lesson
Updated 6 days ago · 2 views
Imagine you have a box of colorful toy blocks. If you build a tower that gets taller and taller, how do you know how many blocks come next?
What is a Growing Pattern?
A growing pattern is a design that gets bigger in a regular way at every step. The secret to every growing pattern is its rule, which tells you how many blocks to add each time.
📊Interactive diagram
In this tower, we start with 1 block and add 1 more block at each step. That means our rule is add 1 block (+1).
What happens if we line up these towers right next to each other?
Building a Staircase
When you put towers that grow by 1 block side by side, they make steps you can climb! We call this a staircase pattern.
📊Interactive diagram
Because each column is 1 block taller than the one before it, the top makes a smooth ramp going up.
Can a pattern grow even faster by adding more than 1 block at a time?
Growing by Two Blocks
Let's change our rule to add 2 blocks (+2) at every stage. We start Stage 1 with 2 blocks, so Stage 2 gets 2 more blocks (2+2=4).