Grade 8 Unit 2: Sequences

and functions
L1: Generating Sequences
L.O.: To be able to use term-to-term rule and position-to-term rule to
generate a sequence
Starter
Which of the sequences are linear?

How do you know ?

A linear sequence is a list of

numbers
that increases or decreases by the
same
amount each time
Term-to-term rule
Which of the sequences are linear?

How do you know ?

Position-to-term rule
The position-to-term rule of a sequence is:

Term = 5 x position number – 1

Workout the first three terms of the sequence: ____, ____, _____

What is the 20th term? ______

Test Your understanding
• P. 16-17
• Ex 2.1 Q1(a,b,c,d,e), Q2(a,b,c), 3, 4, 5, 7 ,8

• Extension:
• More on the
next slide
 Extension
[First part of JMO 2001 B2] In a sequence, each
5
1 Find the 100 term of the sequences with the
th
term after the first is the sum of the squares of the
following formulae for the th term: digits of the previous term. Thus if the first term
a) were 12, the second term would be 12 + 22 = 5, the
b) third term 52 = 25, the fourth term 22 + 52 = 29, and
c) so on.
Find the first five terms of the sequence whose first
2 A sequence starts with 1. Thereafter, each new term is 25.
term is formed by adding all the previous terms,
and then adding 1. What are the first 6 terms?
6 [First part of JMO 2005 B1] The first three terms of a
sequence are . The fourth term is ; henceforth, each
new term is calculated by taking the previous term,
3 Find the first 4 terms of the following subtracting the term before that, and then adding
sequences: the term before that.
d) Write down the first six terms of the sequence,
e) giving your answers as simplified fractions.
f)
g)
h) (Look for it on your calculator)
N [JMO 2010 B1] In a sequence of six numbers, every
4 [JMC 2014 Q11] The first two terms of a term after the second term is the sum of the
sequence are 1 and 2. Each of the following previous two terms. Also, the last term is four times
terms in the sequence is the sum of all the terms the first term, and the sum of all six terms is 13.
which come before it in the sequence. What is the first term? (Hint: perhaps represent
Which of these is not a term in the sequence? the first two terms
A 6 B 24 C 48 D 72 E 96 algebraically?)
 Extension
[First part of JMO 2001 B2] In a sequence, each
5
1 Find the 100 term of the sequences with the
th
term after the first is the sum of the squares of the
following formulae for the th term: digits of the previous term. Thus if the first term
a) 797 ? were 12, the second term would be 12 + 22 = 5, the
b) -97 ? third term 52 = 25, the fourth term 22 + 52 = 29, and
c) 29901 ? so on.
Find the first five terms of the sequence whose first
2 A sequence starts with 1. Thereafter, each new term is 25.
?
25, 29, 85, 89, 145
term is formed by adding all the previous terms,
and then adding 1. What are the first 6 terms? [First part of JMO 2005 B1] The first three terms of a
6
?
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 sequence are . The fourth term is ; henceforth, each
new term is calculated by taking the previous term,
3 Find the first 4 terms of the following subtracting the term before that, and then adding
sequences: the term before that.
d) ?
4, 5, 6, 7 Write down the first six terms of the sequence,
e) ?
3, 9, 27, 81 giving your answers as simplified fractions.
f) 0, 4, 18, 48 ?
g) -2, -3, -2, 1 ? ?
[JMO 2010 B1] In a sequence of six numbers, every
?
h) (Look for it on your calculator) 1, 2, 6, 24 term after the second term is the sum of the
N previous two terms. Also, the last term is four times
4 [JMC 2014 Q11] The first two terms of a the first term, and the sum of all six terms is 13.
sequence are 1 and 2. Each of the following What is the first term?
terms in the sequence is the sum of all the terms Solution:
which come before it in the sequence. (Hint: perhaps represent
Which of these is not a term in the sequence? the first two terms
A 6 B 24 C 48 D 72 E 96 Solution: D ? algebraically?)
 L2: Finding the nth term
L.O.: To be able to derive an expression to describe the nth term of an
arithmetic sequence
Position-to-term-rules
What sequence does give?
?
What therefore would give?
?
What do you notice about the difference
between terms in this sequence?
? time.
It goes up by 5 each
What therefore do you think would be the
difference between terms for:

?
?
?
?
Finding th term formula for linear sequences

Find the th term of the following sequence:

5, 9, 13, 17, 21 …

4 𝑛+1 ? ?

If we had as our formula, this

We saw that the number on
would give us the 4 times
front of the gives us the (first)
table. So what ‘correction’ is
difference between terms.
needed?

