Puzzling Stack Exchange
Puzzling Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [pattern]

A puzzle in which you spot the pattern that links a set of given data items (like numbers, letters, music tunes). Usually, you use your insights into the pattern to find one or more new elements of the set.

This tag is for puzzles where one is given a set of objects and is required to find common characteristics between them - this is called the pattern.

One is then usually required to find new elements of the set that follow this pattern.

Examples of pattern puzzles include:

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No, It's Not A Polynomial

There is a simple way to generate every one of the thirty-seven numbers below. They form a closed set; that is, there are no more numbers with this property. My apologies in advance if this doesn't go as planned. This is my first number pattern and…
Hugh Meyers
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Find the missing elephants

Determine color and direction of the missing elephants in the picture. Here's a textual representation of the above. G< R< R< G< R< M> G< R< R> M< G< G< G> G< G> G< G< G< G> G> G< M> M> G< G< ?? M> M> G< G< Y< Y> G> G< Y< Y> Y< G> G< Y> G< G< G> G>…
GOTO 0
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My Two Strange Friends

I have two strange friends; they don't seem to get along, and they say phrases that make no sense. The following are some phrases my first friend has said: great trees feared axes caged war gave a start tears were dared And the following are…
Usernome
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Crack the lines

Follow this series: Can you guess the last two results? OOOOO = 0 LTSSJI = 4 IIIIIIIIII = 0 I90I90O90 = 2 SSSSJ = 5 T180T180T180S270 = ¿? LZZZZ = ¿? EDITED: Thanks to Deusovi who solved it and also found an error: changed second line to LTSSJI = 4
Javi Martínez
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Math featuring The Unwise Owl

Matty the math mouse meandered through the forest one day. Alas! He was attacked by the famous unwise owl. Oft Matty had heard of the unwise owl - the bane of the forest for his kind. Fearing making a starring appearance in a third grader's biology…
Going hamateur
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What is a EH-Number™?

This is in the spirit of the What is a number/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Number™ puzzles. If a number conforms to a special rule, I call it an EH-number™. If a number does not conform to the rule, I call it an…
Jamal Senjaya
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Solvilocks and the 17 chars

Once upon a time, a little user named Solvilocks tramped into the woods and happened on a house with three puzzles cooling on the windowsill and nobody home. The first puzzle was much too hard.   “Ow!” The second puzzle simply seemed too…
humn
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Powerful wizard

A powerful wizard have to be able to: Turn a plate into a pencil Turn a ceramic bowl into a cue ball Turn a kettlebell into a rubber band Turn a plastic bag into a concrete block Questions: What can he turn a scissor into? Name an object that a…
Chess960
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Something Sounds Off

What makes a phishy phrase? There exists a land of anthropomorphized phrases, in this land a vessel carries many phrases and is attacked by pirates. The pirates force everyone to walk across a narrow plank. Those that fall off are eaten by fish.…
Going hamateur
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Hurricane Names

An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #35: Restricted Title 1. We had a lot of hurricanes this season, so we had to come up with a new naming convention for them. We had several possibilities, but in the end voted on one that would support having…
Dragonrage
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Numbers to brackets sequences

Find the rule between these numbers and their brackets sequences. 1 = not defined 2 = <> 3 = <<>> 4 = <><> 5 = <<<>>> 6 = <><<>> 7 = <<><>> 8 = <><><> 9 = <<>><<>> 10 = <><<<>>> 11 = <<<<>>>> 12 = <><><<>> 13 = <<><<>>> 14 = <><<><>> 15 =…
Jamal Senjaya
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What's my room number?

The following list contains the room numbers of some of my co-workers: Room 15: Bobbie Solomon, born 18-Apr-1973 Room 21: Galvin MacNeil, born 24-May-1974 Room 22: Ismael Tirrell, born 7-Feb-1964 Room 31: Lorene Alberts, born 22-Jun-1992 Room 42:…
Alexis
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Phoebe's favorite insect

If Charity wants to be happy on Mondays, If Mark's thing falls into water, and if Velma eats fruits with her fingers, What would Phoebe's favorite insect be ? Hint All non-function words in each of the first three lines relate to a common…
Soltius
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Find the missing item in this grid

Here is a 4x4 grid whose items follow a certain pattern: Can you find the symbol and color of the missing square? Edit: All items in the square follow the pattern. There are no useless squares and changing any square would make the puzzle not…
user9771
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Two IQ Test puzzles nobody knows an answer to

Well, at least people in my social circles. Nobody's sure what the right answer is to both puzzles. This has been tormenting me for years and I hope somebody here has an idea. These are the puzzles: Never mind the highlighted answers (8 and 13).…
ILIV
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