Name:_______________________

Dateassigned:______________

Band:________

Precalculus|PackerCollegiateInstitute

IntroductoryActivity

Belowareasetofdifferentpuzzles.Goodluck.
Puzzle#1

Howmanylittlesquaresareinthe42nd1figure?

Generalizetheresult:Howmanylittlesquaresareinthenthfigure?

Extendthegeneralization:Howmanylittlesquaresareinthezerothfigure?

Graphtheresult:
squares

figure number

http://ind.pn/NfegPy

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Puzzle#2

PartI:Howmanysquaresareinthe42ndfigure?

Generalizetheresult:Howmanysquaresareinthenth
figure?

Graphtheresults:

PartII:Iftheshadedareaofthefirstfigureis81,whatis
theareaofthe42ndfigure?

Generalizetheresult:Whatistheareaofthenthfigure?

Graphtheresults:

squares

area

figure number

figure number

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Puzzle#3a

Thenumberofsmalltilesinthenthfigureis:

Ifyouhad12tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuildwouldbe
the3rdfigure(youdonthaveenoughtilestobuildthe4thfigure).
Ifyouhadexactly7,570tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuild
wouldbethe___figure.

Explanation:

Thenumberofsmalltilesinthenthfigureis:

Ifyouhad12tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuildwouldbe
the3rdfigure(youdonthaveenoughtilestobuildthe4thfigure).
Ifyouhadexactly7,570tiles,thelargestfigureyoucouldbuild
wouldbethe___figure.

Explanation:

Puzzle#3b

Puzzle3a:

small squares

Puzzle3b:

figure number

small squares

figure number

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Puzzle#4:Gardensareframedwithasinglerowofbordertilesasillustratedhere

Drawthe4thgarden:

PartII:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenof
length30?

PartIII:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenoflength1000?Showandexplainhowyougotyouranswer.

Nowthatyouvefoundtheansweroneway,comeupwithasecond(different)waytocountthebordertilesfora
gardenoflength1000.

PartIV(generalizetheresult):Ifyouknowthegardenlength(callitn),explainhowyoucandeterminethenumberof
bordertiles.

PartVI:Cantherebeagardenthatuses2012tiles?What
PartV:Showhowtofindthelengthofthegardenif152
about2013tiles?Explainyourreasoning.
bordertilesareused.

PartI:Howmanybordertilesarerequiredforagardenof
length10?

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PartVII:Graphtheresults

border tiles

figure number

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MathematicalTerminology
Eachofthepuzzleshadyougenerateasetofnumbersforthe1stfigure,2ndfigure,3rdfigure,4thfigure,etc.In
mathematics,wecallthisasequence.
Forexample,forPuzzle#1,yousawthepattern1,3,5,7,
Andwehavenotationforthis.Wellcallthissequence {Rn } (butwecouldjustaswellcallit {Badgern } or {Snaken } ).
Weusethesuperextrafancycurlybracketstoindicateitsasequence,andweusethesubscripttosaywhereinthe
sequenceweare.So:
Insteadofsaying

the5thnumberinthissequence R

Insteadofsaying

the27thnumberinthissequence R wesay R27

Insteadofsaying

thenthnumberinthissequence R

wesay R5
wesay Rn

Asyouveseen,thetermsinasequencecangrowbiggerorsmaller,andweshallseethattheycanbecrazyandget
biggerandsmallerandbiggerandsmaller!2

Althoughthereareanumberofdifferentkindsofsequences(asweshallsee),wewillreallyfocusontwoparticular
kinds.
InPuzzle#1andPuzzle#4,wesawthegraphslooklinearandtheequationforthenthtermwasalinearequation.You
cannowlaugh,becausewedontcallthesesequenceslinear.Wecallthemarithmetic.Thatsbecausearithmeticis
aboutaddingandsubtracting,andforeachterminthesequenceweareaddingandsubtractingafixedamount.The
hallmarkofanarithmeticsequenceisthatthereisacommondifferencebetweeneachterm(ifyousubtractanyterm
fromthepreviousterm,youalwaysgetthesamecommondifference).
InPuzzle#2,wesawthegraphslookexponentialandtheequationforthenthtermwasanexponentialequation.You
cannowlaughagain,becausewedontcallthesesequencesexponential.Wecallthemgeometric,whichhassomething
todowiththegeometricmean(ageometryconceptthatIamgoingtoignorehere).Thehallmarkofageometric
sequenceisthatthereisacommonratiobetweeneachterm(ifyoudivideanytermbythepreviousterm,youalways
getthesamecommonratio).

Somesequencesaretrickytofigureout.Heresafunone:

LookAndSay 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211,...

