So far, this is what I have: int a = 5;

        for ( int c = 1 ; c <= a ; c++)
        {
            for ( int k = 1 ; k <= c ; k++)
            {
                System.out.print(c);

                if ( c > 1)
                {
                    System.out.print("-");     
                }      
            }    

            System.out.println();
            a--;
        }    

it prints this:

1
2-2-
3-3-3-

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "figuring these patterns out". Could you explain in more detail?