Little Puzzle

[mjn]

Had a job interview yesterday, and had to do an IQ test. However one question stumped me:

What is the missing number?

3, 9, 27, ?, 243

I spent a fair bit of time on this, but couldn't think of the answer.

Anybody

[kraiklyn]

81 seems to fit the pattern.

3, 9, 27, 81, 243

3x3 = 9
3x9 = 27
3x27 = 81
3x81 = 243.

[Mep]

Indeed!....not too tricky for a man of your calibre mjn!

[kraiklyn]

It's probably one of those situations where you either see the pattern or don't. In an interview situation it probably throws you out a bit.

[mjn]

Originally Posted by Mep

Indeed!....not too tricky for a man of your calibre mjn!

i got all the rest easily, but this one just threw me. I knew 3 had something to do with it, honestly.

Done a few of these tests before, and my scores are nearly always the same.

[PoochJD]

Hi MJN,

Sorry you didn't get this one, but it probably should have been reasonably obvious. But, nonetheless, did you get the job, and what job have you been applying for?


Pooch

[LFC_SL]

Well if this happens to me in a couple of years, I hope they stick at this level. All that quadratics rubbish etc left my head ages ago

[jason g]

i got this easy enough but u do get some with are really hard to work out.

[jason g]

look at this one.

http://www.brainbashers.com/showpuzzles.asp?puzzle=ZPQT

[mjn]

There were plenty more, that was question 2 out of about 30, but that was the only one i could not work out.

There was the usual array of maths, logic, shapes, and patterns questions.