MATHEMATICAL PATTERNS, SEQUENCE, GENERAL SEQUENCE

Subject: GE6 – Mathematics in Modern World

MATHEMATICAL PATTERNS SEQUENCE
PATTERN SEQUENCE
– mathematics is useful to predict – a list of things or numbers that are in order
– can be in the from form counting and down TERMS
– missing numbers can be the form of completing – each number in a sequence
count or down eg: 𝑎1, 𝑎2 , 𝑎3 𝑎4 … , 𝑎𝑛−1 , 𝑎𝑛, …
NUMBER PATTERN INFINITE SEQUENCE
– leads directly to the concept of functions – a function whose domain is a set of positive
– applied to problem solving whether a pattern is integers
present – has a starting number, a difference or factor, and
– used to generalize a solution to a problem a fixed total number of terms
eg: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, … ; 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, … ; 1, 4, 9,
A. MATHEMATICAL PICTURE EQUATION PUZZLE 16, 25, 36, …
– uses pictures to illustrate an equation FINITE SEQUENCE
eg: – if the domain consists of 𝑛 positive integers only
– don't have a fixed number of terms, and their
terms can grow to infinity, decrease to zero or
approach a fixed value
eg: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ; 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 ;
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15
GEOMETRIC SEQUENCE
– each term is found by multiplying the previous
term by constant
eg: 3, 6, 12, 24, 48…

A. FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
– wherein the next number is found by adding up
the two numbers before it
– used to create technical indicators using
B. NUMBER PATTERN PUZZLE mathematical sequence
– uses numbers to illustrate the problem eg: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, …
eg: formula:
𝒏 𝒏
𝟏
𝟏 + √𝟓 𝟏 − √𝟓
𝑭𝒏 = [( ) −( ) ]
√𝟓 𝟐 𝟐
ex:
𝐹15 = 610 𝐹20 = 6,765
𝟏𝟓 𝟏𝟓 𝟐𝟎 𝟐𝟎
𝟏 𝟏 + √𝟓 𝟏 − √𝟓 𝟏 𝟏 + √𝟓 𝟏 − √𝟓
[( ) −( ) ] [( ) −( ) ]
√𝟓 𝟐 𝟐 √𝟓 𝟐 𝟐

B. ARTHEMETIC SEQUENCE
g – any sequence with a constant difference
between the terms
eg: 9, 13, 17, 21, 25 …
formula:
nth term
𝒍 = 𝒂 + (𝒏 − 𝟏)𝒅
𝒍 = 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎; 𝒏 = 𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎;
𝒂 = 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎; 𝒅 = 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆
Summation
𝒏
𝑺= (𝒂 + 𝒍)
𝟐
𝒍 = 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 𝒏 = 𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎;
ex:
1, 3, 5, 7,…
𝑙 = 1 + (20 − 1)2 20
𝑆= (1 + 39)
𝑙 = 39 2
𝑆 = 400

GENERAL SEQUENCE
GENERAL SEQUENCE
– 𝑎1, 𝑎2 , 𝑎3 𝑎4 … , 𝑎𝑛−1 , 𝑎𝑛, … where 𝑛 is an
integer, and 𝑎𝑛 is the nth term of the
sequence
eg: 2, 4, 7, 11, 16,…
MATHEMATICAL PATTERNS, SEQUENCE, GENERAL SEQUENCE
Subject: GE6 – Mathematics in Modern World
ex:
Give the first 3 terms of a sequence whose 𝑛𝑡ℎ
is given by the formula 𝑎𝑛 = 3𝑛 + 1
𝑎1 = 3(1) + 1 =4
𝑎2 = 3(2) + 1 =7
𝑎3 = 3(3) + 1 =10
∴ first three terms of the sequence are 4,7,10
DIFFERENCE TABLE
– shows the difference between successive terms
of the sequence
formula:
1st
difference
𝒂𝒏 = 𝒑 + 𝒒(𝒏 − 𝟏)
2nd 𝒓
difference
𝒂𝒏 = 𝒑 + 𝒒(𝒏 − 𝟏) + (𝒏𝟐 − 𝟑𝒏 + 𝟐)
𝟐
𝒓
3rd 𝒂𝒏 = 𝒑 + 𝒒(𝒏 − 𝟏) + 𝟐 (𝒏𝟐 − 𝟑𝒏 +
difference 𝑺
𝟐) + 𝟔 (𝒏𝟑 − 𝟔𝒏𝟐 + 𝟏𝟏𝒏 − 𝟔)
p = first term in the sequence
q = first term in the first difference
r = first term in the second difference
s = first term in the third difference
eg:

p= 5; q= 3; r=4; s= 6