POW #3: Spiralaterals

By Ryan Gardiner Problem Statement:

! For this problem we were given a Problem dealing with Spiralaterals. A

spiralaterals is a group of sequential line segments that form a spiral. Spiralaterals are best demonstrated on a grid. Each line segments length is determined by the certain position in a sequence of numbers. The next line will always turn counterclockwise to the previous line. For example the diagram below follows the sequence 3-2-4 and then it would repeat until the lines meat the starting point.

We were asked to make some spiralaterals using your own sequence and look

for patterns then we were tasked with asking a probing question to look into and then do it. My question was is there a certain pattern of number sequences that will create a pattern of spiral shapes.

Process:
! To start I looked at increasing the amount of numbers in the sequence. for

example I started with 1-2-3 then tried 1-2-3-4 and tried to see if there was a geometric
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correlation. There was not and some of the sequences did not work at all. I also found that no matter what 4 numbers will not work. Next I looked at increasing one number in the sequence exponentially. This produced a pattern where the pin wheel has a square in the center and is constantly expanding to other sides. A similar pattern emerged when I changed a different number in the sequence. I also looked at how a sequence of numbers growing will change the shapes. For example:

1-2

1-2-3

1-2-3-4

1-2-3-4-5

1-2-3-4-5-6

1-2-3-4-5-6-7

What I found however was quite strange. Nothing. I expected that there would be a design that would either increasing or alter in a small form after every number addition. This did not happen. There were some repetition in images but overall there was not a consistent pattern.

Results and Conclusion:

! So overall I found that there are patterns for numbers that increase in a

sequence but sequence increasing produces no patterns. What especially stumped me was that the exponential increase in sequence numbers had no correlating growth in
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spiralateral shape of size. I was hoping that I would have a solution and would be able to predict the shape or size or any other variable but unfortunately that was not the case. I believe however the reason for that is that each time an additional number is added to the sequence it either will make it a shorter or longer path back to the starting point and that it why there is no linear growth. The rst pattern attempt ( the single number increase) did have a pattern and that in turn led to the rules I created. The legs of the pinwheel will increase by one square outward going each way every time the number increases and the inner square will do the same thing. ! Questions I had after doing this were if you created a in-out table with the data

from the numerous attempts is there an equation for something like area or perimeter. So what I mean was, because my ndings were insignicant on the geometric side is the an algebraic way of solving the problem. I think I may have gone about the problem the wrong way by looking at patterns and I should have instead looked at the raw data, and if I had more time to look into this that is what I would have done.

Reection:
! Based on the fact that I used the word Pattern over 11 times in this POW the

Habit I am stinking with is Look for Patterns. This habit is a very valuable one in this problem because my whole probing question and hypothesis was based around the assumption that the spiralaterals would create a pattern and I spent my time and effort looking for those patterns. I also Experimented through Conjectures. This means that I used conjectures to try to prove what I believe was going to happen. I used this habit to make a conjecture as to which sequence would make what pattern and then try it to see if I was correct and if I was not then nd out the reality. The grade I would give myself is

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a A-. The reason I give myself that grade is because I feel I worked diligently to nd an answer to my question. However I do not give myself full credit because I didn't further my learning and try to answer my second and third questions after fullling the rst. I believe that overall I contributed well and worked hard to ensure that I understood the concepts and theories at play in this problem.

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