01-NelsonMathGr6-Chap01 7/18/05 8:29 AM Page 8

CHAPTER 1

You will need

Relationship Rules
for Patterns

Goal

rhombus pattern
blocks
a calculator

Write relationship pattern rules

based on the term number.

Qis family business makes square-dancing

outfits. Each shirt and skirt is made
up of sections, and each section
has a zig-zag design that is
outlined with cord.

length of cord is
? What
needed for a section
with 20 rhombuses in its design?

Qis Solution
I model the zig-zag with pattern blocks and make a table
to keep track of the perimeter in each figure. One side of
one rhombus is 1 unit or 1 cm.

figure 1 figure 2

figure 3

figure 4

figure 5

I complete a table of values.

Term number
(figure number)

Perimeter

10

The perimeter pattern is 4, 6, 8, 10,

I need to determine the 20th term.

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I can write a recursive pattern rule to describe how the

pattern starts and how to extend it. Start with 4
and add 2 each time. But to use this rule to determine
the 20th term, first Id have to determine the 19th term,
and the 18th term before that, right back to the start.

recursive pattern rule

A pattern rule that tells
you the start number of
a pattern and how the
pattern continues.

Id like to determine the 20th term without all that

calculation, so Im going to use an explicit pattern rule.

Start with 5 and add

3 is a recursive pattern
rule for 5, 8, 11, 14,

There is a difference of 2 between any two terms in

this pattern.
The common difference is 2.
The 2nd term is 4  2  6.
The 3rd term is 4  two 2s  4  4  8.

explicit pattern rule

A pattern rule that uses
the term number to
determine a term
in the pattern

The 4th term is 4  three 2s  4  6  10.

Explicit pattern rule: Start with the 1st term and add 2 one
time less than the term number.
I will calculate the 20th term.
20th term  4  nineteen 2s
 4  38
 42
I will need 42 cm of cord.

common difference
The difference between
any two consecutive
terms in a pattern.
3, 7, 11, 15,
15  11  4 and
11  7  4
This pattern has a
common difference
of 4.

Reflecting
1. How could you use Qis explicit pattern rule to
determine the 15th term of the perimeter pattern?
2. If a pattern grows by the same amount every term,
why is it fairly easy to describe it using an explicit
pattern rule?
3. What is the advantage of using a recursive pattern
rule? What is the advantage of using an explicit
pattern rule?

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Checking
4. At a restaurant, chairs and tables are put together as shown.
a) Complete the table up to the 7th arrangement.
Term number
(arrangement number)

Number
of chairs

b) What is the common difference in the number

of chairs pattern?
c) What is the eighth term for the number of
chairs pattern? Explain.
d) Determine the number of chairs in the 20th
arrangement. Use a pattern rule. Show your work.

Practising
5. a) Complete a table to show the number of geese
in the 1st to the 4th arrangements.
b) Write the 1st term and the common difference.
c) How many geese are in the 10th arrangement?
Use a pattern rule. Show your work.
6. Determine the 10th term
Show your work.
a) 3, 6, 9, 12,
b) 29, 38, 47, 56,
c) 10, 15, 20, 25,

1st arrangement

2nd arrangement

3rd arrangement

in each pattern. Use a pattern rule.

1st arrangement

d) 5, 10, 15, 20,

e) 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0,
f) $5.00, $5.50, $6.00, $6.50,

7. A ticket to the fair costs $2.00 on September 1. Each day,

the price increases by $0.25.
a) Write the first four terms in the price pattern.
b) What is the common difference of the pattern?
c) What is the price of a ticket on September 12? Use a
pattern rule. Show your work.
8. Kevin is saving $2.00 a week each week from the start of
school until December break.
a) Write the first four terms of his savings totals in a pattern.
b) What is the common difference of the pattern?
c) How much will he have saved by the 12th week? the
16th week? Use a pattern rule. Show your work.

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2nd arrangement

3rd arrangement

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9. The 1st arrangement of a marching band has seven players. Four

players join and they have 11 players in the second arrangement.
They add four players to each new arrangement. What arrangement
has 55 players marching?
4th arrangement

Mental Math
Pairing to Multiply
Sometimes you can calculate the product of several numbers
by pairing numbers that are easy to multiply.
To calculate 2  13  50, you can pair 2 and 50 because then
you can use mental math to calculate the entire product.

2  13  50
100
100  13  1300

A. Why is it easier to multiply 2  50 and then  13 rather

than 2  13 and then  50?

Try These
1. a) 2  9  5

d) 2  6  150

b) 7  5  20

e) 20  20  5  5

c) 4  8  50

f) 8  9  5

2. a) 2  157  0.5

d) 0.2  18.2  5

b) 7  5  0.4

e) 25  0.5  8

c) 4  15.6  2.5

f) 0.8  9  5

3. Determine the missing numbers.

a) 2 

 5  120

 7  5  70
c) 5  17   170
b)

NEL

d) 2 

 5  320
e) 2  2  9    900
f)   7  5  5  700

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