Month: March 2019

Awkward Sequence Problems

(A new question of the week) Having just discussed some pattern or sequence problems that were poorly posed, let’s look at some recent questions about sequences, some of which are quite complicated, and others seem to be just wrong. Two extreme patterns Here is the initial question from Zehra: Please make me understand how I …

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Uncertain Sequences

We’ve often pointed out that pattern or sequence problems, when nothing is given but a list of numbers, are not really math, in the sense that there is no one correct answer. They are psychology questions: What would a math teacher think is an interesting sequence to ask about? Mathematically, any number could come next, …

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Building Patterns and Sequences

In the past (last May and November), we discussed ways to find patterns or sequences in numbers, sometimes leading to a formula. This included an example where the sequence turned out not to be just a provided list of numbers, but a process that generated the numbers. I want to focus on that type of …

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