Carcass wrote:
Find the next 3 numbers in the sequence.
1,1,2,3,5,8...........
Indicate all that apply
A. 12
B. 13
C. 14
D. 21
E. 22
F. 33
G. 34
H. 55
Kudos for the right answer and explanation
The GRE does not test our ability to find missing terms in a sequence unless the sequence is defined for us.
The reason is that there's no way that we can definitively determine ONE (and ONLY ONE) pattern in a given sequence.
Consider this example: 1, 2, 4, __
What's the missing term here?
Well, if we read the sequence as doubling from one term to the next, the next term is 8
HOWEVER, if we notice that we keep adding successively larger integers to each term (i.e., add 1, then add 2, then add 3, etc.) the next term is 7
Likewise, (if we want to get a bit silly), we might look at the given sequence (5, 28, 57, 78, 125, __) and say that the missing term is
88. Why?
Because 5 is my favorite number, 28 is my 2nd favorite number, 57 is my 3rd favorite number, ... and
88 is 6th favorite number.
So, rest assured, you won't be required to find missing terms on a GRE sequence,
unless the sequence is defined for us.
Cheers,
Brent