How to make pattern of numbers in java using only two variables?

#1
#2 3
#4 5 6
#7 8 9 10
#11 12 13 14 15

this is the required pattern and the code which i used is

  public class Test{
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        int k = 1;
        for (int i = 0; i <= 5; i++){
            for (int j = 1; j <= i; j++){
                System.out.print(k + " ");
                k++;
            }
            System.out.println();
        }
    }
}

as you can see i used the variable k to print the numbers. My question is that is there a way to print the exact same pattern without using the third variable k? I want to print the pattern using only i and j.

Answer

Since this problem is formulated as a learning exercise, I would not provide a complete solution, but rather a couple of hints:

• Could you print the sequence if you knew the last number from the prior line? – the answer is trivial: you would need to print priorLine + j
• Given i, how would you find the value of the last number printed on i-1 lines? – to find the answer, look up the formula for computing the sum of arithmetic sequence. In your case d=1 and a₁=1.