Obtaining numerical value from Recurrence Table
a[1] = 2;
a[n_] := a[n] = 4 Sum[a[i], {i, n - 1}]
Table[a[n], {n, 1, 10}]
{2, 8, 40, 200, 1000, 5000, 25000, 125000, 625000, 3125000}
You can introduce a memory variable b[n] and solve for both a[n] and b[n].
RecurrenceTable[{a[n + 1] == 4 b[n], b[n] == b[n - 1] + a[n],
a[1] == b[1] == 2}, {a, b}, {n, 1, 10}][[All, 1]]
(* {2, 8, 40, 200, 1000, 5000, 25000, 125000, 625000, 3125000} *)
Clear["Global`*"]
In your code, you have the wrong syntax for the Sum
. However, even with the correct syntax
rt = RecurrenceTable[{a[n + 1] == 4 Sum[a[i], {i, 1, n}], a[1] == 2},
a, {n, 1, 10}]
As stated in the error message, all instances of a[_]
must have arguments of the form n + integer
Amplifying on the answer by Suba Thomas
a[1] = 2;
a[n_] := a[n] = 4 Sum[a[i], {i, n - 1}]
seq = Table[a[n], {n, 1, 10}]
(* {2, 8, 40, 200, 1000, 5000, 25000, 125000, 625000, 3125000} *)
You can use FindSequenceFunction
to generalize from the sequence
y[n_] = FindSequenceFunction[seq, n]
a[200] == y[200]
(* True *)