Question Video: Repeating Patterns of Shapes Mathematics • 4th Grade

Video Transcript

What will the 16th shape in this pattern be? A green square, a blue circle, two blue circles, an orange triangle, or a green square and a blue circle.

To help answer the question, we can number the shapes in the pattern. There are 10 shapes shown in the pattern. We need to work out what the 16th shape would be? First, we need to find the rule for the pattern. Follow the pattern: square, circle, circle, triangle, square, circle, circle, triangle. There are four shapes in the pattern. And then it repeats: square, circle, circle, triangle.

To help us find the 16th shape, we can count in fours until we reach 16. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. This means that shapes number four, eight, 12, and 16 would be an orange triangle. So the 16th shape in this pattern would be the orange triangle.