Monday, September 17, 2007

Triangular numbers

A triangular number is a figurate number: a number that can be represented by a regular geometric arrangement of equally spaced points. Triangular numbers can be thought of as the numbers of dots you need to make a triangle:




The triangular numbers are found in the third diagonal of Pascal's triangle:


1 Row 0
1 1 Row 1
1 2 1 Row 2
1 3 3 1 Row 3
1 4 6 4 1 Row 4
1 5 10 10 5 1 Row 5
1 6 15 20 15 6 1 Row 6
1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1 Row 7

1 8 28 56 70 56 28 8 1 Row 8


The numbers in red colour are triangular numbers.

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