Idea 2of 21Builds onRepeat, grow or shrink
Patterns around you
Where do patterns show up outside a math book?
Today you'll discover
- a pattern in a burning candle
- a pattern in a growing plant
- patterns that repeat in everyday life
Think firstA candle burns down, hour by hour
The candle is 24, 21, 18, then 15 cm tall. How tall after the next hour?
Decide first, then press Next. Find the change from each term to the next.
A row of boxes labelled a candle's height after each hour: 24, 21, 18, 15, then three blanks. Jumps marked minus 3 appear under the boxes. Then a bean plant's heights, 3, 5, 7, 9, extended to 11, 13, 15, and a pool's depth, 80, 70, 60, 50, drawn as dots that drop to the right.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
Real things that change by the same amount each time make growing or shrinking patterns.
Real patternsSaving $5 a week grows. A candle burning 3 cm an hour shrinks. The days of the week repeat.
Easy to get wrongA real pattern only lasts while its rule holds: a candle cannot shrink below 0 cm.
Key word
- pattern
- a list of numbers or shapes that follows a rule
Ready to use it?
- Find the pattern in a real-life story.
- Say whether it repeats, grows or shrinks, and extend it.