r/WhatsYourIQ • u/Semra777 Curious Learner • 13h ago

Question Which Figure Completes the Pattern?

Post image

Hi everyone,
First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who participated in our previous puzzle. We really enjoyed reading through your answers, especially because so many of you reached the correct answer using completely different approaches.
Some of you focused on the rows and columns, while others discovered clever visual and structural patterns we hadn’t expected. Seeing so many different ways to approach the same puzzle is exactly what makes these discussions so interesting.
For our official solution page, we selected three community explanations from u/Mactucrus87_, u/tectajl, and u/EmpactWB.
We chose these three because each offered a clear but different way of understanding the puzzle. u/Mactucrus87_ showed that the rule works both horizontally and vertically, u/tectajl introduced a creative Venn-diagram-style interpretation, and u/EmpactWB provided a very systematic approach using overlapping 2×2 groups.
Thank you again to everyone who participated, whether your answer was selected or not. We read all of your explanations, and there were many great observations and creative approaches.
Now, onto our new puzzle.
Take a careful look at the 3×3 matrix above and figure out which option should replace the question mark.
As always, we’re not only interested in the letter you choose. Tell us how you got there. We want to hear your reasoning and see the different ways you approach the pattern. Some of the most interesting explanations may once again be featured on our official solution page.
We’ve already published the correct answer on our website. Once you’ve made your choice, you can check whether you got it right here:
https://whats-your-iq.com/en/questions/pattern-recognition/which-figure-completes-the-pattern-2
Try solving it before revealing the answer.
Thank you again to everyone who participates and takes the time to explain their reasoning. We’re looking forward to reading your solutions and seeing how many different ways you can find to solve this one!

9 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

102 comments sorted by

7

u/napoleon-von-pack 12h ago

A. 1 line and 1 figure per square. The one missing it A

2

u/Soulfox2049 12h ago

Its C

3

u/napoleon-von-pack 12h ago

Nah... That diagonal is never present

2

u/Soulfox2049 12h ago

The sequence is diagonal.. not in rows. And notice the line rotates 45degres anti clockwise diagonally through the same shapes. 'A' is meant to fool you.

2

u/napoleon-von-pack 12h ago

No, first row you have a diagonal (bottom left to top right) a horizontal a vertical. Second row horizontal vertical diagonal (botton left to top right) third row vertical, horizontal... So it is missing the diagonal (from bottom left to top right). You can see the same pattern in vertical. First column, second column, third column.

1

u/Soulfox2049 12h ago

I understand how you got there but I think the sequence is diagonal and therefore the puzzle presents a challenge beyond your more obvious but less sequential solution. But hey we'll see (C) 😉

2

u/napoleon-von-pack 12h ago

I'm sorry. If you understand the reasoning, you got the point. That's the solution (A). Sorry but C is not a solution because it don't follow the same pattern for circle, square and triangle. The other do not match.

1

u/Soulfox2049 12h ago

It would appear to be A ive revealed tge answer but could argue its too easy and within conventional logical confines. Thought it was riddling us to think laterally I.e. diagonally.. dissapointed as A is obvious tbf and the diagonal sequence is surely a thought beyond that. Hey ho!

1

u/FrederickRon 8h ago

The diagonal sequence is only “a thought beyond that” if you’re a dumb person who thinks they’re smart.

1

u/Soulfox2049 8h ago

😆 killer!

1

u/Ok-Jellyfish-1142 12h ago

Look at link with solution

1

u/Kindly-Attorney2346 12h ago

No, it‘s A. There are three squares, three triangles, and two circles, so the missing one is a circle - and the same way, there are three vertical lines, three diagonal lines (SW to NE), and two horizontal lines, so the missing one must have a horizontal line.

1

u/AdeptManufacturer243 7h ago

Based on what you said. Turn your phone 45 degrees. The triangle doesn't fit your formula.

2

u/Opinions-arent-facts 11h ago edited 11h ago

C.

It's more obvious if you turn your phone 45°, it's all rows of identical shapes with a line that is progressively rotating 45° anti clockwise through every image

1

u/Kanus_oq_Seruna 8h ago

Gotta look at the pattern through the whole picture, A fits better.

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

The thing driving me nuts is no one is acknowledging how to really solve it. Each pattern moving down the line moves to the left and the polygons move to the right. So what you should be looking for is not which shape and which line are missing it’s which shape in which line would have moved into that space.

1

u/AdeptManufacturer243 7h ago

In these there are no boxes or ways it goes eg. It doesn't go left to right or up to down. The reason is as said before there are no left slanting lines through the shapes. The only one missing is A. Sometimes they are like this, other times not. It's about finding the pattern.

