Question

Find the next term of the given series
80, 64, 48, 32, 16, (.....)
A. 4
B. 0
C. 8
D. 1

Answer 1

To find out the next term of the series, we need to identify which pattern of progression is followed by the series. Once we know that, we can easily apply the formulas and solve the question.

Complete step by step answer:
To identify the given series, we have sufficient numbers given to verify the pattern. Generally, there are three famous progressions and they are arithmetic progression, geometric progression and harmonic progression. Let us find out what type of progression it is.
If we start with the arithmetic progression then we know that in an arithmetic progression, we have a common difference. This means that If we subtract the succeeding term with the preceding one and continue doing this with the other terms of the series then the number will be the same. Now if we try this with the given number, we can conclude if it is an arithmetic progression or not. $64-80=-16$ and similarly, $48-64=-16$ and the others are the same too.
Therefore, the series is an arithmetic progression. Now to find the next term of the series, we can either use the $n^{th}$ term formula by manually counting the “n” in the formula or just add the common difference to the last number in the question. So let us go by the $2^{nd}$ way. So the required answer is $16-16=0$.

So, the correct answer is “Option B”.

Note: If the series was geometric progression then we would know that by using the division method. That is, if we divide the succeeding term with the preceding term and continue the process for the next numbers then the end ratio would be the same.