Mathematics is all about spotting patterns. Let’s use this exercise to see if we can spot some patterns and then use numbers to summarise those patterns.

Exercise 1

Number Sequences

Often we can use numbers to represent our sequences.

So in mathematics we often try to find the pattern in a sequence of numbers.

Can you find the pattern in 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20? What would the next number be?

What about 6, 10, 14, 18, 22?

In a sequence each of the numbers is called a term and a term-to-term rule tells us how to get from one term to the next one (e.g. add 3).

Exercise 2

Answers to both exercises