Graphing Sequences
Section 1.4
There is more than one way to
represent a sequence.
Tables
Graphs
Other kinds
of formulas
Match each table with a recursive formula and a graph that represent the same sequence. Think about
similarities and differences between the sequences and how those similarities and differences affect the
tables, formulas, and graphs.
Write a paragraph that
summarizes the
relationships between
different types of
sequences, recursive
formulas, and graphs.
What generalizations can
you make?
What do you notice
about the shapes of the
graphs created from
arithmetic and
geometric sequences?
Setting Up a Spreadsheet with a Sequence
1. Open a new document and
start with a List and
Spreadsheet.
2. Label column A xcoord
3. Label column B ycoord
4. Fill the first two cells in
column A with1 and 2.
Press the Caps key and
the down arrow to highlight
the two cells. Press
MENU, choose DATA,
choose Fill. Cursor down
to highlight the first 10 cells
and press ENTER.
1. Move to the box under ycoord to enter a command to
make a sequence.
2. Press Menu, 3 Data, 1 Generate Sequence. Fill in the
formula for the sequence, the initial terms, n(), nMax.
1. To create a graph of the data in your
spreadsheet, press HOME, add a Data and
Statistics page.
2. Move to the edge with the cursor and select
xcoord for the bottom axis and ycoord for the
vertical axis
The general shape of the graph of a sequence’s terms tells you
about the type of sequence you have generated.
u1  1
un  un 1  2
This is an arithmetic
sequence
The general shape of the graph of a sequence’s terms tells you
about the type of sequence you have generated.
u1  90
un  (1  .2) * un 1
This is a geometric
sequence.