Something that repeats
What Is a Pattern?
A pattern is a rule that keeps going — spot the rule and you can predict what comes next.
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Step 1 of 5
A pattern has a repeating unit.
Find the unit and the rest of the row stops being information. Red, blue, red, blue. The bit that repeats is red-blue. Find that unit and you have found the pattern.
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Step 2 of 5
Patterns let you skip ahead.
You do not need to lay out fifty beads to know the fiftieth is blue. The rule tells you, instantly, without doing the work.
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Step 3 of 5
Number patterns work the same way.
2, 4, 6, 8 — the rule is add two. 1, 2, 4, 8 — the rule is double. Once you name the rule you can continue forever.
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Step 4 of 5
Patterns appear in nature too.
A tiger's stripes come out of a single chemical rule spreading across the skin Petals, honeycomb cells, tiger stripes, the spiral of a shell. Nature repeats rules because repeating rules are efficient to build.
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Step 5 of 5
Spotting patterns is what maths is.
Every formula is a pattern written down. Noticing that something always happens, then proving it must, is the whole business.
Human brains find patterns so eagerly that we often see them in random noise — like faces in clouds.
The short version
A pattern is a repeating rule, and naming the rule lets you predict without doing the work.
Try it yourself
Start a clapping pattern and stop halfway through. Watch how quickly someone else finishes it correctly.