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5
Look for a Pattern
Mathematics has been called the science of patterns. We make
sense of our universe by inventing patterns to describe it. Practice
will sharpen your pattern-seeking skills. An astronomer uses a
spectrometer to record and observe patterns in the frequencies
of light radiated from a distant star. The patterns enable her
to determine what type of star it is by indicating its chemical
composition.

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T he study of mathematics is often called the study of patterns.

Patterns show up everywhere around us. In everyday life,
we see thousands of patterns: wallpaper, traffic, automobile designs,
weekday afternoon TV schedules, cabinet door arrangements, swimming
pool tiles, fence links, and much more. In mathematics, patterns can
repeat and extend indefinitely. In this chapter you will develop your
ability to recognize and extend patterns, which is a very valuable
problem-solving skill.
Recognizing patterns is extremely useful for real-world problems.
Detectives look for established patterns of behavior so they can
determine the characteristics of the person who committed a crime.
By doing this, they can narrow their list of suspects. After they
catch the criminal, they attempt to link together similar crimes that
person may have committed so they can strengthen existing evidence.
Researchers need to be able to detect patterns so they can isolate
variables and reach valid conclusions. A child uses patterns to learn
about the world. For example, children learn to differentiate between
positive and negative behavior as they recognize patterns in their
parents’ reactions.
As a problem-solving strategy, recognizing patterns enables you to
reduce a complex problem to a pattern and then use the pattern to find
a solution. Often the key to finding a pattern is organizing information.
We begin this chapter with mathematical sequences. A sequence
is an ordered string of numbers tied together by a consistent rule, or set
of rules, that determines the next term in the sequence. A term is an
individual member of a sequence.
Consider this sequence: 3, 7, 11, 15, ___, ___, ___, ___.
The rule that ties these numbers together appears to be “Add 4 to
each term to generate the next term in the sequence,” giving 3, 7, 11, 15,
19, 23, 27, 31.
Note that you could continue this sequence by repeating the first
four terms: 3, 7, 11, 15, 3, 7, 11, 15, . . . . However, for the purposes
of this text, the repeating pattern in a sequence is declared null, void,
illegal, invalid, unconstitutional, unpatriotic, immoral, corrupt, and not
at all nice. In other words, don’t take the easy way out while working
on these sequence problems. Instead, find the pattern and apply it to
find subsequent terms in the sequence.
The following problem features examples of mathematical sequences.

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SEQUENCES

Find the pattern and predict the next four terms. Then write a sentence that
explains your pattern. Solve each problem before continuing.
A. 1, 2, 4, ______, ______, ______, ______
B. 1, 3, 5, 7, ______, ______, ______, ______
C. 1, 6, 11, 16, ______, ______, ______, ______
D. 1, 4, 9, 16, ______, ______, ______, ______
E. 1, 3, 6, 10, ______, ______, ______, ______
F. 3, 6, 5, 10, 9, 18, 17, 34, ______, ______, ______, ______
G. 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, ______, ______, ______, ______
H. 2, 3, 5, 9, 17, 33, ______, ______, ______, ______
I. 77, 49, 36, 18, ______ (This sequence ends here.)

A. Sequence A in this problem illustrates an important point. Here

are two possible answers with the patterns explained:

• 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, . . . (Double each term to find the next

term in the sequence.)

2 2 2 2 2 2
Use “hats” (
)
to show the
relationship between 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 . . .
successive terms.
• 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, . . . (Start by adding 1 to the first term,
then add one greater number to each successive term. That is,
add 1, then add 2, then add 3, and so on.)

1
2
3
4
5
6

1 2 4 7 11 16 22 . . .

As you can see, there is more than one reasonable, correct answer
to this sequence, and each answer follows a consistent rule. Therefore,
from this point on check your answers very carefully. If you come up
with the same answers as the authors of this book did, you are obviously
a genius. If you come up with different answers, double-check to

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make sure you’re applying your rules consistently. It is quite possible

that some of the sequences in this problem have more than one
verifiable correct answer. It’s also possible that you could use different
patterns to arrive at the same answers, as you’ll see in the solutions
for sequences B and D.
Here are the most common answers to each problem, although you
may be able to justify a different set of answers:

B. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, . . .

C. 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36, . . .

D. 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, . . .

E. 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, . . .

F. 3, 6, 5, 10, 9, 18, 17, 34, 33, 66, 65, 130, . . .

G. 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76, 123, 199, . . .

H. 2, 3, 5, 9, 17, 33, 65, 129, 257, 513, . . .

I. 77, 49, 36, 18, 8 (no further terms)

Before you go on to read the explanations below, see if you can

decipher the patterns that you didn’t get.

B. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, . . .

The pattern in sequence B clearly involves odd numbers, but

many different patterns could be used to arrive at this answer.

1. The pattern is a sequence of odd numbers.

2. Add 2 to each term to get the next term.

2
2
2
2
2
2
2

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 . . .

