We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9 Sequences and
functions

E
9.1 Generating sequences
This sequence of numbers is a linear sequence: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, … In a
Key words
linear sequence, the terms increase or decrease by the same amount each

PL
time. The term-to-term rule for this sequence is ‘Add 3’.
This sequence of numbers is a non-linear sequence: 2, 5, 9, 14, 20, …
In a non-linear sequence, the terms increase or decrease by a different
amount each time. The term-to-term rule for this sequence is ‘Add 3,
add 4, add 5, add 6, … ’.

Exercise 9.1
linear sequence
non-linear
sequence
M
Focus
1 Write the first five terms of each linear sequence. Some of them
have been started for you.

a 1st term: 5 term-to-term rule:

SA

‘add 2’ 5 7 9
+2 +2 +2 +2

b 1st term: 0 term-to-term rule:

‘add 3’ 0 3
+3 +3 +3 +3

c 1st term: 11 term-to-term rule:

‘subtract 2’ 11
–2 –2 –2 –2

d 1st term: 2 term-to-term rule:

‘add 0.5’ 2
+0.5 +0.5 +0.5 +0.5

114
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9.1 Generating sequences

e 1st term: 210 term-to-term rule:

‘subtract 20’ 210

2 Write the first five terms of each non-linear sequence. Some of

them have been started for you.

a 1st term: 4 term-to-term rule: ‘Add 1, add 2, add 3, …’.

4 5 7
+1 +2 +3 +4

E
b 1st term: 5 term-to-term rule: ‘Add 2, add 4, add 6, …’.

5 7
+2 +4 +6 +8

3
c 1st term: 20

20
PL
term-to-term rule: ‘Subtract 3, subtract 4, subtract 5, …’.

–3 –4

Look at these sequences. Two of them are linear and two are
non-linear. Write ‘linear’ or ‘non-linear’ for each sequence.
a 0, 3, 8, 15, 24, b
–5

18, 20, 22, 24, 26,

–6
M
c 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, d 50, 49, 47, 44, 40,
4 Look at these sequences. Write ‘linear’ or ‘non-linear’ for each
sequence.
a 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, b 6, 7, 9, 12, 16,
SA

c 4 1, 6, 71, 9, 10 12 , d 100, 93, 86, 79, 72,

2 2
e 50, 46, 41, 35, 28, f 1, −2, −5, −8, −11,
5 Write the first four terms of each of these sequences.
a First term is 9, term-to-term rule is ‘subtract 4’.
b First term is 12, term-to-term rule is ‘add 5’.
c First term is 3, term-to-term rule is ‘add 1, add 2, add 3, ’.
d First term is 10, term-to-term rule is ‘subtract 1, subtract 2,
subtract 3, ’.
e First term is 64, term-to-term rule is ‘divide by 2, then add 8’.
f First term is 8, term-to-term rule is ‘subtract three, then
multiply by 2’.

115
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9 Sequences and functions

Practice
6 Cards A to D show term-to-term rules. Cards i to iv show sequences which
all have a first term of 1.
A square, then B add two, C square, then D subtract two,
add two then square subtract two then square

i 1, −1, −1, … ii 1, 9, 121, … iii 1, 1, 1, … iv 1, 3, 11, …

Match each term-to-term rule with the correct sequence.

E
7 Work out the first three terms of these sequences.
a first term 5 term-to-term rule: ‘square, then subtract 19’
b first term −1 term-to-term rule: ‘square, then add 1’
c first term 4 term-to-term rule: ‘subtract 3, then square’

9
d

c
first term −2

−6,
3
,
, 7,
PL
term-to-term rule: ‘add 2, then square’
Copy these linear sequences and fill in the missing terms.

