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Number Sequence Problem. Solution?

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05-23-2010 , 10:25 PM

#51

daveT

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(8/3)*3=8, (18/8)*8=18, (30/18)*18=30, (70/30)*30=70, (150/70)*70=150.

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05-23-2010 , 10:26 PM

#52

durkadurka33

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OP got it wrong...there's no readily available solution whereby this would make a reasonable IQ test question.

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05-23-2010 , 10:27 PM

#53

daveT

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Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 23,955

I see the pattern, but I guess someone has to put it into a sensible equation, because I suck at expressing things in math. All the parentheses ~ 2.3.

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05-23-2010 , 10:38 PM

#54

alice22

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Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 211

Daily losses at Poker Stars

$3, $8, $18, $30, $70, $???

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05-24-2010 , 03:56 AM

#55

ChrisV

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Quote:

Originally Posted by daveT

I see the pattern, but I guess someone has to put it into a sensible equation, because I suck at expressing things in math. All the parentheses ~ 2.3.

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisV

Yeah and the multipliers expressed as fractions with denominator 12 are:

32/12, 27/12, 20/12, 28/12

Doesn't look very sequential.

There isn't a (sensible) pattern. Someone got this wrong. Probably the test-setter rather than OP.

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05-24-2010 , 10:16 AM

#56

Ohgod

journeyman

Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 204

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisV

No.

There isn't a (sensible) pattern. Someone got this wrong. Probably the test-setter rather than OP.

Deliberate? These tests are normally 'answer as many as you can in the time', so stick in an 'unsolvable' one to see whether people are capable of giving up in a sensible time when they can't get it?

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05-24-2010 , 10:24 AM

#57

alice22

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Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 211

OK guys, there seems to have been a bit of a c@ck-up here, the numbers are in fact last week Euro Millions Lottery numbers.

http://www.euro-millions.com/numbers.asp

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05-24-2010 , 10:34 AM

#58

ChrisV

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Ohgod

Deliberate? These tests are normally 'answer as many as you can in the time', so stick in an 'unsolvable' one to see whether people are capable of giving up in a sensible time when they can't get it?

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

- Robert J. Hanlon

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05-24-2010 , 01:20 PM

#59

jaschen27

newbie

Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 43

bump my answer for a response?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaschen27

How's this?

0x+3,0x+8,0x+18,1x+38,1x+78,1x+158

x = -8

+5, +10, +20, +40, +80

Without a 7th digit, it's difficult to verify the increasing x value by 3 numerical increments, but it makes some sense.

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05-24-2010 , 02:40 PM

#60

durkadurka33

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For any string of numbers you can come up with an infinite number of rules that will produce that string...so, you apparently found one

But, it's totally ad hoc and there's no reason to think that that's the right one (in fact, we have tonnes of reason to suspect that the question was wrong).

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05-24-2010 , 03:43 PM

#61

Ryanb9

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and

I have found that the sequence of these 5 numbers satisfies the following recursion:

LaTeX Code: x_{n + 3} = 3 x_{n+1} + 2 x_{n} 

Indeed:

LaTeX Code: 3 \\times 8 + 2 \\times 3 = 24 + 6 = 30 

LaTeX Code: 3 \\times 18 + 2 \\times 8 = 54 + 16 = 70 

We can conclude that the next number is:
LaTeX Code: x = 3 \\times 30 + 2 \\times 18 = 90 + 36 = 126 

So, my guess is that the next nymber in the sequence is 126.

via google

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05-24-2010 , 08:09 PM

#62

gaming_mouse

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanb9

So, my guess is that the next nymber in the sequence is 126.

via google

lol, see post 5

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05-24-2010 , 08:45 PM

#63

PairTheBoard

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jaschen27

bump my answer for a response?

Originally Posted by jaschen27
How's this?

0x+3,0x+8,0x+18,1x+38,1x+78,1x+158

x = -8

+5, +10, +20, +40, +80

Without a 7th digit, it's difficult to verify the increasing x value by 3 numerical increments, but it makes some sense.
=====================

I was trying to think of something like this but decided it was just too ad hoc. However, as you present it, it looks pretty good. I've never seen a test answer like it though.

PairTheBoard

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05-24-2010 , 10:23 PM

#64

BrianTheMick

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Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 3,928

Quote:

Originally Posted by EjackulEight

I did an IQ test today, in it was a number sequence problem which I simply just cannot work out the answer to - and has been grating my mind all day.

3, 8, 18, 30, 70, ?,

I really can't see the solution to it, maybe a fresh pair of eyes will see it.

The first question to be asked should have been, "who published this test."

Answer was probably somewebsite.com.

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05-24-2010 , 10:25 PM

#65

Ryanb9

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Quote:

Originally Posted by gaming_mouse

lol, see post 5

That site is wrong. Very wrong. Try it yourself.

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05-25-2010 , 03:06 AM

#66

gaming_mouse

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryanb9

That site is wrong. Very wrong. Try it yourself.

sorry i had originally read it as the OP knew the correct answer, was telling us, and just wanted the logic behind it. but you're right he just used that website.

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05-27-2010 , 12:05 AM

#67

jimbo89

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Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 429

112...

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05-27-2010 , 12:22 AM

#68

ctyri

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jaschen27

bump my answer for a response?

It is still absurd. I'll let you figure out why...

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05-27-2010 , 08:13 PM

#69

BrianTheMick

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Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 3,928

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveT

(8/3)*3=8, (18/8)*8=18, (30/18)*18=30, (70/30)*30=70, (150/70)*70=150.

That was really funny.

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05-30-2010 , 01:56 PM

#70

shmoygens

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Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 367

if the op is a level, it has to be the best one i've seen.

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05-30-2010 , 02:03 PM

#71

shmoygens

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Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 367

Quote:

Originally Posted by EjackulEight

This website gives the answer as 150 (so no typo in the book, I guess) and claims the explanation is "Increasing multiplicative difference between numbers"

it said "no pattern found" when i did it. i think the website's broken, though. it gave "no pattern found" for 1 2 3 4 5.

Last edited by shmoygens; 05-30-2010 at 02:12 PM.

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05-30-2010 , 02:17 PM

#72

shmoygens

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Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 367

his other threads include "i want to be a ninja" and "i ate some shampoo today" where he claims to not understand why his apple scented shampoo doesn't taste like apples.

i think you all got took.

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05-30-2010 , 03:04 PM

#73

durkadurka33

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Oh God...it's the "I want to eat shampoo" kid?! bahahaha

I don't think he's smart enough to construct a level like this.

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05-30-2010 , 04:57 PM

#74

shmoygens

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Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 367

well, it seems like most of the people on the shampoo thread believed he actually ate shampoo, was too dumb to figure it out, wondered if adding sugar would help, and yet's able to construct grammatically correct coherent posts.

i'm prety sher if yur 2 dum 2 no y shampew taysts leik sope yur poasts luk mor leik this, butt maek les cetns.