The Tutors maths questions

malkbk · Post by **malkbk** » Mon May 28, 2007 12:58 pm

My son sat paper fourB of the Tutors series today and unusually got many of the maths questions wrong.I tried to explain them (with the help of the answers) and couldn't!
Can someone provide the explanations for the following questions please?
Question 75. 86 65 74 77 62 89 ?

Question 77. 44 35 27 20 ?

Question 78 23 25 31 24 39 23 ?

Question 79. 39 36 39 40 40 44 42 ?

My maths is usually reasonable but I could not solve these.

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Mon May 28, 2007 1:12 pm

Hi Barbara

I have moved your post from Bucks to here - you are more likely to get a reply on this Section.

Best wishes
Sally-Anne

gloucestermum · Post by **gloucestermum** » Mon May 28, 2007 1:31 pm

Hi Barbara,

The pattern here is not straightforward looking at the subsequent number,instead look at the pattern for each alternate number.

86 65 74 77 62 89

86 to 74=deduct 12
74 to 62=deduct 12
65 to 77=add 12
77 to 89=add 12

So next 2 numbers would be 50 and 101

Next question is similar,adding 8 for the first set then subtracting 1 for the second.
Third question,first set is adding 0,1,2,3 etc and second set is adding 4.

Hope this makes sense!!

Gloucestermum

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Mon May 28, 2007 1:38 pm

Hi Barbara,

The trick is to realise that the relationship may not be between each number in sequence but may be between alternate numbers etc.

Q75. 86 -- 74 -- 62 -- 50

Q77. 44 (-9) 35 (-8) 27 (-7) 20 (-6) 14

Q78. 23 -- (+8)31 -- (+8)39 -- (+8) 47

Q79. -- 36 -- 40 -- 44 -- 48

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Mon May 28, 2007 1:39 pm

OK seasoned users - why do I get a smiley when I type an 8 ???

Sorry, Barbra - hope you get the gist despite the smiley faces instead of 8 followed by a close bracket!!!

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Mon May 28, 2007 1:48 pm

Annoying, isn't it Alex!

You have to leave a space before the bracket to get rid of it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 28, 2007 1:58 pm

Thank you Sally-Anne.

There was I so busy twiddling around with unwanted smileys I didn't realise Gloucester mum had already answered the question!!

malkbk · Post by **malkbk** » Mon May 28, 2007 4:05 pm

Thankyou to everyone for these answers. I hope he doesn't get so many of this type in one exam again. It knocked his score down significantly. At least we can add it to the list of things to look out for.
Thanks again.

KenR · Post by **KenR** » Mon May 28, 2007 4:50 pm

Just a quick extra tip that I taught my child.

Alternate number sequences have to have at least 6 terms to cater for a minimum of 2 lots of 3 pairs, whereas single number number sequences don't need to have tbis many terms and often have 5 or less.

If you see 6 terms of more get them to remember to check for alternative number sequences.

I have found this does work as a rule of thumb with for example NFER and can help them to speed up.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon May 28, 2007 6:06 pm

Hi

Another tip for students having difficulty with alternate number sequences is to get them to construct their own sequences.

Once they can understand how the sequences are put together that can easily understand how to work them out.

Regards

Mike