Patterns and Series

Finding Patterns, Generalizing Them, Finding Rules and Creating a

Series

By: Pushp Gupta

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Pushp Gupta
 Chapter 1: Finding and Visualizing Patterns
Let’s start off with some basic problems. We need to make sure that before
exploring the advanced parts of mathematics, we need to first know the
basics. Let’s do a small exercise first. Try to spot a pattern in the table:
x 1 2 3 4 5
y 3 6 11 18 27

This may not look that easy but let’s try using a method I call ‘Difference
Pattern’. Let’s look at the difference between two consecutive numbers:
6−3=3
11−6=5
18−11=7
27−18=9

As you might have already realized, the difference between the numbers
are odd. Do you know another sequence that might have a difference of
odd numbers? If not, let me show you:
4−1=3
9−4=5
16−9=7
25−16=9

These are the differences between two consecutive square numbers! Let’s
see the relationship between the square numbers and our table:
x 1 2 3 4 5
y 3 6 11 18 27
squares 1 4 9 16 25
difference 2 2 2 2 2

As you can see, the y values are the square numbers + 2! And that’s it! All
we need to do now is to write a rule relating x to y:

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 2
y=x +2

Wow! Now that was a hard pattern to spot. But don’t worry! The more
practice you do, the higher the chances of you spotting a pattern.
Now, the next problem may look very easy, but it’s just a simple reminder
of the fact that we must write a rule relating the two variables. Write a rule
relating x and y for the following table:
x 1 2 3 4 5
y 0 0 0 0 0

Now, before you jump to:

y=0

You need to be careful! This isn’t a rule as it doesn’t relate x and y. It may
sound stupid, but it’s a very important thing to keep in mind. So, the correct
rule is:
y=x −x=0 x

Keep in mind that y would always be zero but that isn’t a rule. That is the
worked-out version of y. so make sure you’re careful when writing rules.
Now, let’s find some rules and visualize some patterns!

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Finding a Rule for Pattern 1

Let’s first draw up a table. x would be the pattern number and t would be
the number of squares:
x 1 2 3 4
t 1 5 9 13

Now, let’s use the Difference Pattern method to find a relationship between
x and t:
5−1=4
9−5=4
13−9=4

As you have already realized, we are always going to get the answer of 4
when we take the difference of two consecutive numbers.
What else has the difference of 4 of two consecutive numbers? The
multiples of 4 obviously. Keep in mind that 0 is also a multiple of four as it is
0 x 4.
So let’s find the difference of t and the multiples of 4:
x 1 2 3 4
t 1 5 9 13
4 (x−1) 0 4 8 12
t−4(x−1) 1 1 1 1

Wow! We always get 1! This means that t is 1 greater than a multiple of

four. Using mathematics, we can write it down as:
t=4 ( x−1 ) +1=4 x−3

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As you can see, I simplified it into an easier equation to work with! Using
this rule we can find out that in the 100th pattern number, there’ll be 397
squares! This is why rules are made, they are made to make life in math a
little bit easier.
Now let’s look at why this rule works!

Visualizing Why Our Rule for Pattern 1 Works

Let’s first look at our pattern:

The orange arrow shows how there is always 1 square in the middle. The
green circles show how 4 circles are added every time. This proves that
there should always be a multiple of 4 + 1 squares. That’s where we got
our formula from! Note that this isn’t just a coincidence but the basis of
rules and patterns.

