(IGP) IAS Pre Paper - 2: GS - General Mental Ability - Inserting The Missing Character

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:

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

(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

(a) 1
(b) 26
(c) 39
(d) 50
Solution. (c) The pattern is 3 × 2 – 1 = 5, 5 × 2 – 2 = 8, 8 × 2 – 3 = 13 , 13 × 2 – 4 = 22 So, the missing number = 22 × 2 – 5 = 39

Example 5:
(a) 5
(b) 12
(c) 13
(d) 26
Solution. (a) The pattern is 3 × 2 + 1 = 7, 5 × 2 + 1 = 11, 7 × 2 + 1 = 15 So, the missing number 2 × 2 + 1 = 5

(a) 19
(b) 22
(c) 32
(d) 35
Solution. (a) Starting from 27 and moving clockwise, the number in alternate segments form the series = 27, 30, 33, 36 The number in remaining segments,moving anti-clockwise,may formthe series = ?, 21, 23, 25 or 21, 23, 25,?. So, the missing number is either 19 or 27.

(a) 1
(b) 731
(c) 1625
(d) 2031
Solution. (d) The pattern is = 3 × 5 + 1 =16, 16 × 5 + 1 = 81, 81 × 5 + 1 = 406. So, the missing number = 406 × 5 + 1 = 2031

(a) 25
(b) 125
(c) 156
(d) 625
Solution. (d) The pattern is = (2 + 3)² = 25, (15 + 6)² = 441, (10 + 7)² = 289.So, the missing number = (12 + 13)² = 625

(a) 0
(b) 8
(c) 125
(d) 216
Solution. (d) The pattern is = (5 – 4)³ = 1, (7 – 3)³ = 64, (11 – 8)³ = 27.So, the missing number = (8 – 2)³ = 216

(a) 18
(b) 33
(c) 135
(d) 145
Solution. (c) The pattern is 15 × 2 = 30, 2 × 7 = 14, 7 × 9 = 63 So, the missing number = 9 × 15 = 135

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