3, 4 1 , , 9 2,
3
, −4.8, −4.4, ,
The first three terms of a sequence are 3, 10, 38, …
a Which of these cards, A, B or C, shows the correct
b

d
10, 9 1 ,

,
5
, 7 3,
5
, 5, 3.75,
, 6,

, ,0
M
term-to-term rule? Tip
A square and B multiply by 4 C cube and ‘Square and add
add 1 and subtract 2 subtract 17 1’ means the
b Which is the first term in this sequence to be greater than same as ‘square,
one thousand? Show your working. then add 1’.
SA

10 Write the first four terms of each non-linear sequence.

a first term is 7 term-to-term rule is ‘add 1, add 3, add 5, …’
b first term is 15 term-to-term rule is ‘add 4, add 7, add 10, …’
c first term is 17 term-to-term rule is ‘subtract 2, subtract 4, subtract 6, …’
d first term is 32 term-to-term rule is ‘subtract 8, subtract 12, subtract 16, …’

116
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9.1 Generating sequences

11 a Work out the third term in each sequence.

A first term is 3 term-to-term rule is ‘subtract 1 and cube’
B first term is −2 term-to-term rule is ‘add 3 and cube’
C first term is −3 term-to-term rule is ‘power 4 and subtract 77’
b Write your answers to A, B and C in order of size, starting with the smallest.

Challenge
12 Sofia makes her own sequence. This is what she writes.

E
First term is –2, term-to-term rule is cube and add *.

Sofia says:

The only way I can

get positive numbers
in this sequence is
if the * is greater
than 8.
PL
M
Is Sofia correct? Justify your answer.
13 This is part of Timo’s homework.

Question
SA

The 5th term of a sequence is 72.

The term-to-term rule is multiply by 2 and subtract 8.
What is the 3rd term of the sequence?
Answer
4th term = 72 – 8 = 64, 64 × 2 = 128
3rd term = 128 – 8 = 120, 120 × 2 = 240

Is Timo’s method correct? Explain your answer. Show all your working.

117
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9 Sequences and functions

14 The fifth term of a sequence is 23. The term-to-term rule is

multiply by 1 and add 12.
2
Work out the second term in the sequence.
15 The first term of a sequence is −4. The term-to-term rule is
square and subtract 14.
How many negative terms are there in this sequence?
Show working to justify your answer.
16 This is Gina’s homework. There is a mark covering one of the numbers.

E
Question
The third term of a sequence is 0.
The fourth term of the sequence is 512.

PL
The term-to-term rule is add    and cube.
What is the first term of the sequence?

What is the answer to Gina’s homework? Show how you worked out
your answer.

9.2 Using the nth term

M
Exercise 9.2 Key words
Focus quadratic
sequence
1 Copy and complete the workings to find the first four terms of
SA

these sequences.
a nth term is 3n 1st term = 3 × 1 = 3 2nd term = 3 × 2 =
3rd term = 3 × 3 = 4th term = 3 × 4 =

b nth term is 1 n 1st term = 1 × 1 = 1 2nd term = 1 × 2 = 2 =

4 4 4 4 4 2

1
3rd term = ×3 = 4th term = 1 × 4 = =
4 4 4

c nth term is n2 1st term = 12 = 1 2nd term = 22 =

3rd term = 32 = 4th term = 42 =
d nth term is n3 1st term = 13 = 1 2nd term = 23 =
3rd term = 33 = 4th term = 43 =

118
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9.2 Using the nth term

2 Copy and complete the workings to find the first three terms and the 10th term
of these sequences.
a nth term is 6n + 1 1st term = 6 × 1 + 1 = 7 2nd term = 6 × 2 + 1 =
3rd term = 6 × 3 + 1 = 10th term = 6 × 10 + 1 =
b nth term is n2 − 1 1st term = 12 − 1 = 0 2nd term = 22 − 1 =
3rd term = 32 − 1 = 10th term = 102 − 1 =
c nth term is 1 n 1st term = 1 × 1 = 1 2nd term =
1
×2 = 2 =
2 2 2 2 2

E
1
1
3rd term = 2 × 3 = 2 = 10th term = 2 × 10 = =

d nth term is n 1st term = 1 2nd term = =

2

3 a
b
2

PL
3rd term =
2
=

What do you notice about your answers to Question 2 parts c and d?

Copy and complete these statements. The first one has been done for you.
i

ii
The sequence 1 n is the same as n
2

The sequence 1 n is the same as

2
n
10th term =
2

2
=
M
3

iii The sequence 1 n is the same as

5

3n
iv The sequence 3 n is the same as
4
SA

4 The cards A to F show the nth term rules for six different sequences. The cards
i to vi show the 8th term of these sequences. Match each card A to F with the
correct card i to vi. The first one has been done for you: A and iv.