3. The table below shows each term in this sequence in its

position in the sequence.

Position in
the sequence 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Term 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15

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Take the position of each term, double that number, and

subtract 1. For example, term number 3 in this sequence is 5.
We get 5 by doubling the term number, 3, and subtracting 1.
That is, 2  3  1  5. Similarly, the eighth term is 15 because
2  8  1  15.

C. 1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36, . . .

To get the next term in sequence C, add 5 to the previous term.

5
5
5
5
5
5
5

1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 . . .

D. 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, . . .

Most people see the pattern in sequence D in one of these ways.

1. To get from one term to the next, add an odd number. To get
the term after that, add the next greatest odd number. Continue
in this way, adding successive odd numbers. That is, first
add 3, then 5, then 7, and so on, always adding the next odd
number.

3
5
7
9
11
13
15
Find the differences.

1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 . . .

2. Begin by adding 3 to the first term. Then add 2 to each

successive addition:

2
2
2
2
2
2
Find the difference
of the differences.

3
5
7
9
11
13
15

1 4 9 16 25 36 49 64 . . .

(Note that this pattern is essentially the same as adding

successive odd numbers, but it is explained in a slightly
different way.)

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3. This sequence is a sequence of square numbers. So the first

term is 1  1, or 12, the second term is 22, the third term is
32, the fourth term is 42, and so on. Note that these numbers
are called “square” because sets of dots corresponding to
these numbers can be arranged in squares:

12  1 22  4 32  9 42  16 52  25

The pattern of adding odd numbers is shown in this diagram

of squares. In each successive diagram, a new bottom row and
right-most column have been added. The number of dots required
for these additions always corresponds to the next odd number.

12  1 22  4 32  9 42  16 52  25

E. 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, . . .

In sequence E, start by adding 2 to the first term. Then add 3.

Then add 4. That is, add 1 to each successive addition.

2
3
4
5
6
7
8

1 3 6 10 15 21 28 36 . . .

This sequence is often referred to as a sequence of triangular

numbers because sets of dots corresponding to these numbers
can be arranged in triangles. In each successive diagram below,
a new bottom row has been added, consisting of one more dot
each time.

1 3 6 10 15

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F. 3, 6, 5, 10, 9, 18, 17, 34, 33, 66, 65, 130, . . .

Sequence F shows a different kind of pattern. First, multiply the

first term by 2 to get the second term. Then subtract 1 to get
the third term. Then again multiply by 2 to get the fourth term.
Then again subtract 1 to get the fifth term. Continue in this way,
alternately multiplying by 2 and subtracting 1. Thus, 2
3  6.
Then 6  1  5, then 5
2  10, and then 10  1  9. After that,
9
2  18 and 18  1  17. The pattern continues in this way.

2 1
2 1
2 1
2 1
2 1
2

3 6 5 10 9 18 17 34 33 66 65 130 . . .

G. 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76, 123, 199, . . .

To find the next term in sequence G, add the previous two terms:
1  3  4, 3  4  7, 4  7  11, 7  11  18, 11  18  29.
So 18  29  47, 29  47  76, and so on.

13 34 47 711 1 1 18 1829 2947 47 76 76123

1 3 4 7 11 18 29 47 76 123 199 . . .

H. 2, 3, 5, 9, 17, 33, 65, 129, 257, 513, . . .

Write the difference between each pair of terms.

1 2 4 8  16

2 3 5 9 17 33, ______, ______, ______, ______

The difference between each pair of terms forms an exponential

sequence that features powers of 2: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. This sequence
shows up very well if you place one sequence above the other:

1 2 4 8 16

2, 3, 5, 9, 17, 33, ______, ______, ______, ______

Notice that each term in the bottom sequence is one more than
the corresponding term in the top sequence.

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Let’s take a minute here to talk about finding rules in sequences.

Sequences are studied in many mathematics courses, and calculating
the nth term of a sequence is an important mathematical concept.
“Calculating the nth term” means to figure out a rule for all the terms
in a sequence and then relate that rule to each term number. In the top
sequence shown for sequence H, the first term is 1, the second term
is 2, the third term is 4, and so on. Each term is a power of 2. The
exponent for each of these powers of 2 is 1 less than the term number.
For example, the first term is 20, the second term is 21, the third term
is 22, and so on. So the nth term is 2(n  1). Thus, the sixth term in the
top sequence is 25  32 (note that the exponent of the sixth term equals
6  1  5).
Each term in the bottom sequence is 1 more than its corresponding
term in the top sequence, so the nth term for the bottom sequence
is 2(n  1)
1. Thus, the sixth term for the bottom sequence is
25
1  33. The seventh term is 26
1  65, and so on.

I. 77, 49, 36, 18, 8 (no further terms)

The pattern for sequence I may seem strange compared to

the patterns you’ve looked at so far. This pattern illustrates the
need to be mentally flexible when dealing with patterns. For
this sequence, treat the digits in each term as separate numbers,
then multiply them together. For the first term, 7  7  49. Then
4  9  36, 3  6  18, and 1  8  8. At this point the pattern
is over. Try making up your own problem like this. Start with
a two-digit number and see if you can come up with a longer
Be mentally flexible.
sequence than sequence I.

