document.write( "Question 1180709: What is the next number?
\n" ); document.write( "240, 234, 78, 72
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Algebra.Com's Answer #810461 by greenestamps(13200)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


\n" ); document.write( "The other tutor is in fact right -- ANY next number will make a valid sequence.

\n" ); document.write( "So this problem is a puzzle rather than a math problem that can be solved.

\n" ); document.write( "However, you can get some good mental exercise by looking for patterns in the given numbers that suggest what A GOOD GUESS FOR THE NEXT NUMBER is.

\n" ); document.write( "One pattern that should be easy to see is that 234 is 6 less than 240 and then 72 is 6 less than 78.

\n" ); document.write( "So now look for a relationship between 234 and 78; it turns out that 78 is 234 divided by 3.

\n" ); document.write( "So PERHAPS the given numbers follow the pattern \"subtract 6; divide by 3; repeat\".

\n" ); document.write( "So a good guess for the next number is 72/3 = 24.

\n" ); document.write( "But it is very possible that a very different pattern can be deduced from the given numbers that leads to a very different next number....

\n" ); document.write( "So whenever you see a problem like this, take a little time (if you want to) to try to GUESS a logical next number; but realize it is never possible to know if any answer you come up with is \"right\".

\n" ); document.write( "And the corollary to that is that nobody can tell you that any answer you come up with is wrong....

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