# Thread: Year 8 question - finding the pattern of numbers in a grid

1. ## Year 8 question - finding the pattern of numbers in a grid

I really need help with this maths question. It is basically asking to find the unknown number. This is a year 8 question but for some reason it is extremely hard for me to figure out, I even tried asking some of my friends but they do not know. Here is an attached picture of the question. The answer is in the back of the book which is 32 but i don't know why. Please help!

2. Originally Posted by jonomantran
I REALLY NEED HELP WITH THIS MATHS QUESTION. It is basically asking to find the unknown number. This is a year 8 question but for some reason it is extremely hard for me to figure out, I even tried asking some of my friends but they do not know. Here is an attached picture of the question. The answer is in the back of the book which is 32 but i don't know why. Please help!
Okay, I've spotted it.

Let $x$ be the left-most column value of the row $n$, and let $y$ be the middle column value of row $n$.

Then:

$x = (y \times n) + (2 \times n)$

Let's focus on some of the rows:

$6 = ((4 \times 1_{(the \ row \ number)}) + 2)$

$20 = ((8 \times 2_{(the \ row \ number)}) + 4)$

$12 = ((2 \times 3_{(the \ row \ number)}) + 6)$

$? = ((6 \times 4) + 8) = 32$

3. One word - GENIUS and btw do u rekon this is year 8 level?

4. In Year 9 you should learn that there are infintely many solutions. I'll allow that this is substantially more complicated than your basic pattern recognition busy work, but it is still just a finite list of values.

Surprise your Head Master by finding another solution.