Patterns are an important part of understanding mathematical concepts.
Looking for patterns trains the mind to search out and discover the similarities that bring seemingly unrelated information together in a whole. We start pattern recognition training by way of introduction of set theory as the first step in understanding our number system and the way numbers are grouped. We broaden our understanding by looking for patterns in relationships between two sets of numbers to help develop an understanding of concepts of functions. The table below helps to observe and discover the relationship which we call a function. The numbers in the table define a set of ordered pairs in which no two pairs have the same first number.