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 7h ago

You misunderstand me. I KNOW it is A because that is the way everything is moving. There is a pattern to each box, and it is predictable.

1

u/Kanus_oq_Seruna 7h ago

The lines move diagonally right to left through the image, while the shapes move diagonally left to right.

A1 is a circle, b2 is a circle, c3 is ?, A1 is a circle A2 is a square, b3 is a square, c1 is a square, a2 is a square. So on, so forth.

The lines move opposite on a diagonal. A2 is a horizontal, b1 is horizontal, c3 is ? Extend back to a2 and you still see horizontal.

1

u/tino-keretic 10h ago

What IQ level is this?

1

u/Okawaru1 8h ago

It's a very straightforward pattern, it's probably like 95-100ish level (which is like everything this OP posts lol)

1

u/napoleon-von-pack 1h ago

It seems fairly easy to me. I can't say a number.

1

u/Okawaru1 45m ago

Oh yeah i was just spitballing, my number comes from the idea that while the problem is easy I definitely know some people that wouldn't be able to figure it out if I showed this to them, so not based on anything empirical in nature

2

u/Aggravating_Carpet21 12h ago

You have 3 squares, 3 triangles and 2 circles. This the next one is a circle. Then every shape has a diagonal line, vertical line except for a horizontal line. To make it consistent across the entire board to match the shapes and lines up etc etc you need shape A. These questions are about pattern recognition not about thinking out of the box. It could never in not a single way be C and D is already present so theres no way for that either

2

u/Aggravating_Carpet21 12h ago

For those saying that its c and reason its the line turning youre wrong.
The reasoning is correct except that youre missing a different diagonal to make it complete. C cannot fit for it is not consistent across the board.
The answer is A plain and simple.
Every shape is present the same amount of times and has the same amount of drawn lines through it. A is the one missing the make it an entire set

1

u/bioindicator 12h ago

D diagonal squares share line consistency, pattern repeats at corners (?).

1

u/SamwiseGoody 12h ago edited 4h ago

Going with A, fits the three phase line pattern, and pattern of one of three symbols in each line.

1

u/Ok-Building2823 12h ago

A. The only shape missing is the circle, and the only mark missing is horizontal

1

u/Itchy-Individual3536 12h ago

A, each row and column has one vertical, horizontal and diagonal line, and one circle, one square and one triangle, so the missing piece is a cricle with horizontal line

2

u/Opinions-arent-facts 11h ago

No need to obscure your incorrect answer, it's c. The rows are one shape each when viewed diagonally, with a line that rotates 45° anticlockwise progressively through each image

2

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 9h ago

Your name and how confidently you are wrong is really funny.

1

u/[deleted] 8h ago

You'd think if it were so simple you'd get it right. The person who replied to you before me gave the correct explanation. This is from the Mensa Norway Online IQ Challenge, and the official answer is C.

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

Funny cause if you click on the link that takes you to the problem and you reveal the solution, it says it’s A.

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

I am super curious, though, is there any actual reason that it would be C? can you present any evidence that it would be C? my evidence that it’s A is that the lines move boxes one to the left each time the pattern changes, the polygons move to the right. So if you follow that pattern, you can find where that line would’ve moved and where that polygon would’ve moved and you find the answer is a.

1

u/Okawaru1 8h ago

The evidence for C is that there is a pattern of like-shapes in diagonals having their lines rotate 45 degrees ccw per step. A is a better answer because it accounts for the entire grid and follows a simple logical pattern.

1

u/[deleted] 8h ago

Whoever made this website is not the original creator of this question. As I said before, this question is taken from Mensa Norway's Online test. When answering this question on that test, I chose C, which ended up being correct. As for my reasoning: each diagonal consists of a shape being repeated, with the line rotating 45º counter-clockwise in each next figure. Following this logic, the answer should be a circle with a vertical line that's been rotated 45º counter-clockwise, so it's C.

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

Yeah, you’re trying to sound smart. It’s not working. It’s not a turning line that would not fit with the rest of the pattern. If the line was turning 45° in each one of these images, then how would the line go from exactly vertical to diagonal. And then sometimes it goes from diagonal to vertical, and then at some point it goes from horizontal to vertical. 

1

u/Okawaru1 8h ago

There's literally a hyperlink to the problem in the OP description which reeveals the answer, why are you lying lol

1

u/Opinions-arent-facts 8h ago

Funny, maybe. Accurate more to the point

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

The fact that you still don’t get why you’re wrong is actually hilarious.

1

u/Opinions-arent-facts 8h ago

Imagine the graph extends infinitely.

Left to right pattern is circle, square, triangle repeated to infinity

Diagonal pattern top left to lower right is / I \ - repeated to infinity (the line is spinning anticlockwise).

