Patterns 
 

Introduction 

Patterns are a good application of loops. These will help you get yourself a better 
clarity over implementing loops. 

Suppose, we want to print the following pattern: 

1 
1 2 
1 2 3 
1 2 3 4 

Solution: 

➔ Here, you can see that we have 4 rows. 

➔ Now, moving to find the generic number of columns, it’s clear that the 
i-th row (where i = 1, 2, …) has i columns. Hence, the number of 
columns for i-th row is i. 
➔ Visually, it’s also clear that we want to print numbers starting from 1 to 
the row-th number. Like for the first row, we print numbers starting 
from 1 and ending at 1, for second row numbers are starting from 1 
and ending at 2 and so on… 

The above approach can be generalised in the following way: 

● We start to figure out the number of rows that our pattern requires. 
● Now, we should know how many columns do we have to print in the generic 
i-th row. 

 
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● Once, we have figured out the number of rows and columns, then we should 
focus on what to print. 

There are two popular types of patterns-related questions that are usually posed: 

● Square Pattern 
● Triangular Pattern 

Coding a pattern: 

Now, starting to code this pattern. It’s clear that we have to start with a loop for 
running over the row. So let’s first begin with writing the basic structure and the 
loop for the row: 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
 
int n = 4; ​//Number of rows taken input 
 
int i = 1; ​ // for iterating over rows starting from the first row 
 
while(i < n) { 
 
i++; /​ / for iterating over each row 
} 
} 

Here, we have iterated over each row.  

Now for printing the above pattern, we also need to iterate over columns and that 
too, on each row.  

 
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For this, we will run another loop inside the while() loop. Let’s see that also… 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
 
int n = 4; ​ /​ /Number of rows taken input 
 
int i = 1; ​ // for iterating over rows starting from the first row 
 
while(i < n) { 
 
int j = 1; /​ / for iterating over columns 
while(j <= i) { ​// since for each column row, we will be iterating  
// over each column  
cout << j;   
j = j + 1; /​ / as we have discussed above that i-th row will  
// have i columns 
} 
cout << endl; 
i++; /​ / for iterating over each row 
} 
} 

This will result in the above pattern that we discussed. These types of patterns are 
known as ​triangular patterns​ as the shape resembles a triangle. 

Similarly, there are other patterns too like: 

11111 
11111 
11111 
11111 
11111 

This type of pattern is s​ quare Pattern. T

​ ry coding it out yourself… 

 
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Once, you have tried it, you can check your solution with the one given below: 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
 
int n = 5; 
 
int i = 0; 
while(i <= n) { 
 
int j = 1; 
while(j <= n) { 
cout << 1; 
j = j + 1; 
} 
cout << endl; 
i = i + 1; 
} 
} 

Like these integral valued patterns there are character valued patterns too. The 
only difference is that here we are printing the character values. 

For example: 

Given below are three patterns of the characters. They are very similar to what we 
discussed above. 

******  abcde  A 
******  abcde  AB 
******  abcde  ABC 
******  abcde  ABCD 
******  abcde  ABCDE 

 
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Practice Examples: 

Print the following patterns: 

1) 

55555
45555
34555
23455
12345

2) 

ABCDE
ABCD
ABC
AB
A

3) 

12344321 
123**321 
12****21 
1******1 

Try these yourselves and in case, you find yourself stuck then following is the approach 
provided... 

 
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Solution 1 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
 
int i = 5, j, k; 
while(i >= 1) { 
  k = i; 
  j = 1; 
  while(j <= 5) { 
  if(k <= 5) { 
  cout << k; 
  } 
  else { 
  cout << 5; 
  } 
  k = k + 1; 
j = j + 1; 
  } 
  cout << endl; 
  i = i - 1; 
} 
} 

Solution 2 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
 
int i = 1, j; 
while(i <= 5) { 
j = 5 - i + 1; 
int k = 1; 
while(k <= j) { 
cout<<(char)(64 + k); 
k = k + 1; 
} 
cout << endl; 
i = i + 1; 
} 
} 

 
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Solution 3 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
 
int i = 4, j; 
  while(i >= 1) { 
   
  j = 1; 
  while(j <= 4) { 
  if(j <= i) { 
  cout << j;  
}  
  else { 
  cout << "*";  
} 
j = j + 1; 
  } 
   
  while(j >= 1) { 
  if(j <= i) { 
  cout << j;  
}  
  else { 
  cout << "*";  
} 
j = j - 1; 
  }   
  i = i - 1; 
  cout << endl; 
} 
} 

 
 
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Advanced patterns 

Here, we are gonna study the patterns that include a form of mirror images at some part 
of the program. We’ll be solving these like we did in the “Patterns 1” portion by following 
the same three steps of identifying the number of rows, then identifying the columns and 
finally what to print. 

