What is Parkside's Triangle?

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  • Written By: Derek Schauland
  • Edited By: O. Wallace
  • Last Modified Date: 25 November 2016
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Parkside's Triangle is a mathematical pattern that generates a triangle of numbers given two variables, the size and the seed. The size variable, N, must meet the following condition: 1

The number N represents the rows of the triangle. If N = 5, then there are 5 rows making up the triangle. The first row of the triangle can have no blank number within it. All positions must contain a number greater than or equal to 1. The other variable is the seed, S, which represents the first number in the first row of the triangle. The seed must meet the following conditions: 1

When the size and seed variables are known, this particular pattern is produced. An example would look like this:

Size = 4 Seed = 1

Size = 5 Seed = 3

The pattern of numbers to create the triangle counts beginning at the left of the bottom row and then moves right and down. Each time the next row is added, all the numbers count from the first row downward. In both directions, Parkside's Triangle will contain the same number of rows.

Many computer programming classes in languages such as C use an example program to create this pattern for any given size and seed. The program will read in the size and the seed and output the correct pattern of numbers. This is accomplished using loop logic and basic arithmetic along with programming skills and can be used to present the fundamentals of loop logic.


Other than the specified size and seed conditions to begin creating the pattern, there are no other limits to Parkside's Triangle. In any iteration, it will have no more than 20 rows and a beginning number no higher than 9. As shown in the example triangle above, there are also no zeroes.


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