Finding patterns in sequences is a skill that you can develop.

Remember that patterns can be identified at different levels of
complexity. Sometimes the pattern lies in the differences between
the numbers, sometimes it lies in the differences between the
differences, and so on. Sometimes you need to use other operations,
such as multiplication or division. Following these procedures will
help develop your pattern-detection skills.

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Now that you’ve practiced finding patterns in number sequences,

try using patterns to solve problems. Often problems are easier to
solve after you find a pattern in them—patterns can reduce a complex
problem to a simple one.

DODGER STADIUM

Radio broadcasters joke about the number of people who start leaving
Dodger Stadium during the seventh inning of baseball games. One evening,
during a particularly boring baseball game in which the Dodgers were trailing
by six runs after six innings, the fans began to leave at a record pace. After
the first out in the top of the seventh inning, 100 fans left. After the second
out, 150 fans left. After the third out, 200 fans left. The pattern continued
in this way, with 50 more fans leaving after each out than had left after the
previous out. The ridiculous thing was, the Dodgers tied the game in the
bottom of the ninth inning, and people still kept leaving early. The game lasted
ten innings (the Dodgers lost anyway), and the pattern continued through
the bottom of the tenth inning. How many fans left early? Work this problem
before continuing.

Chemene wrote the following solution.

“My first reaction was, ‘Holy cow, there won’t be any fans left at the
end of the game.’ But after the panic subsided, I was ready. And as I
thought about my visit to Dodger Stadium a few summers ago when
we visited L.A., I realized that the problem was probably accurate.
Anyway, I made a chart [also called a table].”

Fans who’ve
Inning Out Fans leaving left so far
top 7th 1 100 100
top 7th 2 150 250
top 7th 3 200 450
bot 7th 1 250 700
bot 7th 2 300 1000

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“At this point, I realized that this was going to take forever and that
there had to be a more efficient way. After I thought about it a little
more, I realized that from the top of the seventh inning to the bottom
of the tenth, there were going to be 24 outs. So in my next chart, I just
counted outs instead of writing the inning too. This was my next chart.”

Fans who’ve
Out Fans leaving left so far
1 100 100
2 150 250
3 200 450
4 250 700
5 300 1000

“Then I realized I could do this in a different way. I made a third

chart. This time I set up the chart so that I could easily see the total
number of fans leaving after each out. I broke down each out into the
100 fans that leave every time, plus the 50 more fans that leave for
each out after the first out. For example, after the fourth out, 250 fans
had left. This breaks down into 100
50
50
50, which is the way
it is shown in the chart below. For each successive out, I just added
another row of 50 fans leaving from that out until the end.”

Out # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 . . . Total
Base fans 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 . . . 2400
leaving
Additional 50 50 50 50 50 50 . . . 1150
fans leaving
Additional 50 50 50 50 50 . . . 1100
fans leaving
Additional 50 50 50 50 . . . 1050
fans leaving

“To get the totals on the right, I just multiplied. There were 24 outs
of 100 people leaving, then 23 outs of 50 people leaving, then 22 outs
of 50 people leaving, and so on. I then totaled the amounts at the side,

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which, of course, showed a pattern after the first 2400: 1150
1100

1050
1000
. . . . I then totaled the subtotals to get my answer. So
16,200 people left early. But that includes the people who left after the
last out, which technically isn’t early. If we don’t include the 1,250 people
who left right after the last out, then 14,950 people left early.”
Chemene realized that her first few attempts would have worked
but would have taken forever. She didn’t hesitate to abandon one chart
in favor of another. Her third chart clearly showed a pattern, which
she used to solve the problem.

PITTER PATTER RABBITS’ FEET

Tessa wanted to buy a rabbit. She had liked the Easter bunny when she was
a kid, so she decided to raise some bunnies of her own. She went to the store
with the intention of buying one rabbit, but she ended up with two newborn
rabbits, a male and a female. She named them Patrick and Susan. Well, rabbits
being what they are (rabbits), it is fairly impossible to have just two rabbits
for an extended period of time. She bought them on April 1, 2003. On June 1,
she noticed that Patrick and Susan were the proud parents of two newborn
rabbits, again one male and one female. She named these new arrivals Thomas
and Ursula.
On July 1, Patrick and Susan again gave birth to a male and a female rabbit.
She named these Vida and Wanda.
On August 1, Patrick and Susan again gave birth to a male and a female.
But Tessa was really surprised to see that Thomas and Ursula also gave birth
to a male and a female. Tessa was running out of names, so she didn’t bother
giving them any.
On September 1, Patrick and Susan gave birth to a male and a female,
and so did Thomas and Ursula, and so did Vida and Wanda.1
Tessa noticed a pattern to the breeding. A pair of rabbits was born. Two
months later they bred a pair of rabbits and continued to breed a pair of
rabbits every month after that. Tessa wondered, “If this keeps up, how many
rabbits am I going to have on April 1, 2004?”
Do this problem before continuing.

