Description/Aim

In this activity students win a hypothetical mystery lottery and are given 30 seconds to choose their prefered method of recieving the winnings from a choice of four options. Students practise work on arithmetic sequences and are introduced to geometric sequences.

The activity asks students judge how happy they are with their decisions by finding the terms and sums of the sequences at different points!!

Why we like this activity ….

Winning money generally provides an engaing context quickly and the 30 second decision piles pressure
on the intuitive skills! Even amongst those that opt for the exponential options there is surprise at the
speed and size of the growth of their fortunes!! The context also provides an obvious need for both
term and sum. Using Excel invites students to use the formulas that they utlimately aim to derive! The
alanalysis brings sequences and functions together and makes a valuable link! Its fun!!!

How this activity can be used ….

I would choose to do this activity on computers so that the tables and graphs can be pulled into the
document to create a good record, but it could be done on paper using the other files for
demonstration. Doing the task without computers might further invite the need for formulae. I use this
activity to build on the study of arithmetic sequences and introduce geometric ones.

Obbviously there is scope for using different options to change the level of difficulty of the problem!

What to expect when using this activity – from our experience

The geometric sequences quickly move in to the use of scientific notation, which is good practise!
Students sometimes confuse the term with the sum, forgetting the cumulative effect of the amounts!

Extra Notes