Number sequence test
A number sequence puzzle shows five or six numbers that follow a rule. Work out the rule and choose the number that comes next from five options.
Choose your level
Play Easy10 puzzles · the answer after each oneWhat a number sequence tests
Number sequences test inductive reasoning with numbers: finding the rule behind a pattern and applying it one step further. The arithmetic is always simple (adding, subtracting, multiplying and squaring small whole numbers); the challenge is seeing the structure.
How the puzzles here are built
The sequences are generated from rule templates that grow in difficulty: a constant step; a constant ratio or a falling step; gaps that grow steadily or square numbers plus a constant; two operations taking turns or two sequences woven together; sums of the previous two numbers or alternating gaps; and, at the hardest level, woven sequences where one has growing gaps or “multiply, then add” recurrences. Before a puzzle is kept, every known rule is tested against the numbers shown. If two rules fit and predict different next numbers, the puzzle is thrown away, so each one has exactly one answer. Wrong options come from typical slips, such as repeating the last gap when it should change.
How to approach them
Write down the gaps between neighbouring numbers. If the gaps are not constant, look at how the gaps change, check for multiplication when numbers grow fast, and split odd and even positions when the numbers jump up and down. Practice here is untimed, with feedback after every answer.
In the IQ test
Number sequences make up the second part of the free IQ test: 5 of the 16 questions in the quick test and 10 of the 32 in the full test.
Read the guide · Take the IQ test