So directly moving on to programming questions: 

Example 1: P
​ rint the following pattern: 

1 2 3 4 5   
16 6   
15 7   
14 8   
13 12 11 10 9 

Try this out, in case you are stuck, just checkout the code below for the same.  

Note: T
​ he pattern may not be totally similar, meaning it may be a bit shifted due to the 
difference in the number of digits of a 2-digit number and a 1-digit number. 

Solution: 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
 
int i = 1, k = 6, l = 13, m = 16; 
while(i <= 5) 
  { 
  int j = 1; 
  while(j <= 5) 
  { 
  if(i == 1) 
  cout << j <<" "; 
  else if(j == 5) 
  cout << k++ << " "; 
  else if(i == 5) 

 
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  cout << i-- << " "; 

  else if(j == 1) 
  cout << m-- << " "; 
  else 
  cout<< " "; 
  j++; 
  } 
  cout << endl; 
  i++; 
  } 
} 

Example 2: P
​ rint the following pattern: 

1 
123 
12345 
1234567 
123456789 
1234567 
12345 
123 
1 

Try this out, in case you are stuck, just checkout the code below for the same.  

Hint: H
​ ere you can see that there are generally two different patterns that you have to 
make: one spreading in the downwards directions and other one in continuation, shrinking 
towards the bottom. 

Approach: ​Let’s first try to make the downwards growing pattern i.e., upto row number 5. 
It is clearly visible that each row has 2n-1 numbers (where n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Now, as we 
know the number of rows, columns in each row and the general formula that our pattern 
follows, it can be easily coded.  

Moving on to the lower triangle of the pattern, if we start counting these rows in reverse 
order starting from number 4 down to number 1, each row contains 2n-1 numbers over 
here also, and can be similarly done using the upper triangle pattern but in reverse order.  

 
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Solution: 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() { 
int i = 1; 
while (i <= 5) ​// Starting our first part of the pattern. 
{ 
  int j = i; 
while (j < 5) 
{ 
cout<<" "; 
j++; 
} 
int k = 1; 
while(k < 2*i) ​ // upto k = 2n-1 
{ 
cout << k; 
k++; 
} 
i++; 
cout << endl; 
} 
   
i = 4; ​// Starting our second pattern in reverse order. 
while (i > 0) 
{ 
  int j = 5; 
while (j > i) 
{ 
cout << " "; 
j--; 
} 
int k = 1; 
while (k < 2*i) 
{ 
cout << k; 
k++; 
} 
cout << endl;  
i--; 
} 

 
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} 

You have already practised most of these questions earlier.​ So now directly moving on to 
some of the practice questions. 

PRACTICE:​ Print the following programs  

1 1 
2 2  
3 3   
4   
3 3   
2 2  
1 1 

Solutions: 

#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
 
int main() 
{ 
int i = 1, k=1; 
int m[7][7]={0}; // Initialises all the elements of the array equal to 0, you will 
// study about arrays in your further sessions. 
while (i <= 7) 
{ 
  int j = 1; 
while (j <= 7) 
{ 
  if (j == i || 8-i == j)  
m[i-1][j-1]=k; 
j++; 
} 
if (i < 4)  
k++; 
else  
--k; 
i++; 
} 
   
i = 0; 
while (i < 7) 

 
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{ 
  int j = 0; 
 
while (j < 7) 
{ 
if(m[i][j]==0) 
cout << " "; 
else 
cout << m[i][j]; 
j++; 
} 
i++; 
cout << endl; 
} 
} 

For more questions, visit the link: 

http://cbasicprogram.blogspot.com/2012/04/number-patterns.html 

 
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