What is a series? And a pattern? In this post, we’ll teach you all about series and patterns.
To talk about patterns is to talk about regularities.
Regularities are everywhere and it’s a special skill to be able to recognize them. Regularities exist in natural and social phenomena; the search for regularities is the base of science.
Just by observing your surroundings, you can find groups of elements that have been set in a certain way that follow a rule. You can find patterns!
What exactly are series and patterns?
A pattern is a succession of elements (they could be auditory, gestural, graphic…) that is formed by following a rule; that rule can be either repetition or reoccurrence.
Repeating Patterns:
Repeating patterns have different elements that are displayed periodically.
We can make lots of diverse repeating patterns, keeping its structure in mind. Here are some examples:
- AB: Two different alternated elements are repeated.
- ABC: Three different alternated elements are repeated.
- AAB: One element is repeated two times and followed by another.
- AABB: One element is repeated two times and followed by two repetitions of another.
Reoccurring Patterns:
In reoccurring patterns, the elements change with regularity. We can infer the rule of its formation; that’s to say, you can find out what the next element will be by observing how the pattern of the revealed elements. For example:
Now that we know what a pattern is and the types of rules that they can follow, we’re going to take a look at some pattern and series activities:
There are exercises where we can only copy a given pattern (reproduction):
In others, we’ll have to identify the pattern that a series is following (identification):
While there are others where we need to identify the pattern that we need in order to continue a series (extension):
And there are even exercises where we need to identify the pattern to be able to complete a series (extrapolation):
If you want to learn more elementary math, register today for a free trial with Smartick.
Learn More:
- Steps to Finding 1-Dimensional Series
- Series: What They Are and What They’re Used For
- What Is the Difference between a Sequence and a Pattern?
- Learn Your Times Tables at a Glance with a 100 Square
- Sudokus: What Are They, and How Are They Solved?
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