Odd and Even Patterns

20 Replies

This is Stream of Consciousness Saturday (try typing that real fast) and today our prompt is/are the words “odd and/or even”.  Don’t ask me why but this made me think of the fact that if you add two odd numbers together you get an even number for the answer, always. Then I remembered an exercise we did in the Teaching program I was in back in 2009 or so. It was the Math Class for teachers on ways to teach math concepts to Elementary and Middle School students. I am sure many people are aware that there are all these new ways of teaching Math that are different from the ways we learned. One thing that was fascinating to me was this little exercise we did on patterns. When I told my instructor about how fascinating it was to me, she told me that some Mathematicians spend their time just studying patterns. It is kind of like this mysterious, mystical, metaphysical thing. Like “Suitcase” would say in the Jessie Stone series, “The information is out there.”

Part of the exercise from the Math book was start with the number 3 then jump by 5s and write down the numbers until about 130. I did it this morning until 133. Then it says notice as many patterns as you can. I noticed that 3 and 8 keep alternating as the last digit. Now if you add the double and triple digits of the numbers and write your answer over the number you will notice another pattern, (start with 3 again)….3, 8, 4, 9, 5, 10, 6, 11, 7, 12, 8, 13, 9, 14, 10, 15…and so on. Every other number increases by one. AAAAhhh! Just kidding, I think. I did another one starting at 1 and jumping by 3s. I noted that the pattern of second digit repeating does not begin until you reach 31. I could probably experiment with these patterns all day.

Maybe I will just count by 2s and say we are even.  🙂

200px-Ulam_spiral_howto_all_numbers_svg

Ulam’s Spiral via Wikipedia

While looking for a number chart I found Ulam’s Spiral. If you read about Ulam’s Spiral it is kind of spooky. Maybe he was abducted by aliens. He doodled this and found out the prime numbers fall on diagonals. Then some mathematicians came up with a formula for it.

Steam of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill.

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20 thoughts on “Odd and Even Patterns”

  1. John Holton

    I’m one of those people who studies patterns, and I’m at best an amateur mathematician.

    You understand why that whole “add 5 to the number to get the next number” thing comes out the way it does, with the last digits alternating between 3 and 8, right? 😉

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      I am not sure how to answer this question because I like to think of the patterns as kind of a magic. Starting at 3 you are going to get this pattern between the tens. What do you think?

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  5. summerstommy2

    I know people who live their whole lives for the thrill of a mathematical equation…I am not one of them as I am sure I was hiding behind the door when mathematical ability was handed out. I recently watched my son create artistic works by first drawing patterns and then colouring them as he felt moved to do….it was I have to admit a fascinating process….they are currently on display at an art fair in Singapore…

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  7. Bee Halton

    Hi Deborah, now that’s fascinating. I’ve never been a maths fan but I know that its also connected with music somehow. It’s just all too high for me… Have a lovely evening g and thanks for an amazing post

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