which of the following is the missing term in the sequence 3,4,6 ?, 13,18,24

1 answer

To find the missing term in the sequence 3, 4, 6, ?, 13, 18, 24, let's analyze the differences between the numbers:

  1. First, calculate the differences between the known terms:
    • 4 - 3 = 1
    • 6 - 4 = 2
    • ? - 6 = ?
    • 13 - ? = ?
    • 18 - 13 = 5
    • 24 - 18 = 6

From the existing differences, we can see a pattern emerging:

  • The differences we have so far are: 1, 2, ?, ?, 5, 6.

If we assume the missing differences would follow a pattern, we can reason that it might be increasing.

  • If we look for the next difference after 2, we could hypothesize it could be 3, as the differences appear to be increasing by 1 each time:
    • 1, 2, 3, (missing difference), 5, 6.

So, if the difference before 5 is 4, we can note:

  1. From 6 to the missing term ?, the difference seems to be 3.
    • So, 6 + 3 = 9
  2. Now from 9 to 13, the difference would be 4 (13 - 9 = 4).

Now we have the terms filled in as: 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 18, 24.

Therefore, the missing term in the sequence is 9.