How Many Will There Be? Sliced Circles

Objective

Students will use the patterns they find in the first three steps to predict the 20th step.

Inspired by the website Visual Patterns.

Steps

1. Students will note patterns and look for how many slices there will be at step 6.
2. After checking the answer (it's 64), we'll extend the pattern and ask students to predict step 20.
3. I reveal the answer (1,048,576) and then propose a challenge! What if you split pieces three ways instead of two, tripling the pieces at each step?

Resources

• Worksheet (PDF)
• Worksheet (Google Slides)