A B C 1 E n
n + 12 2n + 1 n2 − 40 D n + 10 3n − 10 F + 12
4 8

i 17 ii 13 iii 14 iv 20 v 24 vi 12

119
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9 Sequences and functions

Practice
5 Work out the first three terms and the 10th term of the sequences with the
given nth terms.
1 n
a 8n + 7 b 7n − 8 c n −4 d e n2 + 20
2 10
6 Match each sequence card A to D with the correct nth term expression card i to iv.

A 1, 8, 27, 64, … B 1 2
, , 1, 34 , … C 3, 6, 11, 18, … D 2, 3, 4, 5, …
3 3

E
n
i n2 + 2 ii n+1 iii iv n3
3

7 The cards show one term from two different sequences.

c
A
nth term is n2 − 33

PL
11th term in the sequence B 120th term in the sequence
nth term is 2 n + 7

Without doing any calculations, conjecture which card has the

smaller value, A or B. Explain why you chose this card.
Work out which card has the smaller value. Show your
working.
Did you choose the correct card in part a? If not, can you
3
M
see why?
8 Decide if each of these sequences is linear, quadratic or neither. Tip
Show your working.
Remember:
a 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 38, b 4, 6, 10, 16, 24, 34, In a linear
c 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, d 25, 24, 22, 19, 15, 10, sequence the
SA

e 80, 40, 20, 10, 5, f 32, 28, 24, 20, 16, 12, terms increase
or decrease by
9 Work out the nth term rule for each of these quadratic sequences. the same amount
a 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, b 21, 24, 29, 36, 45, every time. In
c −1, 2, 7, 14, 23, d 8, 11, 16, 23, 32, a quadratic
sequence
10 Look at this number sequence: 7, 10, 15, 22, 31, the second
Just by looking at the numbers in the sequence, explain how you differences are
know that the nth term rule for this sequence cannot be n2 − 10. the same.
11 What is the nth term rule for each of these sequences?
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 1 4 5 2 1 , 1, 1 , 1 , 5 , 1,
a , , , , , , b , , , , , , c
13 13 13 13 13 13 9 9 3 9 9 3 12 6 4 3 12 2

120
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9.2 Using the nth term

Challenge
12 The cards A, B and C show one term from three different
sequences.

A 9th term in the B 10th term in the C 8th term in the

sequence. sequence. sequence.
n n
nth term is 15 nth term is n nth term is 14
16

E
a Work out the term for each card.
b Write your answers to part a in order of size, starting with the
smallest.
13 Work out the answers to these questions. Show working to support
your decisions.
a

b
PL
The nth term rule for a sequence is n2 + 34. Is the number 292
a term in this sequence?
The nth term rule for a sequence is n3. Is the number 5832 a
term in this sequence?
14 Work out an expression for the nth term for each sequence.

a
3 3 3
2
8 2 , 9, 9 1 , 9 , b 12.5, 12.2, 11.9, 11.6,
M
3
c −3 1 , −3 3 , −4 1 , −4 , d 0, −3.5, −7, −10.5,
4 4 4 4
15 The nth term rule for a sequence is n2 + 2n − 1. 5th term = 52 + 2 × 5 − 1
This is how you work out the 5th term in the sequence:
= 25 + 10 − 1
a Work out the first three terms in the sequence.
= 34
b Work out the 10th term in the sequence.
SA

16 Use the nth term rules to work out the first three terms and the
10th term for each of these sequences.
a n2 + 5n + 3 b 3n2 − 2 c 2n2 − 3n +10

121
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9 Sequences and functions

9.3 Representing functions

Exercise 9.3
Focus
1 Copy and complete the outputs for these function machines.
a Input Output

