In this chapter questions contain a figure, a set of figures, an arrangement or a matrix, each of which bears certain characters, be it numbers, letters or a group/combination of letters/numbers which follow a particular pattern. You are required to identify and decipher this pattern and accordingly find the missing character in the figure.

Example 1:  

(a) 7
(b) 25
(c) 49
(d) 129

Solution. (b) The pattern is
(16 – 6)2 + (5 – 2)2 = 102 + 32 = 109
(22 – 15)2 + (21 – 19)2 = 72 + 22 = 53
So, the missing number = (17 – 13)2 + (51 – 48)2 = 42 + 32 = 25

Example 2:  

(a) 45
(b) 50
(c) 60
(d) 63

Solution. (d) Moving clockwise direction, the numbers are 13 – 1 = 0, 23 – 1 = 7, 33 – 1 = 26 and 43 – 1 = 63

Example 3:

(a) 9
(b) 18
(c) 24
(d) 27

Solution. (a) Starting from 3 and moving clockwise, the number in each quadrant is the square of that in the previous quadrant. So, the missing number = 32 = 9