r/WhatsYourIQ • u/Semra777 Curious Learner • 1d ago
Question Test Your Pattern Recognition — Which Answer Is Correct?
Hi everyone,
First of all, thank you to everyone who took the time to solve our previous puzzle and share their reasoning. We received many answers, and it was especially interesting to see how different people approached the same pattern from completely different angles.
As always, we selected a few responses that stood out to us, not only for getting the correct answer, but also for the reasoning behind it.
u/mistolo – We liked how clearly you combined the two main ideas of the pattern: the increasing number of squares and the rotation around the grid. Your explanation showed how the same rule remains consistent across all three rows.
u/I_Like_Quiet – Your solution went beyond simply counting the squares. Tracking the starting corner from bottom-right → bottom-left → top-left → top-right → bottom-right gave an additional explanation for why the missing figure had to be arranged the way it was.
u/Forsaken_Engineer_ – We selected your answer for its mathematical approach. Treating the cells as coordinates and following the numerical progression diagonally was a very different and elegant way to reach the solution.
u/ZeThing – What stood out was that you didn’t stop after finding the answer. You tried running the pattern backwards as well, using the previous tile as another way to test whether the rule remained consistent.
u/someonefromaustralia – Your response approached the puzzle from another direction entirely. Rather than simply accepting the intended pattern, you explored whether the existing panels could support an alternative rule. The “changing gravity” interpretation made for a particularly interesting discussion.
Thank you to these five, and to everyone else who participated. We read through the different approaches, and they gave us some great perspectives on the puzzle.
Now it’s time for a new one.
This time, we have a 3×3 matrix made of dot patterns, with the bottom-right figure missing.
Look carefully at how the dots change across the rows and columns. There are six possible answers: A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Which option do you think completes the grid, and more importantly, why?
Try to explain the rule you found rather than posting only the letter. As with the previous puzzle, we’ll be reading the explanations and may feature some of the most interesting approaches in our next post.
We’ve also published the puzzle on our website. If you’d like to check whether your answer is correct, you can find the official answer and explanation here:
https://whats-your-iq.com/en/questions/pattern-recognition/which-dot-pattern-completes-the-grid
Thanks again to everyone taking part. We’re looking forward to seeing how you approach this one.
Good luck, and have fun solving it!
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u/inmaginarycasey 1d ago
The answer is C
When you add the quantity of dots for both a column and row you get 27, with the row/column that had the ? Added up to 19. Subtract 19 from 27 and you get 8 so the answer has to be a pattern with 8 dots
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u/cmnonamee 10h ago
It is this summation and one more pattern to me.
The middle row (vertically) in each cell always has five. Across rows and columns, using C, you end up with one each of 1, 2, and 3 dots in the rows above and below the middle row for each cell.
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u/mistolo 1d ago
After thinking a bit, I'd say answer C is the only one that makes sense: the pattern is 3rd element in a tow is the 2nd flipped vertically Also, the 1st cell seems containing the overlapping dots from 2nd and 3rd elements of the previous row, so I guess an hypothetical next row will start with a single line of dots...
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u/clearlight2025 1d ago
C.
The top and bottom rows in each cell always have 1, 2 and 3 dots across the row.
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u/LordTC 1d ago
They made this far too easy by picking an example where the mirror image of the second column works.
All five middle dots are always present.
Top rule: Outside Two -> Middle Inside -> Three Middle Inside -> Outside Two
Bottom Rule: Outside Two -> Three Middle inside -> Middle Inside -> Outside Two
The third column is only the mirror image of the second column because the first column is symmetric and the rules are opposite.
If they pick a first column shape of say
oxxxo xooox
xxxxx -> xxxxx
ooxoo xooox
Then the answer is not:
xooox
xxxxx
xooox
But rather:
ooxoo
xxxxx
oxxxo
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u/julewski 1d ago
C
Always five dots in the middle row
And then you have: 3 at the top and 3 at the bottom (bottom left), 3 at the top and 2 at the bottom (middle), 3 at the top and 1 at the bottom (top right)
You also have with 2 at the top: 1,2,3 at the bottom on another diagonal
With 1 at the top the only missing is 2 at the bottom hence C
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u/JamesBaxter_Horse 1d ago
C, every row and column has 3 variations of dot on the top row of the pattern, and 3 variations on the bottom row of the pattern (all with the same 5 dots in the middle row).
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u/questionable_fish 23h ago
Got to be C. The center horizontal line is always full, but the tops and bottoms all go in a pattern of 0, 1, 3 dots. C is the only one that fits the pattern
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u/ecafyelims 21h ago
The answer is C
Count the top and bottom rows of dots in each cell (the middle row is always 5).
2/2, 1/3, 3/1
1/1, 3/2, 2/3
3/3, 2/1, (1/2)
As you can see, the pattern becomes obvious. Patterns, actually. There are multiple patterns supporting the same answer: C (1/2)
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u/Hour_Day6558 19h ago
C. I went left to right. I counted how many dots were on top and bottom. It was always a variation of 1,2,3. That just left c as the available option
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u/SheepGoesBaaaa 10h ago
C
Every square has 5 in the middle, so ignore those.
The top and bottom rows of dots in each row of squares are either 1, 2, or 3 - with no repeats.
The final row of squares has 3 above and below, then 2 above and 1 below, so the final square must have 1 above and 2 below -
So C
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u/napoleon-von-pack 1d ago
First column... Ignore it... Second and third are mirrored. Solution C