Question One

Consider the parabola y  x 2 and line y  x . In this question we will try

to compute the area of the region enclosed by the parabola and the line

from different approaches.

First Approach
In the first approach, we will partition the region into n pieces of small

“rectangles”, as shown below. Each rectangle has equal width and its

right end points are on the parabola and the line.

a) Find the coordinates of the point of intersection between the parabola

and the line.

b) Find the width of each rectangle, in terms of n .

1 1 1
c) Show that the 1st rectangle has area of (  ).
n n n2
1 2 4
d) Show that the 2nd rectangle has area of (  2 ) .
n n n
e) Find the area of the i th rectangle.
n
1 i i2
f) Show that the area of the region can be estimated by  (  2 ).
i 1 n n n

This sum can be simplified by

n
1 i i2 n
i i2 n
i n
i2 1 n
1 n 2
 (
i 1 n n

n 2
)  
i 1 n
2

n 3
 
i 1 n
2
 
i 1 n
3
 2
n
i 
i 1
i
n 3 i 1

n
g) Find i
i 1
by the formula of arithmetic series.

n
h) Find i
i 1
2
, if you forget how, read Q9 on page 114 of your textbook.

n
1 i i2 n  1 2n 2  3n  1 1 1
i) Hence show that  (
i 1 n n

n2
) 
2n

6n 2
  2.
6 6n

This estimation becomes more precise when we increase the number of

split rectangles, in other words, increase n .

1 i i2 n
j) By considering the value of  (  2 ) when n   , find the exact
i 1 n n n

area of the region enclosed by the parabola and the line.

Second Approach
In the second approach, we will partition the region into n pieces of

small “triangles”. This method is proposed by the Greek mathematicians

Archimedes.

The line y  x is shifted until it is tangent to the parabola y  x 2 . The first

triangle is sliced by connecting the two intersections between the

parabola and the tangent point.

a) Find the coordinate of the tangent point.

1
b) Hence show that the area of the first triangle is .
8
Now let’s consider the region outside the first triangle but inside the

parabola. New triangles are sliced by similar method. The two red lines

are shifted until they are tangent to the parabola and their tangent points

are used to form the second and third triangles.

 1
c) Prove that the second and third triangles both have the area as of
8
the area of the first triangle. This proof might be quite challenging. You

can research how Archimedes proved it or utilize modern analytic

geometry knowledge.

d) Hence find the area of the second and third triangles.

Infinitely many triangles are sliced by this strategy. Their areas are

summed to approach the original area between the parabola and the line.

e) By using the knowledge of infinite geometric series, find the exact area

of region enclosed by the parabola and the line.

f) Are the answers from two approaches consistent? Analyze the common

and different points between these two approaches.

This is the end of question one. Can you think more way to partition the

region enclosed by the parabola and the line? What is the “law” we must

follow when processing the partition? This topic is called quadrature of

the parabola, study more if you are interested!!!

 Question Two

Consider one rectangular floor with length n and width 1, where n  Z  .

In this question we will try to use two types of boards to fill the floor.

Type A board is a square with side length 1. Type B board is a rectangle

with length 2 and width 1.

When filling the floor, we can use Type A board or Type B board or both.

The number of boards is unlimited.

Let an be the number of ways that the n1 floor can be filled with the

boards.
a) Find the values of a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , and a5 .

b) What pattern do you notice for an by inspecting the values of a1 , a2 ,

a3 , a4 , and a5 ?

c) Explain why an  an1  an2 , n  3 is true for the filling process.

(Hint: when filling the floor, the first board used can be either Type A or

Type B)

d) Use the recurrence relation above, find the values of a6 to a10 .

e) Find the value of a30 . Do you think it is efficient to find the value of

an with large number of n by the recurrence relation?

The sequence with recurrence relation an  an1  an2 , n  3 is called

Fibonacci sequence.

If we want to find the value of an with large number of n , utilizing the

recurrence relation is quite inefficient. We will then seek for the general

term formula of an instead. Notice that in this questions a1  1 and

a2  2 .

e) Assume that form an  an1  an2 can be transformed to the equivalent

form an  ran1  s(an1  ran2 ) , show that s  r  1 and sr  1 .

f) Hence find the values of s and r . You can assume that s  r .

g) Now an  ran1 is a geometric sequence with common ratio s and first

term a2  ra1 . Show that an  s n2  s n1  ran1 . (Hint: s  1  r )

h) Plug an1  s n3  s n2  ran2 into an  s n2  s n1  ran1 ,

show that an  sn2  sn1  r (s n3  s n2 )  r 2an2 .

