Using MS Excel to Investigate Sequences
Entering Data: SEQUENCE 1
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Open a new Excel spreadsheet, save it into your documents area.
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Click on cell A1 and label this first (A) column ‘term number’.
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Click on cell A2 and type in ‘1’. Click on cell A3 and type in ‘2’.
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Highlight cells A2 and A3 and drag down the bottom right corner to cell A11.
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Excel automatically fills in the values: 3, 4, 5, … 10 in these cells.
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Click on cell B1 and label this second (B) column ‘sequence 1’.
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Click on cell B2 and type in ‘4’. Click on cell B3 and type in ‘7’
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Highlight cells B2 and B3 and drag down the bottom right corner to cell B11.
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Excel automatically fills in these values continuing the sequence.
Questions: SEQUENCE 1 (Answer on separate worksheet)
a) What is the 3rd term of sequence 1?
b) What is the 10th term of sequence 1?
c) What would be the 11th term of sequence 1?
d) What is the term-term rule for generating sequence 1?
e) What would be the 50th term of sequence 1?
Drawing: SEQUENCE 1
The terms of a sequence can be plotted as a graph:
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Highlight cells A1 to B11 and click on the Insert menu at the top of the screen.
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Click on Scatter Chart and select the top left one of just points plotted with no lines
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What do you notice about all of the points?
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Click on any one of the points then right click to get a drop down menu
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Select ‘Add Trendline’
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What do you think is meant by the word ‘Linear’ ?
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Save your work
Entering Data: SEQUENCE 2
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Click on cell C1 and label this (C) column ‘sequence 2’.
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Click on cell C2 and type in ‘8’. Click on cell C3 and type in ‘13’
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Highlight cells C2 and C3 and drag down the bottom right corner to cell C11.
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Excel automatically fills in these values continuing the sequence.
Questions: SEQUENCE 2 (Answer on separate worksheet)
a) What is the 3rd term of sequence 2?
b) What is the 10th term of sequence 2?
c) What would be the 11th term of sequence 2?
d) What is the term-term rule for generating sequence 2?
e) What would be the 50th term of sequence 2?
Drawing: SEQUENCE 2
Highlight cells A1 to C11 and draw a graph of sequences 1 and 2
(using the Insert menu and Scatter Graph option as before)
What does the graph of sequence 2 look like?
How does it compare to the graph of sequence 1?
Entering Data: MORE SEQUENCES
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In column D enter sequence 3 starting 7, 9, 11, ...
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Draw the graph of sequence 3 and compare it to sequences 1 and 2.
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What effect does the term to term rule have on the graph of the sequence?
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In column E enter sequence 4 starting: 20, 22, 24, …
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Draw the graph of sequence 4 and compare it to the other sequences.
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What effect does the value of the 1st term have on the graph of the sequence?
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In column F enter sequence 5 starting: 40, 36, 32, …
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Draw the graph of sequence 5 and compare it to the other sequences.
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Comment on what the graph looks like, given its 1st term and term to term rule.
Name: ………………………………………………
Using MS Excel to Investigate Sequences
Questions: SEQUENCE 1
a) What is the 3rd term of sequence 1?..................................
b) What is the 10th term of sequence 1?..................................
c) What would be the 11th term of sequence 1?..................................
d) What is the term-term rule for generating sequence 1?..................................
e) What would be the 50th term of sequence 1?..................................
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What do you notice about all of the points?..............................................................................
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What do you think is meant by the word ‘Linear’ ?...................................................................
Questions: SEQUENCE 2
a) What is the 3rd term of sequence 2?..................................
b) What is the 10th term of sequence 2?..................................
c) What would be the 11th term of sequence 2?..................................
d) What is the term-term rule for generating sequence 2?..................................
e) What would be the 50th term of sequence 2?..................................
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What does the graph of sequence 2 look like?.........................................................................
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How does it compare to the graph of sequence 1?..................................................................
Questions: More Sequences
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What effect does the term to term rule have on the graph of the sequence? …………………
……………................................................................................................................................
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What effect does the value of the 1st term have on the graph of the sequence? …………….
……………................................................................................................................................
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Comment on what the sequence 5 graph looks like, given its 1st term and term to term rule
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….