document.write( "Question 1134022: 2 ,3 ,7 ,29,?,3729 \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #751327 by greenestamps(13200) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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\n" ); document.write( "There is NEVER any way to know FOR SURE what the next number is in ANY problem like this. ANY number for the missing number makes a valid sequence.

\n" ); document.write( "However, given a problem like this, there might be a pattern that is relatively easy to see; in that case, it is LIKELY that the pattern you see is the \"right\" one. So on any problem like this I recommend you spend only a minute at most looking for a pattern and, if you don't see one in that amount of time, move on to some more productive activity.

\n" ); document.write( "In this example, I see...

\n" ); document.write( "3/2 is a bit more than 1
\n" ); document.write( "7/3 is a bit more than 2
\n" ); document.write( "29/7 is a bit more than 4

\n" ); document.write( "Looking at those numbers 1, 2, 4, ... leads to a pattern that is probably the right one:

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document.write( "      2 * 1 + 1 = 3\r\n" );
document.write( "      3 * 2 + 1 = 7\r\n" );
document.write( "      7 * 4 + 1 = 29\r\n" );
document.write( "     29 * 8 + 1 = 233\r\n" );
document.write( "    233 *16 + 1 = 3729

\n" ); document.write( "So it is LIKELY that the missing number is 233. \n" ); document.write( "

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