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 Chapter 2: Sigma
Let’s take a quick recap of one the most important things in series, Sigma.
Sigma in mathematics is used to find the summation of the number from
the start to end. For example:
n

∑ k=1+2+3+ 4+ …+n
k =1

The number on the bottom states the starting point of the summation. The
number on the top tells the last number. The number or letter to the right of

we can see we start at 1 and end at n.

the sigma states what to do with the numbers. Using the example above,

Here’s another example:

n

∑ k 2=12 +22 +32 +4 2 +…+n 2

k =1

Note that I’ve used k to represent the starting point and n for the ending.
You can use any variables (the top of the summation doesn’t have to be a
variable but the bottom has to be a variable). Another important thing that
will be used throughout the book is that the bottom doesn’t always have to
start at one.
Now, lets try to use sigma to simplify a equation to make it easier to
comprehend:
1 2 3 4 5 6 n
s= + + + + + + …+
2 2 2 2 2 2 2

As you can see, the denominator is always two and the numerator is the
whole numbers to n starting from 1. So:
n
k
s=∑
k=1 2

Now, let’s try to expand a sigma-notated equation into a geometric series

(basically the expanded form of the summation):

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 n
k2
s=∑
k=1 k +1

So, all we need to do is write down the first couple of quantities and then
show that it goes to n:
2 2 2 2 2
1 2 3 4 n
s= + + + + …+
1+1 2+1 3+ 1 4 +1 n+1

Note that I haven’t simplified the equation just to show where the numbers
are coming from.
Now that you are familiar with the basics, let’s move onto a bit more
advanced equation:
p
p−i
s=∑
i=3 q−i

Note that q isn’t in the sigma notation, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Now let’s expand the notation:
p−3 p−4 p−5 p−6 p− p
s= + + + +…+
q−3 q−4 q−5 q−6 q−p

Make sure that you are very careful about where you start and end your
geometric series.
Let’s do another example just to get used to it:
pq pq pq pq pq
s= 2
+ 2 + 2 + 2 +…+ 2
1 3 5 7 99

Now, this one’s a little tricky as there isn’t an easy way to start and end the
series. Luckily, we have some general knowledge. All odd numbers can be
written as 2n+1. If we start with 0 and end at 49, we can write the odd
numbers from 1 to 99. It goes like this:
49
pq
s=∑ 2
n=0 ( 2 n+1 )

Chapter 3: Using Sigma to Solve Simple

Problems

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So now that you understand how to find patterns and rules and use sigma,
let’s use both of them to derive answers to questions that may seem to be
almost impossible.
Pattern 1
Let’s start off with a problem we have already solved half of:

As we have already figured out, the formula for the number of tiles (t) in
relation to the pattern number (x) is:
t=4 x−3

Now, suppose you want to make this pattern yourself using tiles. You want
to find out how many tiles you’ll need to make all the patterns until the nth
pattern. How are you suppose to find this out?
Well, we already know that we can use sigma to our summation. Let’s write
it down:
n
t n=∑ 4 x−3
x=1

And that’s it! We start from x=1 because that’ll give us the first pattern
(which is just one square). Then, we go to the nth number by writing n at the
top. Then, we write our simple formula 4x-3 which gives us our answer. Try
testing this out! Try plugging in n as any whole number you want and see
how many tiles you’ll need.

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Just as a side note, if you need to calculate some math equations like the
one we just derived, I recommend using Wolfram|Alpha. You can type in
your formula and/or equation to test them. You can also use it to solve for
variables.

Now that you’ve understood where we are going with sigma and
rules/patterns, let’s try tackling another problem which is a bit harder.

Pattern 2

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As you can see, there is a 1x1 square, 2x2 square 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 and a
7x7 square. Your job is to find how many squares are in a n x n square.
This may sound easy, but think again. I’ll show you why:
On a 2x2 square, there may seem to be 4 squares, but there is also a 2x2
square itself! So there are actually 5 squares! But again, if you think this is
still easy, think once again. I’ll show you once again:
On a 3x3 square, there are 9 1x1 squares and 1 3x3 squares. So, you may
think that there are 10 squares. But there are actually 14! There are 2x2
squares inside the 3x3! There are 4, making it 14 squares.
After seeing all of this, you start to feel like there is no relationship between
the side lengths and the number of squares inside, but lets try drawing up a
table first:
Side Length (n) Number of Squares (s)
1 1
2 5
3 14
4 30
5 55
6 91
7 140

