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Matchstick problems are easy ways to create number sequences.

Look at this sequence of three matchstick patterns.

 

Matchstick pattern

 

Count the number of matchsticks in each pattern to get the following results:

 

Pattern 1          4 matchsticks

Pattern 2          7 matchsticks

Pattern 3         10 matchsticks

 

Notice that the number of matchsticks increases by 3 each time.

This is because we are adding this shape each time:

 

Matchsticks

 

We can therefore predict the following:

 

 

Pattern 4         13 matchsticks

Pattern 5         16 matchsticks

Pattern 6         19 matchsticks

 

 

10 questions