GCSE: Maths: Algebra: Consecutive Numbers Coursework

"An excellent piece of work. The writer attempts to find a solution to a tricky problem, which is to be commended. Work is set out very carefully, both tables and calculations are easy to read. The writer sets out his definitions at the start of the work, which is important to allow readers of all levels to understand. He follows sensible procedure to develop his ideas, trying examples and looking for patterns. The writer progresses towards a solution briskly, but without skipping vital steps. The solutions to the problems are stated in the conclusion, which is always good to see. All in all, this was a very impressive essay, one of the best I have read. Advanced content, covered in depth. TSR user: Edenr."

"This article covers the basics well, explaining clearly the methods required for determining the nth term in simple cases. Examples are given to help the reader understand how to carry out the process themselves. Harder cases are only looked at briefly, and so I doubt much can be taken from the last few paragraphs. It would have been better, I feel, to concentrate on the constant increase case and leave the harder cases alone if the writer did not intend to look into them thoroughly. TSR user: Edenr."

"I'm not too sure what to make of this essay, but I'm just going to take it as a brief summary of very basic algebra. Essentially, your maths is solid (although you do drop a negative sign in your 12x + 9 = 4x - 8), but you do seem to waste words quite a bit. You can easily condense a lot of this into one or two examples, especially seeing as all of your examples are pretty much the same thing. The explanation at the end is mind-bogglingly long for what is essentially "divide both sides by 2". This needs quite a bit of work, with some more diverse examples to keep things interesting (why not try introducing fractions like 4x/3 + 5x = 7) or perhaps move on a little into simultaneous equations. TSR User: chidona"

"It wasn't until I was about halfway through the essay that I realised exactly what the aim of the report was; it wasn't made clear at the start that the writer was looking for squares of varying sizes. The diagrams were not clear, bolder lines could have been used to distinguish between different sized squares. The formatting of the document, with tables lacking borders and divides, made it very difficult to understand what was going on. It would have been helpful if the formula found could have been included in the conclusion. The verification of the formula was not very thorough, but I assume a proof of the formula was not required/ TSR user: Edenr."

"This course work is a bit confusing and if it used easier steps it might could of been helpful."