If you don’t trust that there are this many squares, then count it yourself!
There doesn’t seem to be a pattern, but before we jump to the conclusion,
we need to double check. Now, we could use my Difference Pattern
method to find a pattern, but let’s start getting used to visualizing how many
squares there are using a table for each square. I’ll show you how:
Square How many 1x1 How many 2x2 How many 3x3
3x3 9 4 1

Square How many How many How many How many

1x1 2x2 3x3 4x4
4x4 16 9 4 1

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 Square How many How many How many How How
1x1 2x2 3x3 many 4x4 many
5x5
5x5 25 16 9 4 1

Can you spot a pattern? Yes, they are square numbers added up! So, this
means it is a sum of square numbers! We can use sigma! At the bottom,
we’ll put k=1 and put n at the top as n2 is the largest. Then we’ll write k2:
n
sn=∑ k 2
k=1

So, that wasn’t such a hard problem. We just needed to find a pattern and
use sigma notation to write a formula. But at the start of the problem, I said
that it is possible to use the Difference Pattern method to find the pattern.
But the reason I didn’t share it with you at the start is because it requires a
bit more knowledge to find the link between the difference and the rule.
Here is how it’s done:
At the start, we drew a table which was like this:
Side Length (n) Number of Squares (s)
1 1
2 5
3 14
4 30
5 55
6 91
7 140

Now, let’s find the difference between each value of s:

5−1=4
14−5=9
30−14=16
55−30=25
91−55=36
140−91=49

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As you can easily tell, the differences are square numbers. Now, we can
easily tell that a n x n square is the sum of (n-1)2 and (n-2)2 until you reach
12. As we know that numbers can be added up in any order, if we reverse
the process, we get our formula from before!
You may feel annoyed that there was an easier way to find it and I told you
the hard way first, but by drawing the table, you can explain why our
formula works, unlike our Difference Pattern method.
This shows why the Difference Pattern method isn’t always the best way.

Chapter 4: Solving Complex Problems Using

Sigma
Now that we have understood the basics of sigma notation, finding patterns
and writing general rules, it is time to solve some more complex problems!
Let’s start off by solving a similar problem to the squares in a square. We
are going to find how many squares are in a rectangle! Let’s find out how
many squares are in a 4 x 5 rectangle and work from there:
First of all , lets state that the sides of the rectangle is a∧b , where:
a≤b
a∧b are integers

It’s important to state the relationship between a and b to ensure there is no

confusion. Now, lets solve for how many squares are in a 4 x 5 rectangle
using a table:
4 x 5 rectangle
1x1 4x5
2x2 3x4
3x3 2x3
4x4 1x2

You may be confused about why I wrote 3 x 4 and 2 x 3 instead of 12 and

6. This is because by writing it as 3 x 4 and 2 x 3, you can probably see a
pattern. The pattern is:
s=a ×b+ ( a−1 ) × ( b−1 ) + ( a−2 ) × ( b−2 ) +…+( a−a) ×(b−a)

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And that’s our pattern! But now, it’s time to do the most important and
complicated part. We have to write our formula in sigma notation! It may
seem almost impossible, but let’s see what is changing in our pattern. We
can see that numbers from 0 to a is being subtracted from a and b before
multiplying them together. So, we can write it like this:
a
s=∑ (a−n)(b−n)
n=0

And that’s our formula! We start of by subtracting 0 from a and b and then
multiply them together. We continue this process until we reach a, where a
- a equals 0.
Now, it is time to do a test of our formula! Substitute any two numbers for a
and b (remember that a is less than or equal to b) and see how many
squares are in that a x b rectangle.
Now that we have tackled yet another problem, it’s time for another one!

