LESSON 4 Square Number Patterns

Another creature on Planet Gzorp is the Square Shell Turtle. Each year its shell grows larger by adding squares that are a different color from the year before.

1. Use square-inch tiles to build a model of a Square Shell Turtle as it grows up to at least age 8. Record the data as you build each square in a table like the one below. The new growth in squares (G) is the number of new squares you add for that year.

2. Graph your data on two separate graphs. Use Half-Centimeter Graph Paper.
1. On the first graph, the horizontal axis represents the age in years (A) and the vertical axis represents the new growth in squares (G).
2. On the second graph, the horizontal axis represents the age in years (A) and the vertical axis represents the size in squares (S).
3. For each graph, draw the line or curve that goes through all the points.
• If your points lie close to a straight line, use a ruler to draw a best-fit line.
• If your points do not lie close to a straight line, then draw a curve that goes through all the points.
• Decide whether your line or curve should go through the point (0, 0).