1Actually, Vida was no longer Vida, and Thomas was no longer Thomas. Tessa was
worried about maintaining a diverse genetic pool among her bunnies, so she traded
the original Thomas and Vida to other breeders and named their replacements
with the same names.

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Four students—whose names just happened to be Pat, Sue, Tom,

and Ula—worked on this problem.

PAT: Wow, this is weird. These rabbits have the same names that
we do.
TOM: Let’s try to do this problem, okay? We don’t need to know
whether the rabbits are named after us.
PAT: I just thought it was interesting.
ULA: How are we going to do this? I’m totally confused.
SUE: Let’s try making a systematic list.
PAT: Okay, let’s see. We have adult rabbits and baby rabbits.
SUE: Yeah, but we also have teenaged rabbits. After Thomas and
Ursula were born on June 1, they didn’t have babies until
August 1. So in July they were just teenagers.
ULA: Let’s get all this down in a table. Then maybe we can find a
Make a table. Find pattern. (Ula began writing a table. All numbers represent pairs
a pattern.
of rabbits.)

Month Adults Teenagers Babies Total

April 0 pr 0 pr 1 pr 1 pr

TOM: That’s great, Ula. Okay, so in May, Patrick and Susan grow to
be teenagers. And then in June they become adults and have
babies, Thomas and Ursula. And in July they have more babies.

Month Adults Teenagers Babies Total

April 0 pr 0 pr 1 pr 1 pr
May 0 1 0 1
June 1 0 1 2
July 1 1 1 3
August 2 1 2 5

SUE: Wait, how did you get August?

ULA: Well, in August Thomas and Ursula grew up to be adults, and
they had babies. So did Patrick and Susan.

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PAT: Who are the teenagers?

TOM: Vida and Wanda. They were babies in July, so they are teenagers
in August.
PAT: Oh, I think I see a pattern. The number of adults is the same
as the number of babies because each pair of adults has a pair
of babies.
SUE: Yeah, and the ones who are babies this month become teenagers
next month.
ULA: Right. And the adults are whoever were adults last month plus
whoever were teenagers last month.
TOM: I think we can figure this out now.

Month Adults Teenagers Babies Total

April 0 pr 0 pr 1 pr 1 pr
May 0 1 0 1
June 1 0 1 2
July 1 1 1 3
August 2 1 2 5
Example of patterns: September 3 2 3 8
• Oct., 5 adults → October 5 3 5 13
5 babies
November 8 5 8 21
• Oct., 5 adults

3 teens → December 13 8 13 34
Nov., 8 adults
January 21 13 21 55
February 34 21 34 89
March 55 34 55 144
April 89 55 89 233

TOM: I think we’re done. Tessa will have 233 pairs of rabbits on
April 1, 2004. Great job, guys.
SUE: Wait a second. I see a pattern here. Look down the Total column.
You just have to add the two numbers above it to get the next
number.
PAT: What?

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TOM: I see what she means. Look at the top of the Total column. The
first two numbers are 1 and 1. The next number is 2, which is
1
1. The next number is 3, which is 1
2. The next number
is 5, which is 2
3. Then look, 8 is 3
5. So just add the two
numbers above to get the next number.
ULA: Neat. And look, the same thing happens in all the other columns,
but the pattern starts later. And the numbers in each column
are the same: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, . . . .
PAT: Wow, that’s cool. I think this sequence has a name. The Liberace
sequins, maybe?
TOM: Not sequins. Sequence.
ULA: I think it’s the Fibonacci sequence. It’s named after an Italian.
TOM: I guess when you think you’re done, maybe you’re not. It’s kind
of neat to look back and find the pattern. With the pattern in
our table, it would be really easy to keep going.
SUE: Yeah, but let’s not. But we might see that pattern again someday.

This problem illustrates the effectiveness of finding patterns. The

group found a pattern in what was going on as they worked the problem,
but they didn’t catch the overall pattern until they were done. Tom
is right. It’s always good to look back at your work to notice things
you might have missed and to make sure your answer is reasonable.

The sequence in the rabbit problem is called the Fibonacci sequence,

which is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, . . . . Each term
is the sum of the previous two terms. The next term
will be 21
34, or 55, the following term will be
34
55, or 89, and so on. The Fibonacci sequence is
named after the Italian mathematician Leonardo of
Pisa (ca 1170–1240), called Fibonacci (son of Bonaccio)
by an editor of his works in the nineteenth century.
The sequence that bears his name shows up in some surprising
places in nature. For instance, if you count the two sets of spirals on
a pinecone, you will always get consecutive Fibonacci numbers such
as 5, 8 or 8, 13 or 13, 21. For example, a pinecone might have 8 spirals

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going in one direction and 13 in the other. The same pattern also occurs
in sunflowers, pineapples, cacti, and other plants. Read more about
Fibonacci in an encyclopedia or a book on the history of mathematics.
Also note that the sequence 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, . . . (solved as sequence
G on page 113) is often referred to as the Lucas sequence, named
after French mathematician Edouard Anatole Lucas (1842–1891). The
“seeds” of the Lucas sequence are 1 and 3, rather than 1 and 1 as in
the Fibonacci sequence.