Side Note: Why do you think this is known as a ‘linear’ sequence?

If you plotted each position with the term on some axes (e.g. for this
? it would form a straight line. The
sequence (1,5),(2,9),(3,13),(4,17), …,
word ‘linear’ means ‘straight’.
More examples
?
?
?
?
(or ) ?

Quickfire Questions:
th
term: 100th term:

? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
Test Your Understanding

th
term: 100th term:

? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
Test Your Understanding

• Ex 2.2 Page 19 Q1 to 10

• Extension on next slide

 Levelled Game

Not to Self: Print this for students

Is a number in the sequence?

Is the number 598 in the sequence with th term ?

Could we obtain 598 using the formula?

? . So 598 is the 200th
Yes! Working backwards, we see
term in the sequence.

Is the number 268 in the sequence with th term ?

No.
?
But adding 2 we get 270, and 270 is not divisible by 4.
Exercise 2
Find the th term and the 300th term of the following Find the formula for the th term of the
1 4
sequences. following sequences.
a a
b b
c c
d
e d
The 3rd term of a linear sequence is 17. The
f 45th term is 269. Determine the formula for
5 the th term.
g
Determine (with working) whether the following
2 numbers are in the sequence with the th term Two sequences have the formulae and . A
formula. If so, indicate the position of the term. new sequence is formed by the numbers
30 in N which appear in both of these sequences.
a Determine the formula for the th term.
90 in
b
in
c
148 in
d
Find the missing numbers in these linear
3 sequences.

a
b
Exercise 2
Find the th term and the 300th term of the following Find the formula for the th term of the
1 4
sequences. following sequences.
a ? a ?
b ? b ?
c ? c ?
d ? d ? is 17. The
e ? The 3rd term of a linear sequence
f ? 45th term is 269. Determine the formula for
the th term.
g ? 5
Determine (with working) whether the following
2 numbers are in the sequence with the th term ?
Two sequences have the formulae and . A
new sequence is formed by the numbers
formula. If so, indicate the position of the term.
30 in Yes (6th term) N which appear in both of these sequences.
a
90 in No ? Determine the formula for the th term.
b
in Yes (31st term) ? Whatever the first number is that coincides, we’ll
c
148 in No ? see it 21 later because this is the ‘lowest common
d ? multiple’ of 3 and 7. Thus we know the formula is
of the form . It’s then simply a case of identifying
Find the missing numbers in these linear which number this is (2). This principle is known as
3 sequences.
?
the ‘Chinese Remainder Theorem’.

a ?
b ?
L3: Finding the Inverse of a function

L.O.: To be able to find the inverse of a linear

function
 Function Machines

• A function can be represented in 3 different ways

1. As a function machine 2. As an equation 3. As a mapping

Input Function

Independent Variable
Input Function Output Dependent Variable
 Think of a number

21 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004

 Finding inputs given outputs

Find the value of x for the following:

x 5 + 11 24

÷
7 ×5 – 11 24

x=7

x –6 4 +9 4

×
4.25 +6 ÷
4 –9 4

x = 4.75

22 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004

 Finding the inverse function

We can write x  3x + 5 as

x 3 +5 3x + 5

×
To
To find
find the
the inverse of xx 
inverse of  3x
3x ++ 55 we
we start
start with
with xx and we
perform the inverse operations in reverse order.

x–5
÷
3 –5 x
3

x–5
The inverse of x  3x + 5 is x 
3

23 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004

 Finding the inverse function

We can write x  x/4 + 1 as

4 x
x +1 +1
4

÷
To
To find
find the
the inverse of xx 
inverse of  xx//44 ++ 11 we
we start
start with
with xx and we
perform the inverse operations in reverse order.

4(x – 1) ×4 –1 x

The inverse of x  x + 1 is x  4(x – 1)

4

24 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004

 Finding the inverse function

We can write x  3 – 2x as

x –2 +3 –2x + 3 (= 3 – 2x)

×
To
To find
find the
the inverse of xx 
inverse of  33 –– 2x
2x we
we start
start with
with xx and we
perform the inverse operations in reverse order.

3–x x–3
= ÷ –2 –3 x
2 –2

3–x
The inverse of x  3 – 2x is x 
2

25 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004

 Test Your Understanding

Ex. 2.3 Page 20 to 21

Questions 1 to 6

Extension on next slide

26 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004

27 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004
 Functions and inverses

28 of 51 © Boardworks Ltd 2004