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So, our next problem is to find the sum of the triangular numbers until the
nth number.
Let’s start of by drawing a table:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 3 6 10 15 21 28 36 45 55

Let’s start of by using our Difference Pattern method:

3−1=2
6−3=3
10−6=4
15−10=5
21−15=6
28−21=7
36−28=8
45−36=9
55−45=10

We can see that each triangular number can be written as a sum of the
previous numbers from one to itself like this:
n
T n= ∑ i
i=1

Where Tn is the nth triangular number.

Unfortunately, knowing this doesn’t help us find a way to find the
summation of triangular numbers. But, it’ll appear in our summation.

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We know what the kth triangular number is:
k
T k =∑ x
x=1

So we need to take k=1 to n number of triangular numbers and add them

up! If you don’t understand, it’s like this:
n k
sn=∑ ∑ x
k=1 x=1

We have two sigmas! Our second sigma is the kth triangular number and
the first sigma is the sum of the 1st triangular number, the 2nd, the 3rd, all the
way to the nth triangular number. If this doesn’t make sense, don’t worry!
This chapter was about having a crack at some complicated equations. But
I’m very sure that by the end of the book, you’ll understand how to write
rules and formulas using sigma and other ways of writing rules.

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 Chapter 5: Proofs
Hopefully by now, you have understood the basics of sigma, pattern finding
and creating a formula. Now, it’s time for proofs! A proof in mathematics is
showing that a variable or equation is or isn’t equal to a certain number.
Let’s suppose we are trying to prove that:
√ 2is irrational
Obviously, we all know that root 2 is irrational, but why? Well, the definition
of an irrational number is a number that cannot be expressed as a ratio of
two integers.
So, all we need to prove is that a ratio of two numbers doesn’t exist for root
2. So, let’s write:
p
√ 2=
q

Now, let’s state that p and q have no common factors. After that, let’s
simplify by squaring both sides:
2
p
2= 2
q

We’ll then multiply both sides by q2:

2 2
2 q =p

We can see that p2 is 2 times q2. So that means that p2 is even. On top of
that, p itself must be even as the square root of an even number is always
even. As p is proven to be even, let’s write it like this:
2 2
2 q =( 2n )

Let’s further simplify:

2 2
2 q =4 n
2 2
q =2 n

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Using the same previous logic, we can prove that q is even. But that’s a
contradiction to the statement that p and q have no common factors!
Hence, we proved that such a ratio cannot exist.
This type of proof is called proof by contradiction. This type of proof
involves supposing an answer exists, but then you prove that an answer
doesn’t exist.
Now that we have understood what proof by contradiction is, let’s learn
direct proof!

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Direct proofs are proofs which involve simply using algebraic equations to
show an equation is true.
Let’s try an example to prove:
If m∧n are both perfect squares ,mn is a perfect square

This may seem obvious, but we have to use mathematics to prove it, so
let’s start off by writing m and n as:
2 2
m=a n=b

This is allowed as m and n are perfect squares. Let’s now write:

2 2
mn=a ∗b
2
mn=( ab )
2
mn=c
where c=ab

This proves that mn must be a perfect square!

And that’s a direct proof!

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 Chapter 6: Functions
You have heard the word functions in mathematics but you might not know
exactly what it is. Functions are simply a way of condensing an equation
into a simple equation. Let me show you an example:
f ( x )=2 x 2−3 x +4

What this means is that we can write a whole equation with a simple f(x).
This also means that if we plug in a value for x, we can get an answer. Let
me show you an example:
f ( 2 )=2 ( 22 )−3∗2+4=6

This is a very useful part of mathematics as the right hand side of the
function doesn’t have to be simple. It can also look like this:
1 2 3 4 x
f ( x )= 2
+ 2 + 2 + 2 +…+
2 3 4 5 ( x +1 )2

Don’t forget that we can write this equation using sigma like this
x
n
f ( x )=∑ 2
n=1 ( n+ 1 )

If we were to plug in a number into our function, such as 4, we’ll get:

1 2 3 4
f ( 4 )= 2
+ 2+ 2+ 2
2 3 4 5

See, it isn’t that hard to use functions, but you have to be careful. You must
define a function before you use it in an equation.
Also, you can use multiple functions in one equation if you need to.
As a side note, we will rarely use functions when solving simple equations
as functions won’t make anything more efficient.

