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TI-82 SEQUENCE TUTORIAL—AN OVERVIEW

 After completing this tutorial you will be able to:

 Enter sequences which are recursively or explicitly defined.

 Set the WINDOW for each sequence.
 Generate a table or graph for each sequence.

 You will do this using some pollution and pollution control models.

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TYPING CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS TUTORIAL
 The TI-82 sequence keys which we will use extensively in this
tutorial are outlined in blue on the screen shown at the right.

 Typing Convention
 Functions accessed by pressing a primary key will be
indicated by “press ‘key name’”, for example press GRAPH.
 Functions accessed by pressing the 2nd key first will be
indicated by “press 2nd, ‘primary key name’”. For example
entering Un–1 would be indicated by “press 2nd, 7”

 Common combination symbols for this tutorial

 un–1= 2nd, 7
 vn–1= 2nd, 8
 n = 2nd, 9
 TblSet = 2nd, WINDOW
 TABLE = 2nd, GRAPH

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SETTING SEQUENCE MODES FOR THIS TUTORIAL
 The TI-82 must be put in sequence mode to work with
sequence definitions. To do this:
 Press MODE to display the MODE settings.
 Use the cursor keys to highlight Seq and then press
ENTER to select Seq which is the last element in the 4th
row.
 You may also wish to select Dot (2nd element in the 5th
row) to show discrete values when graphing.
 These setting are shown in the top screen at the right.

 For this tutorial the WINDOW FORMAT settings should be

as shown in the bottom screen at the right. To do this:
 Press WINDOW and then use the right cursor key to
highlight FORMAT.
 Use the cursor keys and the ENTER key to make your
settings conform to those shown.

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EXAMPLE 1—A POLLUTION MODEL
 Initially there are 500 pounds of contaminant in a lake. 10% of the contaminant is washed away each
year. However, a manufacturing concern annually dumps 100 pounds of the contaminant into a river
that feeds the lake. Will the level of contamination continually increase or will it stabilize at some
level?

 Let un represent the amount of contaminant in the lake after n-years and the initial amount u 0 =
500.
 After 1-year 90% of the 500 lbs would remain at which time an additional 100 lbs would be
dumped into the lake. Therefore, u1 = 0.90 u0 + 100.
 This suggests that

un = 0.90 un–1 + 100; u0 = 500, n  1

is the recursive equation for the amount of contaminant in the lake after n-years.

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ENTERING THE RECURSIVE EQUATION
 Press Y= to enter the sequence equations list.
 Two functions, Un and Vn, defined either recursively or explicitly may be entered.

 Clear any previously entered functions by using the CLEAR key and the cursor keys.

 Enter Un as 0.9 Un–1 + 100 by pressing:

. , 9, 2nd, 7, +, 1, 0, 0

Leave Vn undefined.

 The resulting screen is shown at the right.

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SETTING THE WINDOW and GRAPHING THE RECURSIVE EQUATION
 Press WINDOW to go to the WINDOW setup screen. The
complete WINDOW setup screen in shown in the first two
screens at the right (which have been placed to appear as one).
 General rules for setting WINDOW values
 The starting value of your sequence(s) will define
UnStart, VnStart and nStart, u0 = 500 for our example.
 nMin = nStart unless you want the graph to start at a
sequence value different from the sequence value at
nStart.
 nMax = a value of your choosing
 Xmin, Xmax = nMin, nMax unless you want the graphing
window to be different from the sequence range.
 Ymin and Ymax are values of your choosing and will
depend upon the minimum and maximum values of the sequence.
 Xscl and Yscl should be chosen so that the X and Y axes do not become too thick and interfere
with your view of the graph or become distracting to look at. For example, Xscl = (Xmax –
Xmin)/10 is a setting that works well for me in most instances.
 Use ENTER and the keypad to make your WINDOW setting the same as those shown.
 Press GRAPH to display a partial graph of the sequence. (Your graph will appear very similar to the
graph shown on the Exercise 1 answer page.)

 Exercise 1: Use the TRACE key to help decide if the level of contamination continually increases or
will stabilize at some level. You may wish to reset your WINDOW values and GRAPH several times
to help you decide.

 Click here to Goto Exercise 1 answers.

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GENERATING A TABLE OF VALUES FOR THE RECURSIVE EQUATION
 To generate a table of values for our recursive equation, u n =
0.9 un–1 + 100, u0 = 500, n  1:

 Go to TblSet (2ND, WINDOW). Use the cursor keys

and the ENTER key to make your TABLE SETUP
conform to the screen shown at the right.
 Press TABLE (2ND, GRAPH) to display a table of
values for the function as shown in the bottom screen at
the right.

 Use the down cursor key to cursor through the values and
see once again that the limiting value of the contaminant in
the lake will be 1000 lbs. (This will take some time.)

 Exercise 2: QUIT (2ND, MODE) to the home screen. Use

the DRAW (2ND, PRGM) function 3:Horizontal and
ENTER to draw a horizontal line at 1000 to see a graphical
representation of the limiting value for the contaminant.

