# What is the next picture in this sequence?

I was reading a book on logical reasoning and came across the following:

Can anyone give me the answer to the question. We want the next sequence ?

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I'm starting to detect a pattern in your questions (see here and here); they also seem quite similar to the questions here. –  Douglas S. Stones Oct 21 '12 at 9:18

It moves one step counterclockwise, 2 st clockw, 3 cc, 4c, 5cc, ...

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I thought similarly (getting D followed by A). –  robjohn Oct 21 '12 at 11:40

There is no one right answer to this type of questions. The next element can be anything you want.

That is one of the typical IQ questions of the type what is the next in a sequence, by inferring it from the previous values.

The answer is, the next item can be anything you want, the book can come up with some rules to justify the next element, but so can anyone.

For example given the sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, what is the next element? It is very easy to construct a function where the next elements will be $\pi , -1 , 0$ , ( look up Lagrange Interpolation).

This is not a logic question, the book is using a wrong example regarding (mathematical) logic.

But a constructive sequence rule like $2k, k=1,2,3,4,..,n$, will let you know how to construct the elements.

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The right answer is always the one with the least entropy, or the least kolmogorov complexity. And thats implicitly understood. Just as the characters you just wrote is to be interpreted to be english words, instead of random garbage, which it really is. –  hjg Oct 21 '12 at 9:08
Yeah, but at least Arjang bothered to... –  Douglas S. Stones Oct 21 '12 at 9:15
@hjg : I would be thankfull to see an example where it proves that the kolmogorov complexity is the minimum when next number in the sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 is 10. Can you show that please and teach me something? I would be really grateful if you could. –  Arjang Oct 21 '12 at 11:08
What you say is true. However, the answers and their reasoning are an exercise in pattern finding, and finding patterns is often useful in problems with right answers. –  robjohn Oct 21 '12 at 11:43
Related: bertrandmeyer.com/2012/10/14/… –  Theraot Oct 25 '12 at 9:28
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