MAT 152

LESSON 5: MAKE A TABLE AND FIND A PATTERN

LESSON OBJECTIVES:
• APPLY THE “MAKE A TABLE” AND “FIND A PATTERN”
STRATEGIES IN PROBLEM SOLVING.
• ENHANCE PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS.
Lesson 5: Make a Table / Find a
Pattern
Activity 5:
1. We are running a fund-raising concert in our school hall. The first member of
the audience comes in on her own, then a group of three friends come in
together. Each time a group of people arrives there are two more than in the
previous group. How many people will arrive in the twentieth group?

(Determine the number of people that will arrive in the 20th group.)

Condition: Each time a group of people arrives there are TWO more than in the
previous group.
Lesson 5: Make a Table / Find a
Pattern
Make a Table:

Group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

number 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39

2 2 2

Hence, there are 39 people in the twentieth group.

Lesson 5: Make a Table / Find a
Pattern
Activity 5:
2. A group of businessmen were at a network meeting. Each businessman
exchanged his business card with every other businessman who was present.

a) If there were 16 businessmen, how many business cards were exchanged?

Lesson 5: Make a Table / Find a
Pattern
Solution 1: Making a Table
B-men
B-men 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16* Total
Total

#Cards
#Cards 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 120

So there were 120 exchanges happened. And during the “exchange of cards”, one card was
given and one was received. Hence, 2 cards per exchange.
Therefore, 120 x 2 = 240 exchanged cards
Think: At least how many cards will each
businessman brings to the meeting so that he will
Solution 2: be able to give one card to each of the
businessmen present?
16 x 15 = 240 exchanged cards

Here, each of the 16 businessmen had 15 cards to distribute to other 15 businessmen

(excluding himself).
Lesson 5: Make a Table / Find a Pattern
Activity 5:
b) If there was a total of 380 business cards exchanged, how many
businessmen were at the meeting?

Solution: Working backwards and Find a pattern.

(Think of 2 consecutive numbers whose product is 380.)

20 x 19 = 380.

Hence, there were 20 businessmen at the meeting.

Lesson 5: Make a Table / Find a Pattern
Activity 5:
3) A group of students are learning a long poem to perform at the school
concert. Each week they are taught a certain number of verses. The first
week they are taught one verse and by the end of the second week they
know three verses. At the end of the third week the students can recite six
verses and at the end the fourth week they know ten. How many verses
would they be able to recite after 12 weeks?
Solution: Week
Week 1 2 33 44 55 66 77 88 99 10
10
10 11
11
11 12
12
12
Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
#verse
#verse
1
11 3
33 66 10
10 15 21 28 36 45 55 66 78
ss

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Hence, the students would be able to recite 78 verses after 12 weeks.

THANK YOU!