Number Patterns

What are they?

Number patterns are a non-ending list of numbers that follow some sort of pattern from on number to the next.

Simple difference

These are where the same number is added (or subtracted) each time to find the next member of the sequence.

Example4, 7, 10, 13, 16, …Here 3 is added each time, so the next three numbers would be 19, 22, 25

Simple multiplication

These are where the same number is multiplied each time to find the next member of the sequence.

Example1, 2, 4, 8, 16, …Each time these are multiplied by 2, so the next three numbers would be 32, 64, 128

Recursive

These are where previous members of the sequence are used to generate the next. The most famous is the Fibonacci sequence:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …Where the previous two terms are added to get the new one.

Other things to look out for…

Sometimes there is an alternating negative sign to make it look more difficult.

1, -2, 3, -4, 5, -6, …

Sometimes combinations of previous ideas are used.

Eg x2 +3 3, 9, 21, 45, 93, …