stacking tennis balls in the shape of a square pyramid. the top layer has 1 ball, the second layer has 4 balls, the third layer has 9 balls, and so on, as shown below.

which of the following represents the number of balls in the first 8 layers of the pyramid?
a. a series that is arithmetic
b. a series that is geometric
c. a series that is neither arithmetic nor geometric
d. a series cannot be used to represent this situation.

It is a series that is neither arithmetic nor geometric

Step-by-step explanation:

We are given that The top layer has 1 ball, the second layer has 4 balls, the third layer has 9 balls, and so on,

The pattern is

n^2 is the pattern where n is the position in the series.

For arithmetic series Common difference:

So,  

Thus it is not an arithmetic series .

For Geometric series there must be an common ratio :

So,

Thus it is not geometric series.

Thus Option C is correct.

It is a series that is neither arithmetic nor geometric

b or 2, just plug these equations into your graphing calculator then check the graph to see the image. if it matches up then that's your answer!