Problem Solving, Mathematical Investigation and Modeling Week 10 Find A Pattern
Problem Solving, Mathematical Investigation and Modeling Week 10 Find A Pattern
Problem Solving, Mathematical Investigation and Modeling Week 10 Find A Pattern
Triangle 1
Triangle 2
Triangle 3
a. Draw the pattern of circles for triangle 4 and 5.
b. How many dots are there in 7th pattern?
c. Come up with a rule or formula to determine the number of dots in nth pattern.
a. If we continue the pattern, triangles 4 and 5 would look like the following:
Triangle 4
Triangle 5
b. To determine the number of circles in the 7 th pattern and in the nth pattern, we construct the
table this way:
Pattern 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 N
Number of 1 3 6 10 15
circles
Observe that the number of circles form a pattern such as 1,3,6,9,15, and so on. There is one
circle in the first pattern to get the number of circles in the second patten, we add 2 to 1 which makes
it 3. To get the number of circles in the 3rd pattern, add 3 to 3 to get 6. To get the number of circles in
the 4th pattern, add 4 to 6 to make it 10. It means we are adding 2,3,4,5 and so on to the number of
circles to get the next. Therefore, the 6th pattern has 15 (5th pattern)+6 = 21 circles; the 7th pattern has
21 +7=28 circles.
1|Page SHIERA S. SIMBAJON, LPT
Instructor
COLLEGE DEPARTMENT
Pattern 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 N
Number of 1 3 6 10 15 21 28
circles
c. By analyzing the data presented in the table, the rule may be formulated to find the number of
circles in the nth pattern, that is,
n(n+1)
Number of circles in the nth pattern= .
2
EXERCISES:
Solve the following problems using the strategy “Find a Pattern”.
1. Naturals numbers are arranged in a triangular shape shown below. If the pattern continues,
what number is the third form the left in the 50 th row.
1
2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
∙
∙
∙
2. What is the next term in the series:
1,1,2,4,7,13,24,44,___?
3. Five children A,B,C,D, and E were setting around a table. Cards with numbers 201-400,
arranged in order, were placed on the table. C took the first card, D took the second, and so on
until all the cards have been taken up.
A B C D E
201 202 203
204 205 206 207 208
209 210