Additional practice questions

2.1 Making generalizations

Practice 1
1) Consider a grid containing the integers 1–100 as follows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Select a diagonal line of three adjacent cells, such as 23–34–45 or 74–83–92.

Add together the outer pair of numbers (e.g. 23 + 45 or 74 + 92).
Describe what you notice. Form a suitable general statement.

2) Pick a pair of consecutive integers. Square them both and find the difference between
their squares.
Describe what you notice. Form a suitable general statement.

3) Write down the first few powers of 6.

a. Describe anything you notice about the last digit. Form a suitable general
statement.
b. All integer powers of 6 greater than 61 have two or more digits.
Describe anything you notice about their penultimate (last-but-one) digit and form
a general statement.

© Oxford University Press 2021 1

Practice 2
4) Let 𝑛𝑛 be any odd integer. Investigate the value of (𝑛𝑛 − 1)(𝑛𝑛 + 1) for different values
of 𝑛𝑛. Generalize and suggest a conjecture regarding the value of (𝑛𝑛 − 1)(𝑛𝑛 + 1) when
𝑛𝑛 is an odd integer.

5) Investigate the value of 𝑛𝑛4 − 𝑛𝑛2 for different values of 𝑛𝑛 where 𝑛𝑛 is a positive integer.
Generalize and suggest a conjecture regarding the value of 𝑛𝑛4 − 𝑛𝑛2 .

Practice 3
50003 −4999×5000×5001+15000
6) By letting 𝑛𝑛 = 5000, evaluate .
10000

7) Without using a calculator, find the value of each of the following expressions:
a. 20192 − 2021 × 2017
b. 3000 − 2999 × 3000 × 3001
c. 5000 × 2001 − 2000 × 5001
2002×2001 −2000×2003
d.
2000

© Oxford University Press 2021 2

Answers

Practice 1
1) The central number is always the mean of the outer two or the sum of the outer pair
is double the central number.
2) The difference between the squares of two consecutive integers is equal to the sum of
the consecutive integers.
3) a. The last digit is always 6.
b. The penultimate digits cycle 3, 1, 9, 7, 5, and then repeat.

Practice 2
4) It is always a multiple of 8.
5) It is always a multiple of 12.

Practice 3
6) 2
1
7) a. 4 b. 3000 c. 3000 d. = 0.001
1000

© Oxford University Press 2021 3