Module 1 | Week 2

Lesson 1.2 Patterns in Nature

September 26 – October 1, 2022
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, you must be able to:
1. identify patterns in nature and regularities in the
world.
Overview
In this lesson you will become conscious in your
environment, you will observe that
mathematics is everywhere.
Furthermore, this lesson will provide an
overview of the growing body of evidence that
mathematics is embedded in nature and in your
environment.
 Patterns in Nature

Mathematics is
an Art of Patterns

Image taken from ecstep.com

 What are Patterns?
PATTERNS, are
regular, repeated or
recurring forms or
designs, such as the
layout of floor tiles,
designs of skyscrapers,
and the way we tie
our shoelaces.
Image taken from www.dstuns.iitm.ac.in
 Types of Patterns in Nature

1. Symmetry
2. Fractals
3. Spirals
4. Fibonacci Patterns

Image taken from slideshare

1. Symmetry
Symmetry is when different
sides of something are
alike.
Symmetry indicates that
you can draw an imaginary
line across an object and
the resulting parts are
mirror images of each
other.
Image taken from Brainly.in
Symmetry
Bilateral Symmetry
Symmetry
Rotational/Radial Symmetry

Snowflakes Mandala Starfish

Images from slideshare.com
Symmetry
Three different type
of symmetry in
organisms from left
to right: bilateral,
radial, and spherical
symmetry. Red lines
represents the axes of
symmetry. Image from researchgate.com
2. Fractals
Fractals are objects
whose smaller parts look
similar to the bigger part.
Computer programmers
use fractals to generate
the in-game environment
of many computer
games.
Image taken from momtastic.com
3. Spirals
Spirals are a curved pattern
that focuses on a center
point and a series of circular
shapes that revolve around
it.
Examples of spirals are pine
cones, pineapples,
hurricanes.
The reason for why plants
use a spiral form like the leaf
picture above is because Image taken from complexfloorbal.blogs.com
they are constantly trying to
grow but stay secure.
 4. Fibonacci Pattern
A Sunflower displays many
patterns, seed heads of
sunflowers optimize the
packing of seeds by growing
florets in a spiraling pattern
connected to the golden
ratio and Fibonacci
sequence.
Nautilus shells, one of the
most iconic examples of the
Fibonacci sequence, follow
the proportional increase of
1.61.
Images taken from spectramagazine.org
Fibonacci Pattern
Fibonacci Pattern can be
observed in a stunning
variety of phenomena in
nature.
The total number of petals
of a flower is often a
number present in the
Fibonacci sequence, as
with irises and lilies.
Image taken from atomstalk.com
Fibonacci Pattern
Fibonacci Pattern can be
observed in a stunning
variety of phenomena in
nature.
Most pineapples have
either five, eight, thirteen
or twenty-one spirals;
these are also Fibonacci
numbers.
Image taken from craftofcoding.wordpress.com
Fibonacci Pattern
Fibonacci Tree
The black numbers to the
right indicate how many
branches there are at each
time step. This sequence
of numbers is known as
the Fibonacci sequence,
and the next number is
the sum of the previous
two.
Image taken from botanica.mathematica.wordpress.com
Frequently Observed Patterns in Nature and the World
Honeycomb
Nest built by bees. It is made
from beewax, and it
compose of shells in the
same shape of hexagon,
sometimes pentagon or
heptagon

Image from theyucatantimees.com

Frequently Observed Patterns in Nature and the World
Tiger stripes
The stripes on the tiger
are, in general, evenly
spaced and perpendicular
to the spine. The stripes
help with camouflage,
they allow the tiger to
blend with its
environment. Image from abc10.com
Frequently Observed Patterns in Nature and the World
Hyena’s spots
The spots on Hyenas are
shaped and distributed in
a pattern that helps also
in camouflage.

Image from nationalzoo.si.edu

Frequently Observed Patterns in Nature and the World
Weather Patterns
Weather is observed to
repeat a pattern for days,
weeks or months after
which a new weather sets
in.
This sequence of weather
patterns produces a cycle,
such as, dry monsoon
seasons, summer-autumn-
winter-spring seasons ,
habagat-amihan wind
patterns
Image from slideplayer.com
Frequently Observed Patterns in Nature and the World
Human Populations
The demographic distribution
of people in human populations
is observed to follow a pattern.
Poor nations display a pyramid-
shaped demography with the
young occupying a prominently
large section of the population.
But as nation progresses
economically, the base thins
out in favor of the older
segments of the population.
Image from doh.gov.ph
Frequently Observed Patterns in Nature and the World
Human Productivity
Human productivity in
many organizations is
observed to follow the 80:
20 rule. Twenty percent of
the members produce
80% of the organization’s
total output.

Image from thebalancecareers.com

Think About This!
1. Reflect and write as many patterns/habits in your life which
you want to share:
a. silly/funny
b. good/bad
2. Share what have you written with your groupmates. Find
out if similar patterns have occurred to anyone in the group.
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
Some of the most commonly
used patterns in mathematics
today:
A. The Logic Pattern
B. Symbol Patterns
C. Number Patterns
D. Word Patterns
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
A. Logic Patterns
LOGIC PATTERNS deals with the characteristics of various
objects. Another kind deals with order. Some pattern appears
in sequence while some possess similar attributes.
These types of patterns are common in aptitude tests.
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
A. Logic Patterns
To construct or solve a pattern:
1. Find the rule for the pattern
2. Understand the nature of the sequence
3. Analyze the difference between the two successive terms.
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
A. Logic Patterns
Example 1. Which figure can be use to continue the series?
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
A. Logic Patterns
Example 3. In a certain code language, the word PATTERNS can
be written TRTRTRTR, how will you write ALGEBRA in the
same code language?
a. RGGRRRG
b. GRGRGRG
c. GRRGGR
d. RRGGRR
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
B. Number Patterns
Mathematics is very useful in making predictions.
Number Patterns is list of numbers that follow a certain
sequence or pattern.
Recognizing number patterns enable students develop their
problem-solving skill.
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
B. Number Patterns
To solve number patterns:
1. Look for differences between two consecutive numbers.
2. If there is no logic (addition, subtraction, multiplication,
division, squares, cubes, primes) in the differences, find
other operations in the pattern.
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns
B. Number Patterns
Example 1. What is the next number in the sequence:
11, 13, 17, 19, 23, ___?
Example 2. What should be the number in the blank?
100, 98, 96, 94 ___
Example 3. Find the next two numbers in the sequence:
5, 6, 10, 19, 35 ____, ____
Mathematics makes up a large part of your everyday life.
You do not study mathematics to become a mathematician or
an engineer, but it will help you in your everyday life where
you need to think critically and analyze every possibility so you
can have the best solutions to a problem.
 References

Prepared by:

Gracia T. Canlas, LPT, MAED

Instructor – MATH 101
Thank you for listening!