Video Transcript
Find the missing numbers in the
following pattern: 96,000, what, 76,000, what, 56,000.
In this question, we’re given a
number pattern and we have to find the two missing numbers. We can tell from the three numbers
we are given that this is a decreasing number pattern: 96,000, 76,000, 56,000. The thousands part of the number is
decreasing. What’s the difference between
96,000 and 76,000? The nine digit in 96,000 has
decreased by two, to a seven in the number 76,000. The difference between 96,000 and
76,000 is 20,000, and the difference between 76,000 and 56,000 is also 20,000.
The digit in the ten thousands
place is decreasing by two: 96,000, 76,000, 56,000. So if the difference between our
given numbers is 20,000, the midway point between each pair of numbers must be half
that amount. We know that half of 20 is 10, so
half of 20,000 is 10,000. So 10,000 less than 96,000 is
86,000; 10,000 less than 86,000 is 76,000; and 10,000 less than 76,000 is
66,000. And we know that 10,000 less than
66,000 is 56,000. Our numbers are decreasing by
10,000 each time: 96,000, 86,000, 76,000, 66,000, and 56,000. The missing numbers in the pattern
are 86,000 and 66,000. The rule of the pattern is to
subtract 10,000 each time.
