Os padrões e o raciocínio indutivo em matemática

Abstract

The starting point for this article is the analysis and reflection on a work performed under the project Patterns. This regard led to the clarification of our understanding of the concept of pattern and the type(s) of reasoning associated to a particular task: the discovery of patterns in figurative contexts. Reflection is grounded on the ideas of experts and on the work with students from different educational levels, including teacher education, in the exploration of pattern tasks, of which we present some illustrative examples. Our goal is to reveal the potential of solving pattern tasks, in a perspective of exploratory learning, in the development of mathematical reasoning, in particular the abduction as a component of inductive reasoning.