1 2 3 4

Pattern number (n) 1 2 3 4 5 6 n

No. of white blocks (w)
Common difference (d)
Pattern number (n) 1 2 3 4 5 6 n
No. of blue blocks (b)
Common difference (d)
SOLUTION
Step 1: Use the diagram to complete the table for the white blocks
Pattern number (n) 1 2 3 4 5 6 n
No. of white blocks (w) 4 8 12 16 20 24 4n
Common difference (d) 4 4 4 4 4
We see that the next term in the sequence is obtained by adding 4 to the previous term,
therefore the sequence is linear and the common difference (d) is 4.
The general term is:
T
n
= a + (n 1)d
= 4 + (n 1)(4)
= 4 + 4n 4
= 4n
Step 2: Use the diagram to complete the table for the blue blocks
Pattern number (n) 1 2 3 4 5 6
No. of blue blocks (b) 0 1 4 9 16 25
Difference 1 3 5 7 9
We notice that there is no common difference between successive terms. However,
there is a pattern and on further investigation we see that this is in fact a quadratic
sequence:
10 1.1. Arithmetic sequences