To solve this problem, let's start at the beginning of the sequence and perform the subtraction step-by-step until we find the first number that is less than zero.
The sequence starts with the following number:
1. [tex]\( 16 \)[/tex]
Now we will keep subtracting [tex]\(3\)[/tex] from the most recent number in the sequence and count how many steps it takes to reach a number less than zero.
The sequence would thus progress as follows:
2. [tex]\( 16 - 3 = 13 \)[/tex]
3. [tex]\( 13 - 3 = 10 \)[/tex]
4. [tex]\( 10 - 3 = 7 \)[/tex]
5. [tex]\( 7 - 3 = 4 \)[/tex]
6. [tex]\( 4 - 3 = 1 \)[/tex]
7. [tex]\( 1 - 3 = -2 \)[/tex]
The first number less than zero in this sequence is [tex]\(-2\)[/tex], and we reached it after [tex]\(6\)[/tex] steps of subtracting [tex]\(3\)[/tex] (since we started at [tex]\(16\)[/tex]).
Therefore, the first number in the sequence that is less than zero is [tex]\(-2\)[/tex].