NIGHT OF THE HOWLING DOGS

Shawna liked to jog in the late afternoon. One day she noticed an unusual
phenomenon. As she jogged, dogs would hear her and bark. After the first
dog had barked for about 15 seconds, two other dogs would join in and bark.
In about another 15 seconds, it seemed that each barking dog would “inspire”
two more dogs to start barking. Of course, long after Shawna passed the first
dog, it continued to bark, as dogs are inclined to do. After about 3 minutes,
how many dogs were barking (as a result of Shawna’s passing the first dog)?
Work this problem before continuing.

Loc solved this problem:

“This sounds like my neighborhood, 24 hours a day. I started out by
trying to draw a diagram of what was going on. It was a mess.”

ROVER (DOG #1)

“The biggest problem seemed to be that the first dog doesn’t just
stop, but continues barking and continues inciting more dogs to stupid
barking frenzies. And every other dog that starts barking also incites
new dogs to bark.

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“I realized I needed to organize the problem into a table. It starts off

with one dog barking. Then 15 seconds later, two new dogs start barking.
So now there are three dogs barking. Then, 15 seconds later, every
dog that is barking gets two more dogs to start barking. So the three
barking dogs inspire six new ones to start. I put all of this in a table.”
Loc’s table is shown below. The Dogs Barking column refers to
the number of dogs that are barking at the beginning of each round.
The New Dogs Barking column refers to the number of dogs that start
barking during each round. The Total Dogs Barking column shows the
number of dogs that are barking at the end of each round. The total
dogs barking at the end of one round become the dogs barking for the
next round.

Dogs New Dogs Total Dogs

Time Round Barking Barking Barking
0 0 0 1 1 = 30
:15 1 1 2 3 = 31
:30 2 3 6 9 = 32
:45 3 9 18 27 = 33
1:00 4 27 54 81 = 34

Loc concluded that at the end of 3 minutes, which would include

12 rounds, there would be 312 dogs barking, or 531,441 dogs.
He finished by saying, “This answer may seem completely
unbelievable to you, however, if you’ve been around my neighborhood,
you would probably think the answer was close to dead-on.”

MILK LOVERS

Alysia and Melissa and Dante and Melody loved milk. They convinced their
older brother, Mark, who did all the shopping, to buy each of them a gallon
of milk because they liked it so much. They all put their names on their gallons.
One day, they were all really thirsty, and each took ten drinks according to
a different system:
Alysia started by drinking half of the milk in her container. Then she drank
one-third of what was left. Then she drank one-fourth of what was left, then
one-fifth, and so on.
Melissa started by drinking one-eleventh of her milk, then one-tenth of
what was left, then one-ninth of what was left, and so on.

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Dante started by drinking one-half of his milk, then two-thirds of what was
left, then three-fourths of what was left, then four-fifths, and so on.
Melody started by drinking one-half of her milk, then one-half of what was
left, then one-half of what was left, and so on.
After each had taken ten drinks, how much milk remained in each container?
Work this problem before continuing.

Bimiljit answered the problem in this way:

“This problem seemed a little tough. I examined Melody’s usage
first because it seemed to be the easiest. I made a chart and looked for
a pattern. For example, on the second drink, she drank one-half of the
remaining half, which is one-fourth of the whole container. This leaves
her with one-fourth of the whole container.”

Drink # Amount drunk Amount remaining

Make a table to
1 1/ 1 – 1/2 = 1/2
make patterns easily 2
recognizable.
2 1/ x 1/2 = 1/4 1/ – 1/4 = 1/4
2 2

3 1/ x 1/4 = 1/8 1/ – 1/8 = 1/8

2 4

“The pattern for the amount remaining was pretty obvious:

1/ , 1/ , 1/ , 1/ ,. . . . So I looked at each denominator as a power of 2,
2 4 8 16
and it turned out that each power matched up exactly with which
drink she was taking. For example, 1/8 is 1/23 after the third drink.
So after ten drinks, Melody would have 1/210 or 1/1024 of her milk left.
That’s not very much.
“I then tried to make the same kind of chart for Alysia because hers
seemed to be the next easiest. On her second drink, she drinks 1/3
of the remaining half. This is 1/6 of the whole container. Subtracting
1/ from 1/ gives 1/ left in the container after two drinks.”
6 2 3

Drink # Amount drunk Amount remaining

1 1/ 1 – 1/2 = 1/2
2

2 1/ x 1/2 = 1/6 1/ – 1/6 = 1/3

3 2

3 1/ x 1/3 = 1/12 1/ – 1/12 = 1/4

4 3

4 1/ x 1/4 = 1/20 1/ – 1/20 = 1/5

5 4

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“I couldn’t believe how easy this pattern was once I saw it. The
numerator is 1 and the denominator is 1 more than the drink number.
The tenth drink would leave 1/11 of the milk remaining.
“Next I tried doing Melissa’s chart. Hers seemed to be a little harder.”

