In mathematics, five-term exact sequence or exact sequence of low-degree terms is a sequence of terms related to the first step of a spectral sequence.
 More precisely, let
 be a first quadrant spectral sequence, meaning that 
  
    
      
        
          E
          
            2
          
          
            p
            ,
            q
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle E_{2}^{p,q}}
  
 vanishes except when p and q are both non-negative.  Then there is an exact sequence
 Here, the map 
  
    
      
        
          E
          
            2
          
          
            0
            ,
            1
          
        
        →
        
          E
          
            2
          
          
            2
            ,
            0
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle E_{2}^{0,1}\to E_{2}^{2,0}}
  
 is the differential of the 
  
    
      
        
          E
          
            2
          
        
      
    
    {\displaystyle E_{2}}
  
-term of the spectral sequence.
 The sequence is a consequence of the definition of convergence of a spectral sequence.  The second page differential with codomain E21,0 originates from E2−1,1, which is zero by assumption.  The differential with domain E21,0 has codomain E23,−1, which is also zero by assumption.  Similarly, the incoming and outgoing differentials of Er1,0 are zero for all r ≥ 2.  Therefore the (1,0) term of the spectral sequence has converged, meaning that it is isomorphic to the degree one graded piece of the abutment H 1(A).  Because the spectral sequence lies in the first quadrant, the degree one graded piece is equal to the first subgroup in the filtration defining the graded pieces.  The inclusion of this subgroup yields the injection E21,0 → H 1(A) which begins the five-term exact sequence.  This injection is called an edge map.
 The E20,1 term of the spectral sequence has not converged.  It has a potentially non-trivial differential leading to E22,0.  However, the differential landing at E20,1 begins at E2−2,2, which is zero, and therefore E30,1 is the kernel of the differential E20,1 → E22,0.  At the third page, the (0, 1) term of the spectral sequence has converged, because all the differentials into and out of Er0,1 either begin or end outside the first quadrant when r ≥ 3.  Consequently E30,1 is the degree zero graded piece of H 1(A).  This graded piece is the quotient of H 1(A) by the first subgroup in the filtration, and hence it is the cokernel of the edge map from E21,0.  This yields a short exact sequence
 Because E30,1 is the kernel of the differential E20,1 → E22,0, the last term in the short exact sequence can be replaced with the differential.  This produces a four-term exact sequence.  The map H 1(A) → E20,1 is also called an edge map.
 The outgoing differential of E22,0 is zero, so E32,0 is the cokernel of the differential E20,1 → E22,0.  The incoming and outgoing differentials of Er2,0 are zero if r ≥ 3, again because the spectral sequence lies in the first quadrant, and hence the spectral sequence has converged.  Consequently E32,0 is isomorphic to the degree two graded piece of H 2(A).  In particular, it is a subgroup of H 2(A).  The composite E22,0 → E32,0 → H2(A), which is another edge map, therefore has kernel equal to the differential landing at E22,0.  This completes the construction of the sequence.
 The five-term exact sequence can be extended at the cost of making one of the terms less explicit.  The seven-term exact sequence is
 This sequence does not immediately extend with a map to H3(A).  While there is an edge map E23,0 → H3(A), its kernel is not the previous term in the seven-term exact sequence.
 For spectral sequences whose first interesting page is E1, there is a three-term exact sequence analogous to the five-term exact sequence:
 Similarly for a homological spectral sequence 
  
    
      
        
          E
          
            p
            ,
            q
          
          
            2
          
        
        ⇒
        
          H
          
            n
          
        
        (
        A
        )
      
    
    {\displaystyle E_{p,q}^{2}\Rightarrow H_{n}(A)}
  
 we get an exact sequence:
 In both homological and cohomological case there are also low degree exact sequences for spectral sequences in the third quadrant.  When additional terms of the spectral sequence are known to vanish, the exact sequences can sometimes be extended further.  For example, the long exact sequence associated to a short exact sequence of complexes can be derived in this manner.