When I studied history, the matter of "patterns" rarely came up. Same can be said of the accompanying 4 years of reading. Historians, it seems, aren't typically in the business of seeing patterns.

Non-historians, otoh, seem to eagerly pursue them. The issue, of course, is that if one actively looks for patterns in the infinite eddies of complex systems, it can be very easy to superimpose yourself, whether it be your expectations, your fears, etc.

One of many things I always liked about math is that the story told by the numbers never made any accommodations for my subjective expectations. Simplified things. If I was wrong, math would tell me as much to my face, expectations and fears be damned.