re: what is the answer to this facebook math problem?

quote:

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quote:
The pattern is a*b+a = c.


Or a*(b+1) = c

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lolwut

n = 1: 1 + 4 = 5
n = 2: 2 + 5 = 12
n = 3: 3 + 6 = 21
n = 8: 8 + 11 = 96

The pattern is as follows, where the multiplication of the second term by n is implicit in the problem as stated, which is the trick:

n + n(3+n) = x

This is another illustration of what I was talking about earlier, why 96 is the best answer. Its pattern doesn't require making a special case out of the first equation, which you must do to get 40.