Square Pattern Sequence: Finding the 36-Square Element

Question

The following is a sequence of structures formed by squares with side lengths of 1 cm.

In which element of the sequence are there 36 squares?

Video Solution

Solution Steps

00:00 Will there be a term with 36 squares? If so, at which position?
00:04 Let's count the squares in each term
00:21 We can see that the number of squares equals the term's position squared
00:31 Therefore we can conclude this is the sequence formula
00:39 We want to find if there's a term with 36 squares
00:43 Let's substitute in the formula and solve for N
00:48 We'll take the square root to isolate N
00:54 N must be positive, there's no negative position in the sequence
01:00 And that's the solution to the question

Step-by-Step Solution

To solve this problem, we need to identify in which element a sequence contains exactly 36 squares. If we look closely at the sequence, we notice a structure where each element forms a square with increasing dimensions.

Let's deduce a pattern:

  • The 1st element is a 1×1 1 \times 1 square.
  • The 2nd element forms a 2×2 2 \times 2 square, consisting of 4 squares.
  • The 3rd element forms a 3×3 3 \times 3 square, consisting of 9 squares.
  • The 4th element forms a 4×4 4 \times 4 square, consisting of 16 squares.
  • The 5th element forms a 5×5 5 \times 5 square, consisting of 25 squares.
  • Generalizing this, the n n -th element forms an n×n n \times n square with n2 n^2 squares.

We are seeking for n n where n2=36 n^2 = 36 . Solving for n n , we have:

n2=36 n^2 = 36

n=36 n = \sqrt{36}

n=6 n = 6

Thus, the 6th element in the sequence is the one that contains 36 squares.

Therefore, the correct answer is 6 6 .

Answer

6 6