Dot Patterns

A School Project
November 2022

1 The problem
Describe a sequence of figures with dots in each, that would demonstrate a pattern
so that the number of dots in any figure in the sequence can be represented by a general
formula.

2 An innovative solution

1 1 2 1 2 3

N=4 N=7 N = 10

1 1 2 1 2 3

2 2 2

N=7 N = 12 N = 17

1 1 2 1 2 3

2 2 2

3 3 3

N = 10 N = 17 N = 24
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

N=?

3 Formula
The general formula for a diamond-grid with r rows and c columns will be

N = r ( c + 1) + (r + 1) c

Hint : To arrive at the formula, notice the r rows of dots from left-to-right in blue,
and add to it the c columns of dots from top-to-bottom in red.