In "A Pattern of Numbers" you were asked to find the relationship between numbers appearing in a pattern. This puzzle uses a similar, yet different, criterion.
Can you discover the relationship between the numbers and figure out what number belongs at the X in this pattern? The same rule applies to each set of numbers in the pattern.

  34  32  36  46  64  75  50  35  34
16  18  14  22   X  40  35  15  20  12

(In reply to re: Mindy... by Vernon Lewis)

Yes, but the rule that "applies to each set of numbers in the pattern" is the one that was already discovered - namely, that each number in the bottom row is the sum of the products of the digits of the two preceding numbers.  In my opinion, the question does not imply that there is a pattern to finding the next number on the top row.

This puzzle is a neatly constructed trick, designed to fool you into thinking it follows a much simpler pattern.  To this end, it worked wonderfully, as you can see from the previous comments.  I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is a pattern to the numbers on the top row.  They were deliberately selected to create the illusion, nothing more.  In fact, you could use any numbers for the top row and this would still be a decent puzzle.  The fact that they almost follow another, more obvious pattern is what makes it great.

Still, it would be neat if someone could confirm whether there is still more to be solved here...I'm making my way down the list of "Truly Unsolved Puzzles" and I'd like to know if I should keep working on it or cross it off.  ;)

Posted by tomarken on 2006-03-06 22:50:01