i) Plug an2  sn4  sn3  ran3 into an  sn2  sn1  r (s n3  s n2 )  r 2an2 ,

show that an  sn2  s n1  r (s n3  s n2 )  r 2 (s n4  s n3 )  r 3an3 .

j) Continue this process, show that finally

an  s n2  s n1  r (s n3  s n2 )  r 2 (s n4  s n3 )  ...  r n3 (s  s 2 )  r n2 (1  s)  r n1a1 .

k) As a1  1 , we have

an  s n2  s n1  r (s n3  s n2 )  r 2 (s n4  s n3 )  ...  r n3 (s  s 2 )  r n2 (1  s)  r n1 .

Notice that an is “almost” a geometric series.

1 1
1 1
(r n  r n 1 )  ( s n  s n 1 ) r rn  s sn .
Show that an  
rs rs rs
l) Now plug in the values of s and r found in part e),

5  5 1 5 n 5  5 1 5 n
show that an  ( )  ( ) .
10 2 10 2

m) Use this general term formula to find the values of a1 to a10 , as well

as the value of a30 . Are the answers consistent with those found in part a),

d), and e)?

n) Both the recurrence relation and general term formula can be used to

define a sequence. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Please notice that the general term formula of Fibonacci sequence can be

generated from its recurrence relation by another marvelous method

called characteristic equation. Study more if you are interested!!!

In the remaining part of this question we will study some interesting

properties of Fibonacci sequence.

Property One

a) Compare the values of a1 and a3 , what do you notice?

b) Compare the values of a1  a2 and a4 , what do you notice?

c) Compare the values of a1  a2  a3 and a5 , what do you notice?

d) Compare the values of a1  a2  a3  a4 and a6 , what do you notice?

e) Compare the values of a1  a2  a3  a4  a5 and a7 , what do you notice?

f) Hence finish the proposition a1  a2  a3  ...  an  ?

g) Prove the proposition you made in part f).

Hint: The general term formula tells us that the sum of first n terms in the

Fibonacci sequence can be split into two geometric series.

Property Two

a) Compare the values of a1 and a2 , what do you notice?

b) Compare the values of a1  a3 and a4 , what do you notice?

c) Compare the values of a1  a3  a5 and a6 , what do you notice?

d) Compare the values of a1  a3  a5  a7 and a8 , what do you notice?

e) Compare the values of a1  a3  a5  a7  a9 and a10 , what do you notice?

f) Hence finish the proposition a1  a3  a5  ...  a2 n1  ?

g) Prove the proposition you made in part f).

Hint: Decompose the term on the right side of the equation by the

recurrence relation of Fibonacci sequence.

Property Three

a) Compare the values of a2 and a3 , what do you notice?

b) Compare the values of a2  a4 and a5 , what do you notice?

c) Compare the values of a2  a4  a6 and a7 , what do you notice?

d) Compare the values of a2  a4  a6  a8 and a9 , what do you notice?

e) Compare the values of a2  a4  a6  a8  a10 and a11 , what do you

notice?

f) Hence finish the proposition a2  a4  a6  ...  a2 n  ?

g) Prove the proposition you made in part f).

Hint: Decompose the term on the right side of the equation by the

recurrence relation of Fibonacci sequence.

Property Four

a) Compare the values of a12 and a1a2 , what do you notice?

b) Compare the values of a12  a22 and a2 a3 , what do you notice?

c) Compare the values of a12  a22  a32 and a3a4 , what do you notice?

d) Compare the values of a12  a22  a32  a42 and a4 a5 , what do you

notice?

e) Compare the values of a12  a22  a32  a42  a52 and a5 a6 , what do you

notice?

f) Hence finish the proposition a12  a22  a32  ...  an 2  ?

g) Prove the proposition you made in part f).

Hint: Decompose the term on the right side of the equation by the

recurrence relation of Fibonacci sequence.

Property Five

an 1
a) Compute the values of in decimals form n  1 to n  10 . What
an

do you notice?

an 1
b) Compute the values of in decimals for large number of n . What
an

do you notice?

an 1
c) Hence finish the proposition: for large number of n , ?
an

d) Prove the proposition you made in part c).

an 1 a a
Hint: If  k as n   , you may assume that n 1  n  2  k then use
an an an 1

the recurrence relation to find k . How many possible values can k have?

Is one of them consistent with the answer in part c)? What happens for

another value of k ?

This is the end of question two. There is much more further research we

can do for the amazing Fibonacci sequence. Study more if you are

interested!!!