Sl Math Portfolio (Ia) 2012 - Lacsap's Fractions

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IB Math Portfolio – Task I | Determining the general statement for En(r) defined by LACSAP’s fractions | Submitted by: ---------------- Submitted on: November 26, 2012 Bayview Secondary School (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada) | Internal Assessment Math Portfolio – LACSAP’S FRACTIONS Row 1 Row 2 Row 3 Row 4 Row 5 The purpose of this assignment is to examine a set of fractions presented in a symmetrical pyramid, and generate a general formula for the fractions with respect to the row and element number after considering the first five rows. The sixth and seventh row should be calculated and the general statement should be proven correct with other rows and its limitations considered. The set of fractions is reproduced below. 1 1 1 32 1 1 64 64 1 1 107 106 107 1 1 1511 159 159 1511 1 This pattern is known as Lacsap’s fraction, consisting of changing numerator and denominators in a symmetrical format. En(r) will be used to represent the values in the pattern, r represents the (r+1)th element in each row, starting at r=0, and n represents the row number, starting at n=1. The domain of this term is {n|n ϵ N}, {r|r ϵ W}, since the row and element number cannot be negative or fractions. The fraction is made up of patterns in both the denominator and the numerator, so the two will be looked at separately and an equation will be generated for each before combining them to make a general statement. First, the numerator will be examined. Let N represent the value of the numerator, n represent the row number. Notice that the numerator is the same throughout a row: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15 for rows 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, respectively. To find the pattern for these numbers, the differences are calculated and examined below. Row Number (n) |

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