Can Math puzzles improve your brain skills?

Math puzzles can sometimes be so tricky that finding the correct answer takes hours. There may be several ways to solve a puzzle but finding the right pattern is the real challenge.

Here is one such puzzle that will test your observation and thinking skills.

As shown in the image above the number sequence starts with 4, followed by 16, 37, 58, 89, 145 and 42. A question mark appears at the end.

Your task is to find the number that should replace the question mark.

What do you think the answer is?

Solving puzzles like this can help keep your brain active and improve your problem solving skills.

If you want to find the answer the trick is quite simple.  This puzzle is based on the concept of happy numbers which involves adding the squares of a number’s digits.

According to this rule you need to take each digit of the previous number multiply it by itself and then add the results to get the next number.

Let’s understand it step by step.

Start with 4: (4 \times 4 = 16).

For 16: (1 \times 1 + 6 \times 6 = 1 + 36 = 37).

For 37: (3 \times 3 + 7 \times 7 = 9 + 49 = 58).

For 58: (5 \times 5 + 8 \times 8 = 25 + 64 = 89).

For 89: (8 \times 8 + 9 \times 9 = 64 + 81 = 145).

For 145: (1 \times 1 + 4 \times 4 + 5 \times 5 = 1 + 16 + 25 = 42).

Now, let’s apply the same rule to 42:

(4 \times 4 + 2 \times 2 = 16 + 4 = 20).

The correct answer is 20.