Skills cost 1 for 1, and you are correct, you cannot use more in a single skill than your current character level. So 4 skill points spent to gain 4 ranks in a skill.
People talking about first point costing, 1, second costing 2, etc, are probably referring to the point buy system for stats. (Though those numbers are not actually correct for the point buy system).
Relevant rules should be:
GENERATING A CHARACTER
(...)
Step 4 — Pick Skills and Select Feats: Determine the number of skill ranks possessed by your character, based on his class and Intelligence modifier (and any other bonuses, such as the bonus received by humans). Then spend
these ranks on skills, but remember that you cannot have more ranks than your level in any one skill (for a starting character, this is usually one).
When someone tells you that a rank costs more later on, it's their job to prove it with rules text.
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As someone else who has fairly recently transitioned from d&d 3.5 to pathfinder 1e I can say… skill ranks were one of the most confusing things for the transition… You get some used to 3.5 having you spend 2 points per rank in non-class skills and then the whole concept of retroactive skill points being entirely foreign as well… but after getting past the initial confusion from the transition pathfinders system is much better and easier to fully grasp… though there are still some parts of the rules that are needlessly complicated in pathfinder and were simpler in 3.5 (looking at you grappling)