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 Chapter 7: Combination of Different
Mathematical Concepts
Now, it’s time to take a combination of all the concepts we’ve learnt to solve
some more complex problems.
We’ll be doing similar questions like the ones in Chapter 4, but slightly
harder!
Let’s start off the chapter with the sum of quotients of the nth square
number and triangular number:
Obviously, we know that the nth square number is:
2
n

And we also know that the nth triangular number is:

n

∑k
k =1

So the nth square number divided by the nth triangular number is:
n2
n

∑k
k=1

So, the sum of the quotients of the square numbers and triangular numbers
until the nth square number and the nth triangular number can be written like
this:
n
x2
Sn = ∑ x
x=1
∑k
k=1

And that’s it! Try plugging in a value for n using Wolfram|Alpha to see if it
works!
Now, let’s try to find a pattern between the different values of n:

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Let’s first draw up a table:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1/1 7/3 23/6 163/30 71/10 617/70 1479/140 15551/1260 17819/1260 221209/13860

Let’s once again use our Difference Pattern Method to find a pattern:
7 4
−1=
3 3
23 7 3
− =
6 3 2
163 23 8
− =
30 6 5
71 163 5
− =
10 30 3
617 71 12
− =
70 10 7
1479 617 7
− =
140 70 4
15551 1479 16
− =
1260 140 9
17819 15551 9
− =
1260 1260 5
221209 17819 20
− =
13860 1260 11

Believe it or not, there is a small pattern! The difference between two

consecutive values in our sequence will never exceed 2! Now, if you’re
willing to know how to write this using math, this is how it goes:
n n−1
x2 z2
lim ∑ x
−∑ z
=2
∑k ∑r
n → ∞ x=1 z=1

k=1 r =1

There may not seem to be a way to simplify, but it can! Remember when
we were doing geometric series (expansion of sigma notation), subtracting
sigmas can be calculated by cancelling out terms. By canceling terms in
this equation, we find that we are left with:

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 n2
lim n
=2
n→∞
∑y
y=1

Now, our next step is to simplify the equation so we can solve it. So, I’m
first going to prove that:
n
n(n+1)
∑ y= 2
y=1

This may seem to be false, but I’m going to prove that it is true! So first, I’m
going to expand the sigma into a series like this:
n

∑ y=1+2+3+ 4 +…+n
y=1

But, I’m going to write this in a different way:

n

∑ y=n+( n−1 )+ ( n−2 ) + …+2+1

y=1

Now, I’m going to group the 1st term with the last, the 2nd with the 2nd last
and so on:
( n+1 )+ ( n−1+2 ) + ( n−2+3 ) +…

As you may have noticed, the numbers cancel out to leave n+1, like this:
n−1+2=n+1
n−2+3=n+1

But, how many times is (n+1) being added together? Well, we paired up
terms, and pairs are two terms, so we added n/2 (n+1) terms. So we need
to multiply:
( n+1 )∗n n ( n+1 )
=
2 2

Hence, we just proved that:

n
n ( n+1 )
∑ y= 2
y=1

Now, back to proving our limit equation. So, let’s re-write our equation:

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 2 2
n 2n
lim 2
=lim 2
n→∞ n +n n → ∞ n +n
2

Then, we’ll divide the top and bottom of the fraction by n:

2n
lim
n→∞ n+1

Now, time for the fun part! Let’s first re-write the equation as:

2 ( n+1n )=2( n+1 1 )=2( 1+11 )

n n

And, as n approaches infinity, 1/n approaches 0. So, we can plug 0 where

1/n is and then simplify:

( ) ( 1+01 )=2∗1=2
1
2 =2
1
1+
n

So, we have just proven that:

2
n
lim =2
n→∞ n(n+1)
2

And that’s our pattern! But, remember that this started as a problem where
we wanted to find the sum of squares over triangles (in terms of numbers),
and we managed to find a whole different pattern! This always happens in
mathematics, where one small finding leads to others, resulting in a big
finding.

