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Question

What should come in place of the question mark (?) in the given series?
89 87 84 79 72 ?

The correct answer is
61

Number Series Pattern Analysis

We need to find the missing term in the series: 89, 87, 84, 79, 72, ?

Let's examine the differences between consecutive terms:

  • \(89 - 87 = 2\)
  • \(87 - 84 = 3\)
  • \(84 - 79 = 5\)
  • \(79 - 72 = 7\)

The differences are 2, 3, 5, and 7. This sequence represents the first few prime numbers.

The pattern is that we subtract consecutive prime numbers from the terms.

Calculating the Missing Term

The next prime number after 7 is 11.

Therefore, we need to subtract 11 from the last term of the series (72) to find the missing term.

Calculation: \(72 - 11 = 61\)

Thus, the number that should come in place of the question mark is 61.

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Important Questions from Number Series (Notes)

  1. Which number will come next in the series:
    8, 4, 4, 6, 12, ?
  2. The next term of the following series is :
    $$6\frac{1}{4}, 7\frac{1}{7}, 8\frac{1}{3}, 10, ?$$
  3. What should come in place of ‘?’ in the given series?
    32 52 68 80 88 ?
  4. Find the next term in the given series.
    GENEROSITY, EROS, ENEROSIT, RO, ?
  5. What should be written in the place of question mark in the given series?
    D6, H12, L18, ?, T30
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