Find the Next Term in Arithmetic Sequence: -16, -22, -28, -34, ?

$-16,-22,-28,-34,\text{?}$

To solve this problem, we'll follow these steps:

• Step 1: Confirm the pattern in the sequence by calculating differences between terms.
• Step 2: Calculate the next term in the sequence using the identified pattern.

Let's analyze the sequence $-16, -22, -28, -34$:

Step 1: Calculate the difference between consecutive terms:
$-22 - (-16) = -6$
$-28 - (-22) = -6$
$-34 - (-28) = -6$
It is clear that the common difference, denoted as $d$, is $-6$.

Step 2: Add the common difference to the last term to find the next number:
The last number is $-34$. Add the common difference $d = -6$ to find the next term:
$-34 + (-6) = -40$

Therefore, the next number in this sequence is $-40$.