Canyoufigureout LookAndSay6 ?_____________________________________(solution:http://bit.ly/KBeiSd)

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ArithmeticSequences
1. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencegoesupby 3 ,come
upwithaformulaforthenthterm.

2. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencedecreasesby 3 ,
comeupwithaformulaforthenthterm.

3. Ifthefirstterminanarithmeticsequenceis a1 andthecommondifferenceis d ,whatistheformulafor an ?

4. Ifyouknowtheseventiethnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andeachterminthesequencedecreasesby
3 ,comeupwithaformulaforthenthterm.(Hint:yourworkforthepreviousproblemwillhelpyou!)

5. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5 andtheeleventhnumberis 71 ,comeupwitha

formulaforthenthterm.

6. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinanarithmeticsequenceis 5.2 andtheeleventhnumberis 9.4 ,comeupwith

aformulaforthenthterm.

ExtraPractice
Arithmetic:Section12.2#3,5,7,10,15,17,19,21,23,25,27,29,31,33

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GeometricSequences
7. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis 5 andthecommonratiois 3 ,comeupwithaformula
forthenthterm.

8. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis5andthecommonratiois 1 / 3 ,comeupwitha
formulaforthenthterm.

9. Ifyouknowthefirstnumberinageometricsequenceis a1 andthecommonratiois r ,comeupwithaformula

forthenthterm.

10. Ifyouknowthefifthnumberinageometricsequenceis 80 / 81 andthecommonratiois 2 / 3 ,comeupwitha

formulaforthenthterm.(Hint:yourworkforthepreviousproblemwillhelpyou!)

11. Ifyouknowthethirdnumberinageometricsequenceis 54 andthefifthnumberis 486 ,comeupwitha

formulaforthenthterm.

12. Ifyouknowthefourthnumberinageometricsequenceis 156.25 andtheninthnumberis 488281.25 ,come

upwithaformulaforthenthterm.

ExtraPractice:
Geometric:Section12.3#9,11,13,15,19,21,23,25,27,29,33,35,37
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TheForwardsProblem:GoFromFormulatoSequence

Example: {sn } {

(1) n 1
} ,so:
n

s1 s2
s3 s4
s5 s6
s7
1
1 1
1 1
1 1

2 3
4 5
6 7

Noticewhatishappeningtothissequenceaswegofurtherandfurtheralongalthoughthenumbershopaboveand
belowthexaxis,weseethatthetermsaregettingcloserandcloserto0.
Willanyofthedotseverlieonthexaxis?Howdoyouknow?Convinceme.

GeogebraInterlude
Tomakethisgraph,openGeogebra.Intheinputbaratthebottomtype:
Sequence[(n,(1)^(n+1)/n),n,0,16]
Whatthisdoesisitgraphsthepoints (n,

(1) n1
) forn=0ton=16.Becarefulwiththeparenthesesandwatchoutfor
n

thatextranwhichIbolded.

Toresizeyourwindowsoyoucanseeeverything,clickonthe
buttonatthetop,andthenplaceyourarrowonthe
yaxis,clickandholddownthebuttonwhiledragthecursorupanddown.Thesamegoesforthexaxis.
Nowanswerthefollowingquestions:

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Giventhefollowingsequences,writeoutthefirstseventermsandthengraphbothingeogebra.

n2 1
}
1.(a) {an } {
2n

2n
(b) {bn } { 2 }
n

a1

a2

a3

a4

a5

a6

a7

b1

b2

b3

b4

b5

b6

b7

UseGeogebratographthefirst16valuesofthesesequences.
WhatIenteredinGeogebrafor {an } :

WhatIenteredinGeogebrafor {bn }

Sequence[]

Sequence[]

Changeyourwindowto[0,16]x[0,10]

Changeyourwindowto[0,16]x[0,250]

AroughsketchofwhatIsee:

AroughsketchofwhatIsee:

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TheBackwardsProblem:GoFromSequencetoFormula
1. Giventhefirstfewtermsofasequence,canyoucomeupwithaformulathatdefinesit?Isthesequencearithmetic,
geometric,orneither.Brieflyexplainhowyoudecidedyouranswer.

WORK

(a) 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ... thus an

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(b) 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, ... thus an

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(c) 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, ... thus an

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(d) 1,

1 1 1 1
, ,
,
, ... thus an
3 9 27 81

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(e) 1,

1 1
1
1
, ,
, , ... thus an
9 27
3
81

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(f)

2 4 6 8 10
, , , ,
, ... thus an
11 9 7 5 3

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

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(g) .2, .02, .002, .0002, .00002,... thus an

(circleone)arithmetic,geometric,orneither
Explanation:

(h) (babychallenge)
1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720 ... thus an

(i) (challenge)
2, 6, 12, 20, 30, 42, 56 ... thus an

(j) (uberchallenge)

0, 1, 10, 33, 76, 145, 246, 385, 568, 801, ... thus

(k) (ultrachallenge)

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21... thus an

Hints:
(h)http://bit.ly/Mcg3FT
interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(i)itsaquadratic
(j)itsacubic

(1 5)n (1 5)n
(k)theansweris an
.
2n 5
Weird,huh.

