Question

How do you find the next three terms in 300, 60, 12, 2.4?

Answer 1

Hint: In this question, we are given an arrangement of four numbers and we have to find the next three terms of this arrangement. To find the next terms of an arrangement, we must find some pattern that is followed by the arrangement. We see that the numbers are getting smaller as we move towards the right side. Applying some arithmetic operations on any two sets of consecutive terms, we can find the pattern and thus the next three terms.

Complete step-by-step answer:
As the numbers are getting smaller, we should try subtracting or dividing the two consecutive terms.
Let us try subtraction first –
We see that $300-60 = 240 \;and\; 60-12 = 48$
The difference between two consecutive terms is clearly not equal and has a wide difference. So let’s try division now –
We see that 300 divided by 60 is 5 and 60 divided by 12 is 5, thus each term of this arrangement is equal to its previous term divided by 5.
Hence, the next three terms in 300, 60, 12, 2.4 are 0.48, 0.096 and 0.0192.
So, the correct answer is “0.48, 0.096 and 0.0192”.

Note: An arrangement of numbers that follows some pattern as in this question is known as a sequence or series. By a pattern we mean to say that each term of the arrangement should be related to its previous term by a relation. So, 300, 60, 12, 2.4 is a sequence as each term is related to the previous term and we can find the next terms using that relation.