CBSE : Class - VIII Mental Ability

Number Series

INTRODUCTION
Number series problems deal with numbers. While attempting to solve the question, you have to
check the pattern of the series. Series moves with certain mathematical operations. You have to
check the pattern.
Type of questions asked in the examination :
(i) Find the missing term(s).
(ii) Find the wrong term(s).

NUMBER SERIES :
In this type of series, the set of given numbers in a series are related to one another in a particular
pattern or manner. The relationship between the numbers may be
• Consecutive odd/even numbers,

• Consecutive prime / composite numbers,

• Squares/cubes of some numbers with/without variation of addition or subtraction of some

number,

• Sum/product/difference of preceding number(s),

• Addition/subtraction/multiplication/division by some number, and

• Many more combinations of the relationship given above.

Directions : (1 to 11) Find the missing numbers :

Ex.1 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, ?

(1) 14 (2) 19 (3) 15 (4) 21
Sol. (2) Each term has a common difference = + 2.
Hence, next term = 17 + 2 = 19.

Ex.2 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, ?, 17
(1) 14 (2) 13 (3) 10 (4) 12
Sol. (2) The series is made up of consecutive prime numbers. Therefore, the missing term is 13.

Corporate Office : Reliable Institute, A-10 Road No.1, IPIA, Kota-324005 (Rajasthan) INDIA
visit us at: www.reliablekota.com, Email: [email protected]
Call us: +91-744-2665544
CBSE : Class - VIII Mental Ability
Ex.3 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, ?
(1) 35 (2) 36 (3) 37 (4) 49
Sol. (2) Each term is a square of 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on
12 = 1, 22 = 4, 32 = 9, 42 = 16, 52 = 25.
Hence, next term = 62 = 36.

Ex.4 2, 5, 10, 17, ?

(1) 24 (2) 25 (3) 26 (4) 27
Sol. (3) Each term is a square of 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on and 1 is added to it, i.e.
12 + 1, (2)2 +1, (3)2 +1,..........= 2, 5, 10, 17....
Hence, next term = (5)2 + 1 = 26.

Ex.5 2, 3, 10, 15, 26, 35, ?

(1) 48 (2) 51 (3) 49 (4) 50
Sol. (4) The series exhibits the pattern of n2 + 1,
n2 – 1, alternately, n taking values 1, 2, ......

Ex.6 1, 8, 9, 64, 25, 216, ?, ?

(1) 49, 64 (2) 343, 64 (3) 49, 512 (4) 343, 512
Sol. (3) Odd positioned digits are squares of 1, 3, 5 and so on, i.e. 1 = 1, 32 = 9, 52 = 25 and so on.
2

Similarly, even positioned digits are cubes of 2, 4, 6, etc., i.e. 23 = 8, 43 = 64, 63 = 216.
Therefore, the next term would be 72 i.e. 49 and 83 = 512 respectively.

Ex.7 0, 7, 26, ?, 124, 215

(1) 51 (2) 37 (3) 63 (4) 16
Sol. (3) Each term is a cube of 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on and 1 subtracted from it, i.e.
13 – 1, 23 – 1, 33 – 1, 43 – 1, 53 – 1, 63 – 1.
Therefore, the term replacing the question mark would be 43 – 1 = 64 – 1 = 63.

Ex.8 3, 4, 10, 33, 136, ?

(1) 240 (2) 430 (3) 685 (4) 820
Sol. (3) The terms of the series are, previous term × 1 + 1, previous term × 2 + 2, previous term
× 3 + 3 and so on. Hence, the next term will be
136 × 5 + 5 = 680 + 5 = 685.

Ex.9 11, 15, 21, 29, ?

(1) 40 (2) 41 (3) 37 (4) 39
Sol. (4) This series consists of increasing numbers. The pattern is +4, +6, +8,........

Corporate Office : Reliable Institute, A-10 Road No.1, IPIA, Kota-324005 (Rajasthan) INDIA
visit us at: www.reliablekota.com, Email: [email protected]
Call us: +91-744-2665544
CBSE : Class - VIII Mental Ability
Ex.10 3, 6, 18, 72, 360, ?
(1) 720 (2) 1080 (3) 1600 (4) 2160
Sol. (4) The sequence in the given series is
× 2, × 3, × 4, × 5, × 6.
Hence, the missing number is 360× 6 =2160.

Ex.11 6, 12, 7, 11, 8, 10, 9, ?

(1) 8 (2) 9 (3) 11 (4)10
Sol. (2) Alternate series [Difference series]
(i) 6, 7, 8, 9
(ii) 12, 11, 10, ?

Direction : (12 to 13) Find the wrong term :

Ex.12 2, 5, 9, 11, 14
(1) 2 (2) 5 (3) 9 (4) 11
Sol. (3) Series : + 3, + 3, + 3, ..........
The next term is got by adding 3 in preceeding term.
2 + 3 = 5, 5 + 3 = 8
 9 is wrong term.

