Yes, we can find the next two terms by using the difference method. The idea behind the difference method is to work out successive differences going from non - linear, to linear, to constant. Once we have found the constant difference, we can work back to the original sequence and hence generate the next two terms.
This free download is an ICT Mathematics Activity, which uses MS Excel® spreadsheet to insert the formulae required to work out the differences.
The students are given pictorial sequences to consider which includes triangular, square, hexagonal numbers and square shapes.
The students are then given step by step instructions to follow to work out the next two numbers for the above sequences using the spreadsheet formulae.
They also graph both the non linear and linear differences, to understand how the difference method works, that is, eventually reducing the differences to a constant difference.
Download
 Activity instructions (pdf - 560kb)
MS Excel® worksheet (16kb)
CSV worksheet (2kb - if you do not have a spreadsheet application that can open MS Excel® files)
 Adobe® Reader®
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