Week 4 Homework Solutions

Instructions: Same rules as usual – turn in your work on separate sheets of paper. You must justify all
your answers for full credit. Do not consult the internet.

1. If you were to shade in a n × n square on graph paper, you could do it the boring way (with sides parallel
to the edge of the paper) or the interesting way, as illustrated below:

The interesting thing here, is that a 3 × 3 square now has area 13. Our goal is the find a formula for the
area of a n × n (diagonal) square.
(a) Write out the first few terms of the sequence of areas (assume a1 = 1, a2 = 5, etc). Is the sequence
arithmetic or geometric? If not, is it the sequence of partial sums of an arithmetic or geometric
sequence? Explain why your answer is correct, referring to the diagonal squares.

Solution: The sequence is 1, 5, 13, 25, 41, 61, . . .. This is not arithmetic (since 5 − 1 = 4 but
13 − 5 = 8). It is also not geometric (since 5/1 = 5 but 13/5 = 2.6). To recognize whether the
sequence is a sequence of partial sums, we look at the differences. The sequence of differences
is 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, . . .. This is an arithmetic sequence. So we see that

a1 = 1

a2 = 1 + 4
a3 = 1 + 4 + 8
a4 = 1 + 4 + 8 + 12
n
X
an = 1 + 4(k − 1)
k=1

(b) Use your results from part (a) to find a closed formula for the sequence. Show your work. Note,
while there are lots of ways to find a closed formula here, you should use partial sums specifically.

Solution: We have an = 1 + 4 + 8 + · · · + 4(n − 1). If we reverse these and add corresponding

terms (not including the 1) we get

2an = 2 + (4n) + (4n) + (4n) + · · · + (4n)

On the right hand side of the equation we have the sum of n − 1 copies of (4n) so we get

2an = 2 + (n − 1)(4n)

or
an = 2n2 − 2n + 1

2. In their down time, ghost pirates enjoy stacking cannonballs in triangular based pyramids (aka, tetra-
hedrons), like those pictured here:
 Note, these are solid tetrahedrons, so there will be some cannonballs obscured from view (the picture on
the right has one cannonball in the back not shown in the picture, for example).
The pirates wonder how many cannonballs would be required to build a pyramid 15 layers high (thus
breaking the world cannonball stacking record). Can you help? Find a closed formula for the number of
cannonballs in the nth pyramid and use this to find the number of cannonballs in the 15th pyramid.

Solution: To get the next larger pyramid, we add a triangle of cannonballs to the previous pyramid.
Thus to get Pn , we add Pn−1 to the nth triangular number: P3 = 4 + 6 = 10, P4 = 10 + 10 = 20,
P5 = 20 + 15 = 35.
To find the closed formula, look at the sequences of differences. The first differences are 3, 6, 10, 15, . . ..
The second differences are 3, 4, 5, 6, . . .. The third differences are 1, 1, 1, . . .. Since third differ-
ences are constant, we know the closed formula for Pn will be a degree 3 polynomial. So Pn =
an3 + bn2 + cn + d. Note that P0 = 0, so d = 0. To solve for a, b, and c, we solve the system of
equations:

1=a+b+c
4 = 8a + 4b + 2c
10 = 27a + 9b + 3c

Doing so gives a = 16 , b = 1
2 and c = 1
3 so

1 3 1 2 1
Pn = n + n + n
6 2 3

Finally:
1 3 1 2 1
P15 = 15 + 15 + 15 = 680
6 2 3

3. Let an be the number of 1 × n tile designs can you make using 1 × 1 squares available in 4 colors and
1 × 2 dominoes available in 5 colors.
(a) First, find a recurrence relation to describe the problem. Explain why the recurrence relation is
correct (your explanation should reference tile designs of squares and dominoes).

Solution: an = 4an−1 + 5an−2 . Each path of length n must either start with one of the 4 1 × 1
tiles, in each case there are then an−1 ways to finish the path, or start with one of the 5 1 × 2
tiles, in each case there are then an−2 ways to finish the path.

