If the pattern continues the next term will be: 30 + 6 = 36 The next number is 36. However, number sequences don’t always increase by the same amount each time. Let’s look at another one.

The numbers 3, 5, 8, 13, and 21 are all Fibonacci numbers—members of a sequence in which successive numbers are sums of the preceding two numbers, starting with 1 and 1: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 ...

This spruce cone displays a marked fibonacci number sequence. The sequence, thought up by 13th-century Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, pen name Fibonacci, plays out in plants, from pine ...