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AnIntroductiontoArithmeticSeries

Aprelude(fromhttp://bit.ly/MC7YHk)

About 100 years ago, a young boy (who grew up to be a great mathematician) by the name of Gauss (pronounced
"Gowss") was at school when the class got in trouble for being too loud and misbehaving. Their teacher, looking for
somethingtokeepthemquietforawhile,toldherstudentsthatshewantedthemto"addupallofthenumbersfrom1
to100andputtheansweronherdesk."Shefiguredthatwouldkeepthembusyforanhourorso.

About 30 seconds later, the 10yearold Gauss tossed his slate (small chalkboard) onto the teacher's desk with the
answer"5050"writtenonitandsaidtoherinasnottytone,"Thereitis."

Letuslookatthefollowingdiagram.Wecancomeupwithasequenceforthenumberofboxesineachfigure.

Thesequenceis1,3,6,10,15,21,
However,ifwewanttofindthenthterminthesequence,wehaveaproblem.Itturnsout(andwellshowthis)thatthe
formulais: sn

1 2 1
n(n 1)
n n (orwrittenmoreelegantly, sn
.
2
2
2

WHATINTHEWHAT?Howintheworlddoesthatwork?
1. Compareeachfiguretothepreviousone.Describehowthenthfigureischangingbasedonthen1thfigure.

Ifwewantthenumberofsquaresinthenthfigure,wehavetoaddtogetherabunchofnumbers.

Forthefifthfigure,weadd s5 1 2 3 4 5
Fortheninthfigure,weadd s9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Forthenthfigure,weadd sn 1 2 3 ... (n 2) (n 1) n

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2. Butifwewanttofindwhatthissumis,wearegoingtohavetoaddtogetheralotofnumbers.Whichis
annoying.Heresashortcut.Letscalculate s5 inaspecialway,thatmightseemconvoluted.Welladdthesum
toitself,butinaspecialway.

s5 1 2 3 4 5

s5 5 4 3 2 1

2 s5 6 6 6 6 6
Nowweseethat 2 s5 6(5) 30 .Thus s5 15 .Whichweknow.

Checkyoself!Usingthismethod,find s10 .

Practiceonemoretime.BeGauss.Findthesumofthefirst100positiveintegers: s100 .

3. Nowtryitmoregenerallyfor sn 1 2 3 ... (n 2) (n 1) n

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4. Doesthisworkforothersequences?Trythistechniqueoutwith:
4, 7, 10, 13, 16, ...

Findthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

5. Trythistechniqueoutwith:
2, 3, 8, 13, 18, ...

Findthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

6. Trythistechniqueoutwith:
2, 4, 8, 16, 32, ...

Findthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyaddingthem:__________

FindthesumofthefirstfivenumbersbyusingthetechniqueDoesthetechniquework?(Ifitdoesnt,explain
whynot.)

KeyMathematicalConclusion:Thistechniqueispowerfulandcanbeusedtofindthesumofthefirstntermsof
________________sequences.

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TerminologyandNotation

Sigmaandbasicpracticeproblemsforarithmetic(butwithsigmanotation)

Geometricseries(andconvergence/divergence)

Sigmaandbasicpracticeproblemsforgeometric(butwithsigmanotation)

AsetofPracticeProblemsmixingGeometricandArithmeticSeries

Nowuseyourbrains,andfiddlearoundabitwithGeogebra,toseeifyoucancomeupwiththefollowing:
2.Anequationforasequencewhichwillheadofftowards asyouwritemoreandmorenumbers.

{mn }

3.Anequationforasequencewhichwillhavetermsthatalternatebetweenpositiveandnegativenumbers
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{an }

4.Anequationforasequencewhichwillapproachthenumber 0 asyouwritemoreandmorenumbers.

{tn }

5.Anequationforasequencewhichwillapproachthenumber 2 asyouwritemoreandmorenumbers.

{hn }

Ideas/Problemsforthispacketcomefrom:
http://brainopennow.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/thegardenproblem/
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11690266/Activities%20%20Intro%20and%20Linear/ATVP_Gr612_Lesson1.pdf<useto
makeaposterproject!
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http://untilnextstop.blogspot.com/2012/03/geometryvisualizationtasks.html

Incorporatewhendoingseries:
http://fawnnguyen.com/2012/05/07/circlesgalore.aspx?ref=rss

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