A friend posted this an hour ago and it kept me busy since. Anybody has a clue what the missing number is? I understand multiple outcomes are possible but i cannot find any. There is also a possibility he is joking with me, he sent a picture with this question on a sheet of paper. An explanation on how you found it would be neat.
$$12/84/ \_\_\_ /15626$$
On
There are literally an infinite number of patterns that can be made out of this one:
If the third number is 1 the pattern can be demonstrated by
$$y(x) = \frac{15686}{6}x^3 - 8009x^2 + \frac{32623}{6}x + 12$$
If the third number is instead 2 the pattern can still be locked in by
$$ y(x) = \frac{7930}{3}x^3 - 8007x^2 + \frac{16307}{3}x + 12$$
and I can endlessly change the value of the third number and still prove there is a pattern.
Did your friend give any additional information to the type of pattern he/she wanted? Otherwise you can just mess with him/her and give both of these as valid answers
A suggestion : \begin{array}{cc} 2^3+4&12\\ 3^4+3&84\\ 4^5+2&1026\\ 5^6+1&15626\\ \end{array}