Drink # Amount drunk Amount remaining

1 1/ 1 – 1/11 = 10/11
11

2 1/ x 10/11 = 1/11 10/ – 1/11 = 9/11

10 11

3 1/ x 9/11 = 1/11 9/ – 1/11 = 8/11

9 11
•
•
•
10 1/ x 2/11 = 1/11 2/ – 1/11 = 1/11
2 11

“The pattern wasn’t hard to see: The amount of milk remaining

keeps going down by 1/11. But the end was hard to figure out. I figured
out that the pattern for the numerator goes 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
So after ten drinks she would have 1/11 of her milk left. The amazing
thing was that this final amount was the same as Alysia’s.
“Dante’s chart seemed like the hardest. But the chart-and-pattern-
finding approach was working so well, I just kept at it.”

Drink # Amount drunk Amount remaining

Be persistent. The
1 1/ 1 – 1/2 = 1/2
pattern may be 2
difficult to find.
2 2/ x 1/2 = 1/3 1/ – 1/3 = 1/6
3 2

3 3/ x 1/6 = 1/8 1/ – 1/8 = 1/24

4 6

4 4/ x 1/24 = 1/30 1/ – 1/30 = 1/120

5 24

5 5/ x 1/120 = 1/144 1/ – 1/144 = 1/720

6 120

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“This pattern was much harder to find. I couldn’t see any pattern
at all in the amount he drank. But the denominators of the remaining
amounts looked strangely familiar: 2, 6, 24, 120, 720. Then I remembered
where I had seen them. Those are the numbers that show up in
factorials. You know, like 5! (5 factorial) is 5  4  3  2  1  120.
But the factorial in the denominator of each amount remaining was
actually the factorial of the next drink number. After three drinks he
had 1/4!  1/24 of his milk left, and after five drinks he had 1/6 !  1/720
left. So after ten drinks, he was going to have 1/11!  1/39,916,800 of his
milk left. Wow! That isn’t much at all. Factorials sure get big fast.
“So the answers are Alysia and Melissa each had 1/11 of their milk
left, Dante had 1/39,916,800 of his left, and Melody had 1/1024 of hers left.
I can see why Mark bought each of them their own gallon.”
Bimiljit was successful with this problem for many reasons, the
main reason being that she was unafraid of the problem and persisted
in solving it. She found many patterns. They showed up easily
because she was organized in her thinking and created her charts
so that patterns would show clearly.

Look for a Pattern

The key to finding most patterns is to organize a problem’s information
in a chart, table, or other systematic list so that the patterns jump out
at you.

• Write down the sequence, and extend it if you can.

• Make a chart that matches each element of the sequence with its
Try different ways position number in the sequence.
to organize the
information so you • Check the differences between the terms and try to relate the
can see patterns. terms to their position numbers.

• If seeing the differences doesn’t help, try other operations such

as multiplication, division, and squaring, or use a combination of
operations.

Patterns turn up in many places. Keep your eyes open for them.

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Problem Set A
1. S E Q U E N C E PAT T E R N S

Find the next three terms in each sequence and explain your pattern
in a sentence.

a. 2, 5, 10, 17, ______, ______, ______

b. 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, ______, ______, ______

c. 5, 10, 9, 18, 17, 34, 33, ______, ______, ______

d. 1, 3, 7, 13, 21, ______, ______, ______

e. 1, 5, 13, 29, 61, 125, ______, ______, ______

f. 1, 5, 13, 26, 45, 71, ______, ______, ______

g. 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, ______, ______, ______

2. M O R E S E Q U E N C E PAT T E R N S

Find the next four terms in each sequence.

a. 243, 81, 27, 9, 3, ______, ______, ______, ______

b. 4, 9, 8, 13, 12, ______, ______, ______, ______

c. 4, 5, 8, 13, 20, 29, 40, ______, ______, ______, ______

d. 3, 7, 13, 21, 31, 43, ______, ______, ______, ______

e. 5, 7, 11, 19, 35, 67, ______, ______, ______, ______

f. 1, 4, 13, 40, 121, 364, ______, ______, ______, ______

g. 3, 1, 4, 5, 9, 14, 23, 37, ______, ______, ______, ______

h. 7, 3, 10, 13, 23, 36, 59, ______, ______, ______, ______

i. 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 20, 37, ______, ______, ______, ______

3. A I R S H OW

To keep the spectators out of the line of flight at an air show, the ushers
arranged the show’s seats in the shape of an inverted triangle. Kevin,
who loves airplanes, arrived very early and was seated in the front row,
which contained one seat. The second row contained three seats, and

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those filled very quickly. The third row contained five seats, which
were given to the next five people who came. The next row contained
seven seats. This seating pattern continued all the way to the last
row, with each row containing two more seats than the previous row.
All 20 rows were filled. How many people attended the air show?

