Predictable Patterns

Numbers, like shapes and lines, can repeat in regular patterns. The numbers below are repeated to make a visual pattern.

Numbers can also make a pattern determined by mathematical changes.
Can you figure out the addition used to make the patterns below?

2, 4, 6, 8, What comes next?

1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10,12, What comes next?

Can you figure out the division used to make the pattern below?
160, 80, 40, 20, 10 What comes next?

Make up a predictable pattern of numbers using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. Then see if a friend, classmate, or family member can figure out the pattern and predict what comes next?

Click here to select from a variety of mathematics activities focused on patterns, especially, tessellations, assembled by the Open Learning Agency or British Columbia, Canada.

Click here to see a tessellation lesson prepared by two middle school teachers in Kansas.

Additional integrated art and mathematics lessons focused on tessellations and patterns can be found by searching with your browser.

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