(b) Write out the first 6 terms of the sequence a1 , a2 , . . .. Hint: since you have a recurrence relation,
the only difficult part will be finding the first two terms, which are simple counting questions.

Solution: 4, 21, 104, 521, 2604, 13021

(c) Solve the recurrence relation. That is, find a closed formula for an .
 Solution: The characteristic equation is x2 − 4x − 5 = 0 so the characteristic roots are x = 5
and x = −1. Therefore the general solution is

an = a5n + b(−1)n
5
We solve for a and b using the fact that a1 = 4 and a2 = 21. We get a = 6 and b = 16 . Therefore
the solution is
5 1
an = 5n + (−1)n
6 6

4. Consider the sequences 2, 5, 12, 29, 70, 169, 408, . . . (with a0 = 2).
(a) Describe the rate of growth of this sequence.

Solution: It does not seem to help to look at the difference between terms - in fact, the
differences seem to be growing in the same manner as the original sequence. However, looking
at the ratio between terms gives us almost a common ratio of 2. In other words, it appears
that the sequence is growing exponentially.

(b) Find a recursive definition for the sequence.

Solution: We see that 5 is a little more than twice the previous term, and 12 is a little more
than twice 5. In fact, it is exactly 2 more, which is the first term. So perhaps an = 2an−1 +an−2 ,
and this seems to work moving forward.

(c) Find a closed formula for the sequence. Don’t be afraid to use the quadratic formula.

Solution: Use the characteristic root technique. The characteristic

√ equation is x2 −2x−1 = 0.
Solving this (using
√ the quadratic
√ formula) gives x = 1± 2. So we know that the closed formula
for an = a(1 + 2)n + b(1 − 2)n . Now let’s find a and b. We have

2=a+b
√ √
5 = a(1 + 2) + b(1 − 2)
√ √ 3
Use substitution: a = 2 − b so 5 = (2 − b)(1 + 2) + b(1 − 2) which simplifies to b = 1 − √
2 2
.
3
This gives a = 1 + 2√ 2
. Therefore

3 √ 3 √
an = (1 + √ )(1 + 2)n + (1 − √ )(1 − 2)n
2 2 2 2

(d) If you look at the sequence of differences between terms, and then the sequence of second differences,
the sequence of third differences, and so on, will you ever get a constant sequence? Explain how
you know.

Solution: You will never get a constant sequence of differences. If you did, this would mean
that the original sequence would be some polynomial. But we have an exponential closed
formula, so no polynomial will fit.

5. Bonus: For the sequence in problem 1, find the closed formula in as many interesting ways as you can.
Each unique explanation gets 1 point.
Solution: There are lots of interesting things you can do here. From what we have done with
sequences, you could notice that the second differences are constant, so you know that the closed
formula will be quadratic. You could then use polynomial fitting, or simply compare the sequence
to n2 to find the pattern. More inventive solutions include:

1. Look along the diagonals. The nth figure will have n diagonals of n squares, and n−1 diagonals
of n − 1 squares. Thus all together, the number of squares is n2 + (n − 1)2 .

2. If you count the number of squares in each row starting at the top, you will have 1, 3, 5, . . . , 2n−
3, 2n − 1, 2n − 3, . . . , 3, 1. So we can think of the total number of squares as being the sum of
the first n odd numbers (counting up) plus the sum of the first n − 1 odd numbers (counting
down). But the sum of the first n odd numbers is n2 , so again we find the total number of
squares to be n2 + (n − 1)2 .

3. Enclose the figure in a larger square with dimensions 2n − 1 × 2n − 1. Then look at what
part of that square you don’t want. You have 4 triangles you must remove. The nth figure
requires removing a triangle with base n − 1 on each corner, so we must remove 4Tn−1 , where
Tn = n(n+1)
2 is the nth triangular number. Thus the total number of squares in the figure is

(n − 1)n
(2n − 1)2 − 4 .
2