4. R E C TA N G U L A R D OT S

In this chapter you worked with square and triangular numbers. This
problem is about rectangular numbers. Find the pattern in the sequence
of diagrams below, and determine how many dots would be in the
thirty-fourth diagram.

5. P E N TA G O N A L N U M B E R S

This problem is about pentagonal numbers. Find the pattern in the

sequence of diagrams below, and determine how many dots would be
in the seventeenth diagram.

6. B E AC H B A L L

Kazuko has a beach ball. It is colored with six vertical sections, in order:
white, orange, yellow, blue, red, and green. She spins the beach ball,
and she notices that the colors whir by very fast. If the first color to go
by is white and the ball spins around so that 500 colors go by, what is
the 500th color?

7. LAST DIGIT

What is the digit in the ones place of 257?

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8. JUGGLING2

Little Gessop is trying to learn how to juggle. He has scrounged up

three balls: two yellow tennis balls and one blue racquetball. He starts
his usual juggling procedure by holding the two yellow balls in his left
hand and the blue ball in his right hand. Then he throws one yellow
ball from his left hand to his right; then he throws the blue ball from
right to left just before he catches the first yellow ball; then he throws
the second yellow ball from left to right just before he catches the blue
ball; then he throws the first yellow ball back to his left hand just before
he catches the second yellow ball. (The balls follow a sideways figure-
eight pattern.) Gessop considers the first catch to be when he catches
the first ball, the second catch to be when he catches the second ball,
and so on.
Gessop has been counting how many catches he can make before
dropping a ball—or all three. He can’t seem to get past 15 catches before
he messes up. He’s counted his catches several times, and he’s begun
to notice a pattern, but because he’s becoming only more frustrated
rather than a better juggler, he gives up. But he’s curious to know which
hand the blue ball would end up in if he could make it to 100 catches.
Gessop is about as good at math as he is at juggling (that is, not very
good), and he’s made the assumption that there is a 50-50 chance that
the ball would end up in his right hand. Where would the blue ball
be on the hundredth catch? Is Gessop right about the 50-50 chance?

9. EMAIL VIRUS

In 1999 a computer macro based on a popular suite of programs was

launched through the Internet. This macro came in the form of an
email message that replicated itself via the first 50 email addresses in
a recipient’s address list. For example, person A sends the message
to person B, who inadvertently sends a copy of the message to the first
50 people in his email address book.
Assume that there are no duplicate recipients. If the first email is
called the first generation, how many total emails will have been sent
in the first five generations?

2Student Cory Craig of Sierra College in Rocklin, California, wrote this problem.

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10. BEES

A male bee is born from an

unfertilized egg, a female bee
from a fertilized one. In other
words, a male bee has only a
mother, whereas a female bee has
a mother and a father. How many
total ancestors does a male bee
have going back ten generations?
(Try drawing a diagram to help
organize this problem’s information.)

11. PA S C A L’ S T R I A N G L E

This triangle is called Pascal’s triangle. Find a pattern that will produce
the next row. Then copy the triangle and determine the next four rows.

1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1

12. OT H E R PAT T E R N S I N PA S C A L’ S T R I A N G L E

Look for other patterns in Pascal’s triangle. Write down three of them.

13. COIN FLIPS

Pascal’s triangle shows up in the solutions of many problems.

Consider how Pascal’s triangle might help you solve this problem:
One flipped coin can land in two ways: heads (H) or tails (T).
Two flipped coins can land in four ways:

HH HT TH TT

Make a list of all the ways that three flipped coins can land. Make a list
of all the ways that four flipped coins can land. What does this problem
have to do with Pascal’s triangle? Could Pascal’s triangle help you figure
out the number of ways five, six, seven, or more flipped coins can land?

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14. FREE INTERNET

A new Internet service has just been announced that gives free Internet
access for a year if customers agree to receive an email advertisement
every 30 seconds while online. In other words, if you were online for
5 minutes, 10 email ads would show up in your email inbox during
that time. Of course, then you’d have to go into your inbox, open
the ads, and delete them. While you were opening and deleting them,
you’d still be online, so more ads would come in. (To verify that
you’re living up to your end of the bargain, a return receipt is sent
when you open an ad that works only when the computer is still online,
so you must remain online while opening and deleting the ads.)
Suppose you’ve just been online for 1 hour. During that time,
120 emails showed up in your inbox. You know that all of these ads
are going to be junk, but you still need to open and delete them. Assume
it takes 10 seconds to open and delete each ad. During that time, more
ads will come in, and you’ll have to open and delete those ads. While
you’re opening and deleting those ads, still more ads will come in.
You’ll finally be able to log off when there are no more ads in your
inbox. The ads started coming in 30 seconds after you logged on.
Including the original hour you were online, how long will you have
been logged on when you’ve deleted the last ad?

