Step Two: Pinpointing the Pattern
The best way to solve this kind of puzzle is to hunt for relationships among rows, columns, or diagonals. Let’s look at this grid row by row:
Row 1: The numbers 1, 2, and 3 are consecutive integers.
Row 2: The numbers 2, 4, and 6 are multiples of 2.
Row 3: The numbers 3, 6, and?. Here, we notice the pattern might be multiples of 3, with the missing number finishing the sequence.
From this, it seems each row represents a multiplication table:
Row 1 is multiplying by 1.
Row 2 is multiplying by 2.
Row 3 is multiplying by 3.
Step Three: Solving for the Missing Number
If Row 3 is about multiples of 3, we can find the missing number by continuing the sequence:
The first number in Row 3 is 3×1 = 3.
The second number in Row 3 is 3×2 = 6.
The third number in Row 3 should be 3×3 = 9.
So, the missing number is 9.