Now that we have done one problem, why not do another! But this time, the
problem won’t be in words, but in mathematical notation! So the problem is:
lim ¿
x
k−n x+ 1
n→0 ∑
+¿
= ¿
k=1 nk + x 2

Our job is to prove or disprove this equation! This one is actually pretty
easy, it just looks really complicated. So let’s start off by removing n from

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the equation. As n approaches 0, n equals 0 but the properties is slightly
different. So, we can substitute 0 for n:
x x

∑ k0+−0x =∑ kx = x +1
2
k =1 k=1

Now, remember how we proved that:

x
x ( x +1 )
∑ k= 2
k =1

Well, if we divide the left side by x, we are left with what is on the LHS of
the original equation! So we divide both sides by x to give us:
x
x (x +1) x +1
∑ kx = 2x
=
2
k =1

And that’s how we proved that the equation is true! We had some prior
knowledge, but even if we didn’t, we would of made it easier by multiplying
both sides by x and solving that.
After this exercise, I feel it is time to get a bit more advanced mathematics
in here and have a whole chapter on limits and limitations!

Chapter 8: Limits/Limitations
I have already talked about some basic limit principles but let me go over
them again:
1
lim =0
n→∞ n
lim ¿
+¿ 1
n→0 =∞ ¿
n

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 lim ¿
−¿ 1
n→0 =−∞ ¿
n

The plus and minus sign next to the 0 indicates if it is from the right or from
the left. Most of the time, we are going to limit n to either 0 or infinity. This is
because if we wanted to limit n to something like 1 or 77 or -1122, we could
just substitute that for n. But, 0 and infinity has some special properties, like
we can’t divide by 0 or infinity.
Now, let’s do a small exercise with a couple of problems. The first is to
solve this equation:
2
3 n + 2n
lim 2
n→∞ n + n

So, let’s first divide the top and bottom by n:

2
3 n + 2n 3 n+2
lim 2
=
n→∞ n + n n+1

Then, we’ll ‘take out’ the 3 and simplify it further:

( )( )
2 2
1+ 1+
3 n+2
n+1
=3 ( )
n+2
n+1
=3
n+1
n
=3
1+
n
1
n n

Now, we know that 1/n is 0 and 2/n is also 0 in this case as any number
over infinity is 0. So let’s substitute that in and we get:

( )(
2
1+
3
1+
n
1
=3
1+0
1+0
=3 ( 1 )=3 )
n

So, we have just proven that:

2
3 n + 2n
lim 2
=3
n→∞ n + n

And that’s the answer! Time for another question! Solve:

( )
n
1
lim 1+
n→∞ n

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This one is pretty easy! First, we’ll substitute 0 for 1/n:

( )
n
1 n ∞
lim 1+ =( 1+0 ) =1 =1
n→∞ n

And that’s the answer! The next one though is going to have multiple steps
in order to solve:
lim ¿
( )
2 n n+ 4
+¿ 5 n −2 2
n→0 ¿
2+n !

Wow! This one has many steps and powers involved! Also, there is a
factorial. A factorial is:
x !=x∗( x −1 )∗( x−2 )∗…∗2∗1

So let’s start substituting 0 in:

lim ¿
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 n n+ 4 4 2 2
+¿ 5 n −2 2 5∗0−1 2 −1 −1 1
n→0 = = = = ¿
2+n ! 2+1 3 3 9

And that’s it! So, limits can have multiple steps, but they are generally easy!
Unfortunately, this brings us to the end of this paper. I hope you learnt
something new about sigma notation or limits, or maybe you just had fun!

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