E
2
2
4 Tip
4
5 22 = 4, 42 = ,
b Input Output 52 =

2 a
2
4
5

x
3

2
2
8

4
PL
Copy and complete the table of values for each function machine.
i ii
y

5
 
x

x 2
3

4
y

5
23 = 8, 43 =
53 =
,
M
y y
b What do you notice about your answers to parts a i and
a ii and your answers to Question 1?
c Copy and complete the equation for each function in part a.
SA

i y=x ii y=x
d Copy and complete the mapping diagram for each function
in part a.
i x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

y 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26

ii x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

y 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130

122
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9.3 Representing functions

3 a Copy and complete the table of values for each two-step

Tip
function machine. Use the working to help you.
i 32 = 9 and 9 + 1
x
2
+1 y x 3 6 8 = 10

y 10 62 = and
+1=
ii 82 = and
x
3
–2 y x 1 3 10
+1=
y −1

E
13 = 1 and
1 − 2 = −1
b Copy and complete the equation for each function in part a. 33 = 27 and
i y=x + ii y=x − 27 − 2 =
4

i
0 4 9 16 36
27 81 125 144 PL
a Copy and complete the table of values for each two-step
function machine. All the answers are in the cloud.

ii iii
103 =
−2=
and
M
x 2 ×4 y x ×3 2
y x +1 3
y

x –2 1 3 x –1 3 4 x –1 2 4
y y y

b Copy and complete the equation for each function in part a.

SA

i y= x ii y=( x) iii y = (x + )

Practice
5 a Copy and complete the table of values for each two-step function machine.
i ii iii 1
x 2
–4 2
y x 3
+5 y x – 2 y

1 1
x –2 0 12 x –3 2 2
x –3 –1
2 2

y y y

b Write each function in part a as an equation.

123
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9 Sequences and functions

6 a Draw a function machine for the equation y = (2x)2.

Tip
b Draw a table of values for x = 18 , 14 , 1 and 2. Work out the
2 Which step
values of y for the function y = (2x)2. comes first,
7 a Work out the missing values in the tables for these function multiplying by 2
machines. The missing x-values are all negative. or squaring?
i ii
x 2
÷2 y x2
+3 y

x 2 –6 x 5 –15

E
y 8 50
y 0 16

b Write each function in part a as an equation.

8 A B
x

function A:
2
y

PL
Sofia makes this conjecture about

I think that
because the function
is y = x2, when you
have the positive and
negative of the same
x +1

Zara makes this conjecture

about function B:

I think that
because the function
includes a square, when
you have the positive and
2
y
M
negative of the same value
value for x, the y-value for x, the y-value will
will be the same. be the same.

Is either of them correct? Justify your answer. Show all your working.
9 For each of these function machines
SA

i write the equation ii work out the reverse equation

iii show how to check your equations are correct.
a d
4 3
x y x –10 y

b e
5 2
x y x ÷4 y

c f
2 3
x ×3 y x ÷2 y

124
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9.3 Representing functions

Challenge
10 a Sort these function equations into groups. Explain how you
chose the groups by describing the characteristics of each group.

()
2
3
y= x
3
A y = x2 − 4 B y= x C y= x D E y= x F y = x2
2 4 4

x
G y = 9x H y = ( 9x )
3
I y= J y = (x + 2)
2
K y= 3
x+9 L y=x−4
9

E
b Now sort the function equations into different groups. Explain how
you chose the groups by describing the characteristics of each group.
11 Sofia and Zara are looking at this function machine and table of values.

x ... ...

Sofia says: Zara says: PL y

x
y

I think the reverse

equation for this
function is x = 4 y .
4
4
8
16
10
25
M
I think the reverse
equation for this
function is x = 2 y .

Is either of them correct? Explain your answer. Show all your working.
SA

12 Copy and complete this function machine, its equation and table of values.

3 1 1
x ×... y x 2 4

y 11 −270
4
y=…
Explain how you worked out your answer.

125
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.
 We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title.

9 Sequences and functions

13 Marcus is looking at the two functions y = (x − 5)4 and y = 5 − x5.

He makes this conjecture.

I think that in
both of these functions,
whatever negative values
I use for x, my y-values
will always
be positive.

E
Is Marcus correct? Show working to justify your answer.

PL
M
SA

126
Original material © Cambridge University Press 2021. This material is not final and is subject to further changes prior to publication.
ISBN_9781108756502.