# Had some real trouble with this logical sequence today [duplicate]

Reasonably sure I didn't get the job, but this particular part of their test really baffled me.

The numbers of angle brackets in each row and column should probably add up to ten, so the missing element is one of the last four options. I was thinking << because the first two columns have a 7/3 and 6/4 split, and it'd make the last one 5/5.

A friend says >> purely for the left to right << <> >> symmetry.

Anyone have any better ideas?

Btw, this question had a 75 second time limit, if you want to start a stopclock and stress yourself out :)

## marked as duplicate by QuantumTwinkie, Quintec, El-Guest, Glorfindel, Rand al'ThorSep 24 '18 at 19:20

I would think

>> is correct. First of all I think it is 2 character sequence because each row & column had 2 four length, and 1 two length sequence. Since there is no two length sequence in that spot's row and column it lead me to believe that one was the 2 length. Next I looked at the total number of < and > in each row and column to see if there were any patterns. The first row had 5< & 5>, second row (currently) had 4< & 6>, third row had 6< & 4>. For the first column there was 7< & 3>, second column there was 5< & 5>, final column starts with 3< & 5>. If you sub in >> in the ? spot then there is one row/column with even amount of <&>, one with more > and one with more <, but the amounts are equal (Rows: off by 1, Columns: off by 2). Might be over complicating things but that's what I thought at least.

I would agree with above but my reasoning is different

I see columns of pairs. A pair is a pair of angle brackets. Eg <> is an out. You have outs, ins, lefts, and rights. Each column has two pairs of pairs and a single, with a different single to the previous. The right most column requires an extra pair to complete the pattern. This must be >>

• Why not >< then? – SpoonMeiser Sep 19 '18 at 8:55
• @SpoonMeiser I was going to say it seems obvious why not and proceed to explain why, but today I was out cycling and thinking about this, and realized that it is just one interpretation of the puzzle, and that ultimately it is arbitrary, but that it is significant in that there may be a bias in IQ testing that selects for a particular cognitive style. – Sentinel Sep 20 '18 at 22:53
• I mean, I don't see how your conclusion follows from your reasoning. Following the rules you describe, it seems to narrow down the options to two possibilities, rather than one, and you don't describe why you picked one over the other. If you have an explanation, it might be worth adding it to the answer. – SpoonMeiser Sep 21 '18 at 10:08
• @SpoonMeiser "Single" "Column" " Each column has two pairs of pairs and a single, with a different single to the previous" Your "in" would make three "ins" per column. – Sentinel Sep 21 '18 at 12:03
• Right, so your reasoning is that each column has one single, the single only appears once in the two pairs in the same column, and must be different to the single in every other column? That's not what I understood from your answer text. Also, it's unclear what you are referring to by "previous", what is previous to the single in the top left, for example? – SpoonMeiser Sep 21 '18 at 13:26