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there. I came across a problem about number patterns as described in the following picture. This puzzle is from a workbook for primary school students who intend to sit the exams for enrollment in selective high schools in Sydney.

The numbers in each hexagon must be related to each other somehow and the numbers in the neighouring areas may be related to each other in a way.

But I can't find out the relations except for the center areas. Would you like to give it a go and find out the relationships? Thank you.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ lol I failed to solve it but according to my logic it is either 119 or 154. so it should be 119... according to me which looks more suitable :D .... how i solve it well there is nothing mathematical answer just look middle 2 hexagon if you see the number in front of 6 is lesser number than number in front of 3 and number right side of hexagon is lesser number from number of left side hexagon. so it is on left side so it must be greater number. either 119 or 154. now 67 is odd number too so it must be odd number 119 is odd. i $\endgroup$
    – Sayed Mohd Ali
    Sep 2, 2019 at 13:58
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you, Sayed. But I'm not quite clear about your explanation. Would you please explain it in a clearer way? Thanks again. $\endgroup$
    – Michael May
    Sep 2, 2019 at 23:33
  • $\begingroup$ it is not something I came up with proper answer and explaination, it is just assumption on the basis of hexagons... if you see the top and down hexagon they look just like mirror to each other that means they both are affected by left and right hexagon someway. so according to the mirror theory it should be a larger number. just check the top hexagon and compare the numbers with the down hexagon. you will able to see one thing the number in front of 6 is smaller number as compare to number in front of 3. $\endgroup$
    – Sayed Mohd Ali
    Sep 3, 2019 at 6:07
  • $\begingroup$ in both top and down hexagon. the number next to 3 is smaller number as compared to the number next to 6 is larger number. so here the number is next to 6 so it should be larger number than 22 and also the difference is large so it must be either 119 or 154. $\endgroup$
    – Sayed Mohd Ali
    Sep 3, 2019 at 6:07
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you, Sayed. Your explanation is clearer this time and I think I can understand what you mean. Maybe this problem doesn't have a precisely rational answer and leaves space for multiple interpretation. Thanks very much, anyway. $\endgroup$
    – Michael May
    Sep 3, 2019 at 7:26

1 Answer 1

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There's a pattern here that I was able to find. Although there's probably still something missing, the answer is:

...154.

Reasoning:

Starting from the 1 you can easily see the series 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16... ($a_0 = 1, a_n = a_{n-1} + n$) if you move clockwise along the outer vertices of the figure, skipping one. This works until you get to 37, where the next move would get you back to 1, but the next number on the series would be 46 which is next to it. Continuing the series from 46 the pattern shows up again (46, 56, 67, 79...). When you arrive at the question mark, the number that would follow 137 would have to be 137 + 17 = 154.

I can't find an explanation for the numbers that aren't used in the series though (3, 6, 9, 36).

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    $\begingroup$ Thank you very much for suggesting the solution. I think that's pretty much it. Maybe the series 3, 6, 9, 36 are there to make some noise that is intended to disturb the thinking of the person who solves the problem. I maybe wrong but for now let's take it for that. $\endgroup$
    – Michael May
    Sep 5, 2019 at 10:27

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