15. REFLECTION

At this time we would like you to reflect on what you have learned so
far in this course. Have you learned new problem-solving strategies or
become better at strategies you were already familiar with? Have you
enjoyed working with other students? What have you liked best about
this course so far? What have you liked least? Have you used any of the
strategies you’ve learned so far outside this course?

16. W R I T E YO U R OW N

Create your own pattern problem. To start with something easy, write
a sequence problem. Then try coming up with a situation to go with it.

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C L A S S I C P RO B L E M S
17. T H E H AT T H AT D I D N ’ T S E L L

Unable to sell a hat for $20, a haberdasher lowered the price to $8. It
still did not sell, so he cut the price again to $3.20, and finally to $1.28.
With one more markdown, he will be selling the hat at cost. Assuming
that he followed a system in marking his price cuts, can you tell what
the next markdown will be?

Adapted from Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd, vol. 2, selected and edited by
Martin Gardner.

18. TOW E R O F H A N O I
The Tower of Hanoi puzzle was invented by the French mathematician
Edouard Lucas in 1883 (originally the “Tower of Brahma,” in a temple
in the Indian city of Benares). He was inspired by a legend that tells of
a Hindu temple where the pyramid puzzle might have been used for
the mental discipline of young priests. Legend says that at the beginning
of time the priests in the temple were given a stack of 64 gold disks,
each one a little smaller than the one beneath it. Their assignment was
to transfer the 64 disks from the first of three poles to the third, using
the second pole as much as they wanted to for transfer purposes. There
was one important proviso: A large disk could never be placed on top
of a smaller one. The priests worked very efficiently, day and night.
When they finished their work, according to the myth, the temple
would crumble into dust and the world would vanish. How many
moves does it take to do this? Start by only using two disks and figure
out how many moves it takes. Then do the puzzle with three disks,
then four, and so on. Look for a pattern.

Adapted from The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions by
Martin Gardner.

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Problem Set B
1. L E G A L E AG L E S

There are exactly five parking spaces along the front side of the law
offices of Stetson, Neumann, Ostrom, Savidge, and Schoorl. The colors
of the lawyers’ cars are blue, tan, black, silver, and burgundy. Match
the owners with their car colors and their parking spaces using the
following clues. Then determine whether Neumann is male or female.

1. Ostrom does not own the silver car.

2. The woman who parks in the fifth space owns the burgundy car.

3. Stetson owns the black car.

4. Schoorl parks her car in the middle space.

5. There are cars parked on both sides of Neumann’s car.

6. Ostrom parks his car on one end, but the man who owns the
blue car does not.

7. A woman parks in the fourth space.

2. R U DY ’ S C L OT H E S R A C K

Rudy examined his rack of clothes—five shirts and four ties—trying

to decide what combination to wear. His five shirts included three
solids and two patterns. His three solid-color shirts were blue, green,
and white. One of his two patterned shirts was a blue-and-green print,
and the other was a red-and-white stripe. He needed to match a shirt
with a tie. His solid-color ties were white, blue, and yellow, and his
patterned tie was a green-and-blue stripe. Rudy has two rules of good
taste: You don’t wear two solids of the same color; and if you wear a
pattern, match it with a solid that is the same color as one of the colors
of the pattern. Given those conditions, what is the probability that
Rudy will pick out a combination that includes blue?

3. ROO AND TIGGER

Roo and Tigger decided to have a jumping race. Their racecourse was
100 feet up and back (200 feet total). Roo could make three jumps
of 2 feet each in the same time that Tigger could make two jumps of
1 yard each. Who won the race and by how much?

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4. G O L F M AT C H

Clark, Chris, Doug, and Diana are standing on the first tee of their
favorite golf course, about to begin a best-ball-of-partners match. (A
best-ball match pits two golfers against two other golfers.) They are
standing in a square, with two partners standing shoulder to shoulder
next to each other on the cart path, directly facing the other two partners
standing shoulder to shoulder next to each other on the grass. This
standing arrangement is typical of the beginning of a golf match.
They shake hands, then throw a tee in the air and let it hit the ground.
Whoever it points to will tee off first. Clark is standing diagonally
opposite Diana. Chris is facing the person whose name begins with
the same letter as that of the name of the person who will tee off
first. Partners tee off one after the other. Who will tee off second?

5. COMIC OF THE MONTH

I subscribe to the Comic-of-the-Month Club. Each month I can buy

any number of the 48 titles offered by the club. The first month I
bought five comics for $3.07. The second month I bought two comics
for $1.72. The next month I bought six of the club offerings for $3.52.
In May I bought three more for $2.17. The club charges a fee for each
comic and a handling fee for the entire order. How much would it have
cost to buy all 48 titles at the same time?

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