Answer: The missing number is 73
Explanation:
Given:
4, 6, 9, 14, 23, 40, ?, 138, 266
Solve:
First, we try arithmetic patterns.
6 - 4 = 2
9 - 6 = 3
14 - 9 = 5
23 - 14 = 9
40 - 23 = 17
Clearly, there aren't arithmetic patterns.
Then, try through multiplication, exponents, and combination.
Finally, the pattern is multiplied by 2 on each number, then subtract 2 starting with 4 and add 1 for each increasing number.
4×2-2=6
6×2-3=9
9×2-4=14
As it goes on, the missing number would be:
40×2-7=73
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