Ex.13 2, 6, 11, 17, 23, 32, 41

(1) 6 (2) 17 (3) 23 (4) 32
Sol. (3) Given series is :
24
2, 6, 11, 17, 23, 32, 41

+4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9

Corporate Office : Reliable Institute, A-10 Road No.1, IPIA, Kota-324005 (Rajasthan) INDIA
visit us at: www.reliablekota.com, Email: [email protected]
Call us: +91-744-2665544
CBSE : Class - VIII Mental Ability

EXERCISE – I
Directions : (1 to 25) Find the missing numbers :
1. 2, 3, 5, 7, ?
(1) 9 (2) 10 (3) 11 (4) 14
2. 4, 25, 64, 121, 196, ?
(1) 384 (2) 256 (3) 225 (4) 289
3. 4, 10, 22, 46, ?
(1) 56 (2) 66 (3) 76 (4) 94
4. 8, 15, 28, 53, ?
(1) 120 (2) 106 (3) 104 (4) 102
5 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 72, ?
A) 98 (2) 100 (3) 144 (4) 108
6. 12, 15, 18, 21, ?
(1) 24 (2) 23 (3) 22 (4) 25
7. 3, 6, 12, 24, ?, 96
(1) 84 (2) 50 (3) 52 (4) 48
8. 2, 10, 19, 29, 40, 52, 65, 79, 94, ?
(1) 110 (2) 109 (3) 108 (4) None of these
9. 4, 7, 3, 6, 2, 5, ?
(1) 6 (2) 5 (3) 3 (4) 1
10. 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8, ?
(1) 10 (2) 12 (3) 14 (4) 16
11. 1, 4, 27, 16, 125, 36, ?
(1) 216 (2) 343 (3) 64 (4) 49
12. 3, 4, 8, 17, 33, ?
(1) 58 (2) 69 (3) 49 (4) 98
13. 480, 480, 240, 80, 20, ?
(1) 4 (2) 1 (3) 5 (4) 10
14. 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 8, 5, 16, ?
(1) 6 (2) 32 (3) 8 (4) 7
15. 2, 5, 11, 23, 47, ?
(1) 92 (2) 90 (3) 95 (4) 91
Corporate Office : Reliable Institute, A-10 Road No.1, IPIA, Kota-324005 (Rajasthan) INDIA
visit us at: www.reliablekota.com, Email: [email protected]
Call us: +91-744-2665544
CBSE : Class - VIII Mental Ability
16. 190, 94, 46, 22, 10, 4, ?
(1) 3 (2) 2 (3) 1 (4) 0
17. 4, 9, 19, 34, 54, ?
(1) 66 (2) 75 (3) 79 (4) 84
18. 31, 29, 24, 22, 17, ?, ?
(1) 15, 13 (2) 10, 8 (3) 14, 12 (4) 15, 10
19. 3, 8, 15, 24, ?
(1) 30 (2) 35 (3) 36 (4) 49
20. 4, 10, 23, 50, 105, ?
(1) 215 (2) 210 (3) 216 (4) 439
21. 912, 303, 102, 33, ?, 3, 2
(1) 12 (2) 10 (3) 8 (4) 6
22. 1, 4, 9, ?, 25, 36
(1) 11 (2) 19 (3) 21 (4) 16
23. 11, 13, 17, 19, ?, 25
(1) 20 (2) 21 (3) 23 (4) 22
24. 2, 5, 4, 10, 7, 15, 11, 20, ?, ?
(1) 12, 21 (2) 16, 25 (3) 13, 25 (4) 17, 30
25. 57, 54, 58, 55, 59, 56, 60, ?
(1) 64 (2) 63 (3) 58 (4) 57

Corporate Office : Reliable Institute, A-10 Road No.1, IPIA, Kota-324005 (Rajasthan) INDIA
visit us at: www.reliablekota.com, Email: [email protected]
Call us: +91-744-2665544
CBSE : Class - VIII Mental Ability

EXERCISE – II
Directions : (1 to 10) Find the wrong term of the series :
1. 3, 7, 9, 21, 27, 66, 81, 189, 243
(A ) 27 (2) 66 (3) 243 (4) 21
2. 27, 34, 40, 45, 49, 53, 54 , 55
(1) 53 (2) 45 (3) 56 (4) 34
3. 0, 2, 3, 6, 6, 20, 9, 54, 12
(1) 3 (2) 6 (3) 20 (4) 54
4. 10, 15, 26, 35, 48, 63, 82
(1) 48 (2) 26 (3) 63 (4) 82
5. 2, 6, 10, 20, 30, 42, 56
(1) 6 (2) 10 (3) 20 (4) 30
6. 3, 9, 27, 82, 243
(1) 27 (2) 54 (3) 82 (4) 162
7. 5, 9, 17, 35, 65, 129
(1) 65 (2) 35 (3) 17 (4) 9
8. 1, 5, 6, 11, 17, 27, 45, 73
(1) 27 (2) 45 (3) 17 (4) 11
9. 320, 254, 200, 155, 122, 100, 89
(1) 155 (2) 320 (3) 254 (4) 200
10. 190, 94, 46, 22, 10, 3
(1) 94 (2) 46 (3) 22 (4) 3

ANSWER KEY
EXERCISE–I

Que s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Ans. 3 4 4 4 4 1 4 1 4 4 2 1 1 1 3 3 3 4 2 3
Que s 21 22 23 24 25
Ans. 1 4 3 2 4

EXERCISE–II
Que s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ans. 2 1 3 1 2 3 2 1 4 4

Corporate Office : Reliable Institute, A-10 Road No.1, IPIA, Kota-324005 (Rajasthan) INDIA
visit us at: www.reliablekota.com, Email: [email protected]
Call us: +91-744-2665544