 Click here to Goto Exercise 2 answers

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ENTERING THE EXPLICIT EQUATION FOR THE POLLUTION MODEL
 The explicit solution for the recursive equation un = 0.9 un–1 + 100; u0 = 500, n  1 can be shown to be

un = –500 (0.9)n + 1000, n  0

 We can easily see from the explicit equation that the limiting value of the contaminant must be
1000 lbs since the exponential portion will approach 0 as n gets large.
 What may not be so easy to see is why the recursive definition has the explicit solution that it
does. The solution comes from using techniques applied to first order linear difference equations.
You may consult either the ‘Algebra’ module or the ‘Dynamical Systems’ module for more
information on how to write and solve first order linear difference equations.
 To enter the explicit equation:
 Press Y= to enter the sequence equations list.
 Cursor down to Vn and enter the explicit equation: Vn = –
500(0.9)n + 1000
 The keystrokes are:
(–), 5, 0, 0, (, ., 9, ), 2ND, 9, +, 1, 0, 0, 0
 The resulting screen is shown at the top right.

 Go to WINDOW and edit VnStart from 0 to 500. The

resulting screen is shown at the right..
 Go to TblSet (2ND, WINDOW) and make sure that TblMin =
0.
 Press TABLE (2ND, GRAPH) to see a table for both the
recursively and explicitly defined functions. The tables
should be identical as shown in the screen at the bottom right.
 If you were to Press GRAPH at this time you would see just
one graph. Un and Vn may be selectively turned ON or OFF.
This will determine which graph or table is generated.

 Exercise 3: Turn off Un.Graph Vn for 0  n  50.

Create a table of values for Vn by
making TblMin = 0 and Tbl =
1.
Create a second table for Vn with
TblMin = 106. (The TI-82 will
grind for quite a while before you
will see the table.)

 Click here to Goto Exercise 3 answers.

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A SPECIAL NOTE FOR TEACHERS
CREATING TABLE VALUES USING THE ‘ANS’ FUNCTION
 To help students understand how values for difference equations are generated I have them calculate
sequence values by hand using the TI-82 as a simple calculator first.
 I then explain that the ANS function (2ND, (–)) stores the result of the computation just performed
and that we can easily use this idea to create a table of values for simple difference equations.
 Let un = 0.9 un–1 + 100; u0 = 500, n  1
 The following will generate a table of values for u 0, u1, u2, …

TI-82 home screen Keystrokes

500 5, 0, 0
500 ENTER [500 = uo]
.9* ANS + 100 ., 9, *, 2ND, (–), +, 1, 0, 0
550 ENTER [550 = u1]
.9* ANS + 100 2ND, ENTER [recalls previous computation]
595 ENTER [595 = u2]

 etc.
 In fact this is the approach I use entirely in my classes as some students are still using the TI-81
which does not have sequence capabilities.

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ANOTHER POLLUTION MODEL
 Initially there are 500 pounds of contaminant in a lake. 10% of the contaminant is washed away each
year. A manufacturing concern plans to annually dump 100 pounds of the contaminant into a river
that feeds the lake. However, the EPA finds out about the dumping and requires the manufacturing
concern to reduce the level of dumping by 25% per year after the initial dump of 100 pounds. Write a
recursive equation which models this situation.

 This situation seems to be similar to our first model which had the recursive definition u n = 0.9 un–
1 + 100; u0 = 500, n  1 except that instead of adding a constant 100 pounds of contaminant per
year we are adding smaller and smaller amounts.
 These amounts would be:
100
100 – 0.25 (100) = 0.75 (100) = 75
75 – 0.25 (75) = 0.75 (75) 0.75 (0.75(100)) = (0.75)2 * 100
etc.
 Looked at another way the additional amounts are {100, 75, 56.25, 42.1875, …}. This is an
exponential sequence, an, generated by an = 100 (0.75)n – 1; n  1.

 The recursive definition for our pollution model is therefore

un = 0.9 un–1 + 100 (0.75)n – 1; u0 = 500, n  1

 Exercise 4: Use a table of values to find u7.

 Click here to Goto Exercise 4 answers.

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THE EXPLICIT SOLUTION
 The explicit solution, obtained again from solution techniques for first order linear difference
equations, is

un = 1166.6666 (0.9)n – 666.6666 (0.75)n, n  0

 Exercise 5: Will the level of contamination continually increase, stabilize at some higher level as in
our last example or stabilize at some lower level? If it stabilizes at some lower level, what is the
approximate maximum level of contamination? Use a graph and the explicit equation to determine
the answer.

 Click here to Goto Exercise 5 answers

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THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE
 The Fibonacci sequence
u1 = 1, u2 = 1, un = un–1 + un–2 , n  3
is an example of a second order difference equation and can be evaluated using the TI-82 by making
use of both Un and Vn as follows.
 Press Y= and define Un and Vn as:
Un = Vn–1
Vn = Un–1 + Vn–1
 Press WINDOW and set the WINDOW as follows:
UnStart = 1
VnStart= 1
nStart=1
nMin=1
nMax=10
Xmin=1
Xmax=10
Xscl=1
Ymin=0
Ymax=60
Yscl=10
Press 2ND, WINDOW to get to TblSet and make TblMin = Tbl=1
Press 2ND, GRAPH to get the table shown below. U n will be the Fibonacci sequence.
u Un Vn
1 1 1 60

2 1 2 54
48
3 2 3 42

4 3 5 36
30
5 5 8 24

6 8 13 18

7 13 21 12
6
0

Press Y=, turn-off Vn by cursoring to the = sign for Vn and then pressing ENTER0 and
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
then Press GRAPH
to see a graph of the sequence. [The graph was generated in Microsoft Excel but is very similar to what
you will see on the TI-82 screen.]

