What is the first term of the geometric sequence presented in the table below?

n       4                9

an     −351         85,293

Hopefully that makes more sense of a chart lol.....

@CPhill could you help me on this one as well?

We have that

-351  =  a₁ (r)^(4 - 1)

-351  = a₁ (r)^3           divide both sides by r^(3)

-351/  r^3   =  a₁         (1)

And

85293  = a1 (r)^(9 -1)

85293  = a1 (r)^8             sub (1)  into this

85293 = [ -351/r^3] r^8     

85293 = -351 r^5             divide both sides by -351

-243  = r^5                     take the 5th root of both sides

(-243)^(1/5)  = r  =  - 3

Using (1)

-351 / (-3)^3   = -351 / -27 =  a₁  = 13