Worksheet1: Exploring Pascal's Triangle

In 1653, a French mathematician named Blaise Pascal described a triangular arrangement of numbers corresponding to the probabilities involved in flipping coins, or the number of ways to choose n objects from a group of m objects.

Rows 0 through 12 look like:

As you look for patterns, try to answer the following questions:

  1. Can you predict the next row of numbers?
  2. Is there a pattern in the sums of numbers of the rows?
  3. Can you find a pattern in the diagonal numbers?