These slides are designed to be projected or used as a visual guide during instruction. You can copy the content into your preferred presentation software (PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc.).
AI and Mathematics: Pattern Recognition & Predictive Modeling
How AI Uses the Same Math You're Learning in Class
Grades 6-8 | Mathematics & AI | Evolve AI Institute
The more math you know, the better you understand how AI works -- and the better equipped you are to build and evaluate AI systems.
3
What Is Pattern Recognition?
Pattern recognition is the ability to detect regularities, rules, or trends in data.
Your Brain Does It:
Recognizing a friend's face in a crowd
Knowing that "i before e except after c"
Predicting the next number: 2, 4, 6, 8, ...
Expecting rain when you see dark clouds
AI Does It Too:
Identifying faces in photos
Autocorrecting your spelling
Predicting stock market trends
Forecasting tomorrow's weather
Key Difference: You can spot patterns in small amounts of data. AI can find patterns in millions of data points -- but it uses the same mathematical principles.
4
Finding the Rule: Number Sequences
Can you figure out the rule and predict the next number?
Sequence A: 2, 6, 18, 54, ???
Rule: Multiply by 3 each time. Next: 162
Sequence B: 3, 7, 11, 15, ???
Rule: Add 4 each time. Next: 19
Sequence C: 100, 90, 81, 73, ???
Rule: Subtract 10, then 9, then 8, then... Next: 66
Think: When Netflix recommends a show, it looks at sequences in your viewing history. What "pattern rule" might it find?
5
Mean, Median, Mode: What's "Normal"?
AI needs to know what is typical in data. These three measures help:
AI Example: A spam filter calculates the mean number of exclamation marks in known spam emails (12 on average). If a new email has 15 exclamation marks, the AI flags it as likely spam.
6
Outlier Alert: When the Mean Lies
What if one student scored very differently?
78, 85, 92, 85, 70, 88, 95, 85, 80, 15
New Mean
77.3
Dropped from 84 to 77.3!
New Median
82.5
Only dropped from 83.5 to 82.5
Key Insight: The median is more "resistant" to outliers. AI systems must decide which measure to use depending on the data. Smart AI programmers use the median when outliers are present -- just like smart math students do!
7
Scatter Plots: Seeing Relationships
A scatter plot shows the relationship between two variables.
Hours of Practice
1
2
3
5
7
10
Free Throw Accuracy %
30
35
45
55
70
80
Steps to create a scatter plot:
Label the x-axis (Hours of Practice) and y-axis (Accuracy %)
Choose appropriate scales for each axis
Plot each data point as a dot
Look for the overall pattern: Is it going up? Down? No pattern?
Prediction Question: Using the pattern, if a player practices 8 hours, what accuracy would you predict? (Think: look at the pattern between 7 and 10 hours.)
8
Trend Lines: The Key to Prediction
A trend line (line of best fit) summarizes the overall direction of the data.
How to Draw a Good Trend Line:
Use a ruler -- it must be straight!
Follow the general direction of the data
Try to have roughly equal points above and below the line
It does NOT need to pass through any specific data point
How to Use It for Prediction:
Find your x-value on the horizontal axis
Draw a line up to the trend line
Draw a line across to the y-axis
Read the predicted y-value
AI Connection: This is exactly what AI "linear regression" does -- except AI uses a precise mathematical formula to find the best possible line, while we draw it by eye. Same math, different precision!
9
Real-World AI Predictions Powered by Math
Weather Forecasting
AI analyzes patterns in decades of temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind data. It builds trend models for each variable and combines them to predict tomorrow's weather. It uses the same scatter plots and trend analysis you're learning today -- just with billions more data points.
Recommendation Systems
Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube analyze patterns in what you watch, listen to, and click. They calculate the "mean preferences" of users like you and predict what you'll enjoy next. If users who like songs A and B also tend to like song C, the AI predicts you'll like C too.
Sports Analytics
NBA teams use AI to analyze player statistics -- points, rebounds, assists -- and predict future performance. They create scatter plots of age vs. performance to predict when a player will peak. Sound familiar?
Medical Diagnosis
AI detects patterns in medical data (blood test results, vital signs, imaging) by comparing a patient's numbers to the mean values for healthy vs. sick populations. Pattern recognition helps catch diseases earlier.
10
How Good Is Our Prediction?
Scientists and AI developers use percent error to measure prediction accuracy.
Percent Error = |Predicted - Actual| ÷ Actual × 100
Example:
You predicted 68 ice cream bars sold. The actual number was 65.
That means your prediction was only 4.6% off -- great job!
0-10% Error
Excellent prediction!
10-25% Error
Good estimate, room to improve
11
Activity Time: Ice Cream Scatter Plot
Let's build a scatter plot together using real cafeteria data!
Temperature (°F)
65
70
75
80
85
90
Ice Cream Bars Sold
18
25
34
40
52
58
Step-by-step:
Label x-axis: "Temperature (°F)" -- scale from 60 to 100
Label y-axis: "Ice Cream Bars Sold" -- scale from 0 to 70
Plot each of the 6 data points
Draw your trend line through the middle of the points
Predict: How many bars sell at 95°F?
Approximate slope: (58 - 18) / (90 - 65) = 40 / 25 = 1.6 bars per degree
That means for every 1°F increase, about 1.6 more ice cream bars sell!
12
Data Detective Challenge
🔍
Time to become Data Detectives!
Your Mission:
Analyze real-world data
Find patterns and trends
Calculate statistics (mean, median, mode)
Make predictions
Present your findings
Group Roles:
Data Manager: Organizes the dataset
Calculator: Does the math
Grapher: Creates visuals
Presenter: Explains findings
You have 25 minutes. Each group will present for 2-3 minutes.
After presentations, we'll compare your predictions to the AI's predictions!
13
Human vs. AI: How Did We Compare?
Scenario
Actual Value
Class Prediction
AI Prediction
Who Was Closer?
Basketball Points
22
(fill in)
21.4
Pizza Orders
175
(fill in)
172
Rainfall
3.4 in.
(fill in)
3.2 in.
AI's Advantage:
Processes millions of data points
Never gets tired or distracted
Calculates in milliseconds
Can consider many variables at once
Human's Advantage:
Common sense and context
Creative problem-solving
Can ask "Does this make sense?"
Understands factors not in the data
14
What We Learned Today
✓ AI uses pattern recognition -- the same skill you use with number sequences
✓ AI calculates mean, median, and mode to understand data -- just like you did today
✓ AI draws trend lines through scatter plots to make predictions -- exactly what you practiced
✓ Percent error measures how accurate a prediction is -- whether made by a human or an AI
✓ The math you learn in class IS the foundation of AI
15
You Can Think Like an AI!
"Every time you spot a pattern, calculate an average, or draw a trend line, you're doing the exact same math that powers the AI tools you use every day."
The more math you learn, the better you understand -- and can shape -- the AI-powered world around you.
Evolve AI Institute | Free AI Education for All evolveaiinstitute.com