Maths Investigation

Maths Investigation

"Jo has started in a local supermarket and her first job is to build

displays of soup tins. To make them stable they are stacked using a

brick bond so that each tins stands on two others. The tins are

stacked against the wall. Each stack is complete with one tin in the

top row."

This piece of Maths coursework is about investigating sequences from a

practical situation. In this investigation, tins are used to build

stacks using a brick bond so that each new tin stands on two others.

The tins are stacked flat against a structure and each stack is

complete with one tin in the top row.

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An Example:

First I will investigate a two row stack.

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In this two row stack there are:

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Two tins on the base (row 2)

One tin on the top (row 1)

Three tins altogether

[IMAGE]In a three row stack there are:

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Three tins on the base (row 3)

Two tins in the middle (row 2)

One tin on the top (row 1)

Six tins altogether

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An early pattern that I can see is that whatever the row number

(counting down from row 1 at the top) there are that many tins in the

row e.g.

row 3 - 3 tins. It appears to me that there is some kind of pattern

forming with the total number of tins in each built up stacks. (See

table)

Number of Stacks

The Amount of Tins

2

3

3

6

4

10

5

?

I predict that for five stacks, the amount of tins needed will be

fifteen based on other stacks e.g. for two stacks there are three and

then for three stacks there are six so two tins are added. Then as you