1

Triangular numbers
Suggested by Gil French
Examine the gures below.
1. Fill in the second row of this table. (Youll ll the third
row later.)
Figure number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of circles
2. The number of circles in each gure is called a triangular
number. What is the eighth triangular number?
3. Add each pair of two consecutive triangular numbers in
your table. (That is, add the rst and second triangular
numbers, add the second and third together, and so on.)
(a) Make a conjecture about the sum of the nth and A conjecture is a conclusion that
you can make by observing a
pattern. Be careful,
thoughconjectures might not
always be true!
(n + 1)st triangular numbers.
(b) Show that your conjecture is true for all pairs of con-
secutive triangular numbers.
4. Now write Double the number of circles in the rst entry
of the third row in the table. Fill the rest of the row by
doubling each triangular number.
5. The rst triangular number is 1. Double that is 2, which
has consecutive factors 1 and 2.
(a) Can you nd consecutive factors for each doubled tri-
angular number in your table?
(b) What are the consecutive factors of the nth doubled
triangular number?
(c) Now write an expression using n that gives the nth
triangular number.
(d) Use your answer in problem 3 to prove your expression
for the nth triangular number is correct for all n.
6. What is the sum of the rst 100 counting numbers? (That
is, what is 1 + 2 + 3 + + 100?)
Problems with a Point: August 14, 2001 c EDC 2001
Triangular numbers: Hints 1
Hints
Hint to problem 3. If you have the right conjecture, you can
prove it using the gures. Imagine picking up the smaller gure
and moving it to t with the larger one, kind of like a puzzle
piece. What will you get?
Hint to problem 5d. Problem 3 was about sums of consec-
utive triangular numbers. What is your expression for the nth
triangular number? What is your expression for the (n+1)st tri-
angular number? Add these together, and show that the result
is what your answer to problem 3 predicted.
Hint to problem 6. The sum of the rst 100 counting numbers
is a triangular number. Which one?
Problems with a Point: August 14, 2001 c EDC 2001
Triangular numbers: Answers 1
Answers
1. Heres the table with all three rows completed.
Figure number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of circles 1 3 6 10 15 21 28
Double the
number of circles 2 6 12 20 30 42 56
2. The eighth triangular number is 36.
3. (a) The sum is (n + 1)
2
.
(b) See solutions.
4. See the table above.
5. (a) Yes; the consecutive factors are (in order): 1 and 2; 2
and 3; 3 and 4; 4 and 5; 5 and 6; 6 and 7; and 7 and 8.
(b) The consecutive factors of the nth doubled triangular
number are n and n + 1.
(c) The nth triangular number is
n(n+1)
2
.
(d) See solutions.
6. 5050
Problems with a Point: August 14, 2001 c EDC 2001
Triangular numbers: Solutions 1
Solutions
Solution to problem 3b. Imagine picking up gure n and
moving it onto gure n + 1 like this:
The result is a square with side length n + 1, so the sum of
the nth and (n + 1)st triangular number is (n + 1)
2
.
Solution to problem 5c. If the nth triangular number is T,
then 2T = n(n + 1). Here is a geometric way to see this:
Solve the expression for T.
Solution to problem 5d. The nth triangular number is
n(n+1)
2
and the (n+1)st is
(n+1)(n+2)
2
. The sum is
n(n+1)+(n+2)(n+1)
2
. This
can be shown to be (n+1)
2
either by expanding both expressions
(and factoring 2 out of the sum) or by factoring (n+1) and then
2 out of the sum.
Solution to problem 6. This is the 100th triangular number,
so students can use their expression from problem 5c with n =
100.
Problems with a Point: August 14, 2001 c EDC 2001