Mensa Mensa IQ Numerical Pattern Recognition Questions and Answers 5

Question 1

What number follows: 17, 19, 23, 29, 37, ?

Accepted Answer

47

Answer

The differences are 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 — even numbers increasing by 2, so 37 + 10 = 47.

Question 2

Find the next number: 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, ?

Accepted Answer

216

Answer

These are perfect cubes (1³, 2³, 3³, …), so the next is 6³ = 216.

Question 3

What is the missing number in: 6, 11, 21, 41, 81, ?

Accepted Answer

161

Answer

Each term is approximately doubled and 1 subtracted: 81 × 2 − 1 = 161.

Question 4

Identify the next term: 2, 6, 18, 54, 162, ?

Accepted Answer

486

Answer

Each term is multiplied by 3: 162 × 3 = 486.

Question 5

What comes next: 144, 121, 100, 81, 64, ?

Accepted Answer

49

Answer

These are descending perfect squares (12², 11², 10², …), so the next is 8² = 64 — wait, next is 7² = 49.

Mensa Practice Test