I couldn't see any mathematical pattern. So I got the notion to write out the names for the numbers: 10 = ten <-- spelled with 3 letters 4 = four <-- spelled with 4 letters 60 = sixty <-- spelled with 5 letters 90 = ninety <-- spelled with 6 letters 70 = seventy <-- spelled with 7 letters 18 = eighteen <-- spelled with 8 letters I notice that each one contains one more letter than the preceding one. So the next number must be spelled with 9 letters, since "eighteen" is spelled with 8 letters. But I wondered why "1 = one" or "2 = two", or "6 = six", which are also spelled with 3 letters, weren't chosen for the first number instead of "10 = ten". So I decided that it must be because 10 is the LARGEST whole number whose name is spelled with only 3 letters. But then that made me wonder why "9 = nine" wasn't chosen for the second number instead of "4 = four", since 9 is larger and also spelled with 4 letters. Then I noticed that all the numbers are even. So that's explains why "9 = nine" wasn't chosen for the second number. The pattern is that it's the largest EVEN number that can be spelled with that many letters. But then I wondered why "70 = seventy" was chosen and not "100 = hundred", since both "seventy" and "hundred" have 7 letters. And 100 is an even number! Then it occurred to me that the official name for 100 is not "hundred" but "one hundred". So then I looked for the largest whole EVEN number whose official name is spelled with 9 letters. I came up with "ninety-six", as the largest even number spelled with 9 letters. I assume the hyphen doesn't count as a letter. So my answer is that the next number is 96. 10 = ten <-- largest even number spelled with 3 letters 4 = four <-- largest even number spelled with 4 letters 60 = sixty <-- largest even number spelled with 5 letters 90 = ninety <-- largest even number spelled with 6 letters 70 = seventy <-- largest even number spelled with 7 letters 18 = eighteen <-- largest even number spelled with 8 letters 96 = ninety-six <-- largest even number spelled with 9 letters Edwin