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Math Link
TI-82 Sequence Tutorial
The End
We hope you enjoyed it!

Choose Edit, GoTo, Bookmark…, * (from Enter bookmark name: pull down list), GoTo, Close to return
to some point in the tutorial OR just exit the tutorial from here.

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EXERCISE 1 ANSWERS
 Press WINDOW to change the WINDOW settings to the
values shown in the screen at the top right. Leave the rest of
the settings as we had them. (If you have changed them,
change them back to the original settings.)
 Press GRAPH to get the graph shown at the bottom right.
 An inspection of the functional values using TRACE
suggests the contamination will stabilize at 1000 pounds as
shown in the screen at the right.

Click here to Goto Exercise 1 page.

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EXERCISE 2 ANSWERS
 Reset the WINDOW settings to show nMax and Xmax = 50.
 Make sure you are on the home screen by pressing QUIT
(2ND, MODE). You may need to press CLEAR to make sure
that you are at the beginning of a line.
 Press 2ND, PRGM (DRAW) to enter the draw menu shown in
the top screen at the right.
 Cursor down to 3:Horizontal (highlighted in the screen at the
right) and then press ENTER.
 This will cause the last line of text on the home screen to read
Horizontal 
 Complete the line to read
Horizontal 1000
 Press ENTER to get the graph screen shown at the right.
(You might wish to play around with different WINDOW
settings at this time.)

Click here to Goto Exercise 2 page.

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EXERCISE 3 ANSWERS
 To turn off Un: go toY=, cursor to the = for Un and press
ENTER so that the = sign is not highlighted (which turns Un
off). See the screen at the right.
 To graph Vn:
 Go to WINDOW, if necessary, and make sure that nStart
= nMin = Xmin = 0 and that nMax = Xmax = 50. The Y
scalings should still be ok.
 Press GRAPH to get the graph of Vn shown in the 2nd
screen at the right.
 To create the first TABLE:
 Go to TblSet (2ND , GRAPH)
 Edit TABLE SETUP so that TblMin=0 and Tbl=1 as
shown below.
TABLE SETUP
TblMin=0
Tbl=1
Indpnt: Auto Ask
Depend: Auto Ask
 Press TABLE (2ND, GRAPH) to get the table shown in
the 3rd screen.
 To get the second TABLE:
 Go to TblSet (2ND , GRAPH)
 Edit TABLE SETUP so that TblMin=106 and Tbl=1 as
shown below.
TABLE SETUP
TblMin=106
Tbl=1
Indpnt: Auto Ask
Depend: Auto Ask
 Press Press TABLE (2ND, GRAPH) to get the table
shown in the 4th screen.

Click here to Goto Exercise 3 page

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EXERCISE 4 ANSWERS
 To enter the recursive equation:

Press Y= to enter the sequence equations list.

Clear the previous equations using the CLEAR key and
the cursor keys.

Enter the recursive equation for Un. Un = 0.9 un–1 + 100
(0.75)n – 1
 The keystrokes are ., 9, 2ND, 7, +, 1, 0, 0, (, ., 7,
5, ), , (, 2ND, 9, –, 1, )
 To create the TABLE:
 Press 2ND, WINDOW to get to TblSet
 Set TlbMin = 1 or 7
 Press 2ND, GRAPH to create the TABLE which will
start at either n = 1 or n = 7 and show u7 = 469.02.

Click here to Goto Exercise 4 page

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EXERCISE 5 ANSWERS
 To enter the explicit equation:

Press Y= to enter the sequence equations list.

Enter the explicit equation in Vn. Vn = 1166.6666 (0.9)n
– 666.6666 (0.75)n

The keystrokes are: 1, 1, 6, 6, ., 6, 6, 6, 6, (, ., 9, ),
, 2ND, 9, –, 6, 6, 6, ., 6, 6, 6, 6, (, ., 7, 5, ), , 2ND,
9

Make sure that Un is turned off. [Cursor to the = key for
Un and hit ENTER.]
 Press WINDOW to make sure you have settings somewhat close to the following
 Un = Vn = 500
nStart = nMin = 0
nMax = 50
Xmin = 0
Xmax = 50
Xscl = 5
Ymin = 0
Ymax = 600
Yscl = 60
 Press GRAPH to display the graph.
 Press TRACE and then use the right and left cursor keys to determine the maximum value of the
function, V2 = 570. In this case the contamination increases for n = 0 to n = 2 and then decreases
steadily to a limiting value of 0.
 Note: If you ever hit the left cursor key during the trace the cursor will jump back to n = 0 and
you will have to start the trace again.

Click here to Goto Exercise 5 page