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Post date: Apr 10, 2017 11:43:6 AM
As usual, the name of something does not refer to its discoverer. Pascal's triangle was known in many parts of the world centuries before Pascal.
There are many interesting number patterns to explore as well as the relation to counting combinations of objects.
What we did:
From 4 coloured pens how many ways can you choose: 0 pens, 1 pen, 2 pens, 3 pens, or 4 pens. We repeated this for 1 coloured pen up to 5 coloured pens. We saw these numbers for Pascal's triangled and we discussed how the addition pattern related to the previous counting question.
Looked for different patterns in Pascal's triangle.
Using the hexagon patter we started colouring the even and odd numbers different colours. We then realized that we don't need the actual numbers to figure out which are odd and even. Just that odd+odd = even, odd+even= odd and even + even = even. We continued the colouring enough to see the triangle patterns emerge.
Things to try at home:
Look for more patterns in Pascal's triangle (see the links below for hints)
Continue the odd-even colouring. Yiou can use this template http://mathforum.org/workshops/usi/pascal/images/color.comb.gif
Links:
Some patterns http://www.mathsisfun.com/pascals-triangle.html
Including templates you can print http://mathforum.org/workshops/usi/pascal/pascal_lessons.html
Short videos explaining some of the ideas (aimed at young kids). The 3rd video 149c uses binary numbers and powers of 2 that we explored in the weeks 1 and 2. So that is nice. https://mikesmathpage.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/pascals-triangle-and-some-fun-counting-for-kids/
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