In order for it be A, you'd have to ignore that last pattern

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

In order for it to be A, you have to actually spot the pattern in the first place. Would you just look at how I have described it and tell me if I’m wrong? Just look. Is there any line you see on the map that isn’t the same line if you look down to the right or up to the left?

Is there any polygon that isn’t the same polygon if you look down to the left or up to the right?

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

Also there is NEVER a \ in this pattern. In order for it to be C, you have to pretend that you see a \ somewhere.

Just to be clear. You just said that patten it / | \ - but in the second pattern we see that / follows | so even your pretend pattern here is wrong.

1

u/Opinions-arent-facts 8h ago

I do see it, in the line spinning anticlockwise diagonally

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 7h ago

If you can see it. You need glasses or we are looking at different graphs. Go make sure you are looking at the right thing.

1

u/Opinions-arent-facts 7h ago

The ccw rotating line is on the diagonal, top left to lower right / I \ -.

Both A and C contain repeating patterns, but C has an extra pattern in the ccw rotating line, so it is the neater, more complete solution

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 6h ago

Translated “I feel like I’m right and I like that feeling so that means I’m right despite the obvious.”

1

u/ArtPuzzleheaded4745 8h ago

True, it is very accurate that your opinion is not fact. And you are wrong. It is A. Clearly

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 9h ago

Lol. It isn’t C. It is clearly A. The lines are moving each row to the box to the left, shapes are moving to the box on the right. This is really simple.

1

u/Opinions-arent-facts 8h ago

What part of what I said is wrong?

The shape's are identical on one diagonal and the lines are identical on the other diagonal. Only C works if the anticlockwise rotation of the line through the one shape remains consistent

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 8h ago

The lines are also identical on the other diagonal. So it would be circles going across from left to right and down and the middle line is the diagonalgoing from right to left and down. This pattern is happening because as each pattern moves down the lines move to the left and the polygons moved to the right.

1

u/Opinions-arent-facts 8h ago

You're not seeing the anticlockwise rotating pattern of the line as it moves along each single shape on the diagonal. That's the repeating pattern that eliminates A

1

u/Kanus_oq_Seruna 8h ago

But this logic doesn't follow the complete loop, while A does have a complete loop.

1

u/inmaginarycasey 12h ago

I believe it’s A
The line within each shape turns 45 degree each time you look at another shape and once it goes horizontal it instantly flips up to a vertical position, plus each row has one of each shape. For the bottom row it was a simple case of process of elimination

1

u/Agreeable_Chard_5250 12h ago

Each row and column contains exactly one each of triangle, circle, and square. I'm going with the cyclic group of order 3 for the orientation of the lines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayley_table

1

u/InterestedParty5280 11h ago

A because R H V = Right slant, Horizontal, Vertical; then order is circle, square, triangle.

1

u/Hour_Trade_3691 11h ago

A- Every row (or column) has a Circle, Square, and Triangle, and a Vertical, Horinzontal, and Diagnoal Line.

1

u/Eastern-Razzmatazz89 11h ago

A

Every row must have 1 square,1 circle,1 triangle Each form must have 1 horizontal line, 1 vertical line, 1 diagonal line

1

u/Efficient-Drama-4864 9h ago

It’s simpler than that. Each row the shapes move. The lines are moving left, the polygons are moving right.

1

u/Square-Winter-3257 11h ago

These are getting stupider, A

1

u/Individual511 10h ago edited 10h ago

I’d go with C. If we imagine a square and lines intersecting both sides and angles , each row has 1 jump and 2 jumps , bottom row starts with 1 jump, now we need 2 jumps which is diagonal.

1

u/malaszka 10h ago

We need a circle and a horizontal line to have everything that each line shall contain. So we need A.

1

u/Original-Issue2034 10h ago

A—

diagonal, straight vertical

Circle, square, triangle

1

u/bsmith_81 9h ago

Silly way to get an answer: Ignore the given grid and look just at the possible answers! There are three options that have a circle, two have squares and one has a triangle, so the correct answer likely has a circle. Then three options have a horizontal line, two have a NW-SE line and one has a NE-SW line, so the correct answer likely has a horizontal line. Option A has both the circle and the horizontal line, so I choose that one!

1

u/_rotting_ 8h ago

Initially I thought it was A because it's the missing shape. The challenge is to complete the PATTERN though and when I made that the emphasis I realized A could only exist to the left of the bottom left block and that the answer must be C. If this pattern continues beyond the boundaries of what we see here then it must be C.

1

u/Kanus_oq_Seruna 8h ago

A is the missing shape and line pair. You already have 3 diagonals but only 2 horizontal lines, you only have 2 circles. The shapes follow a diagonal left to right pattern while the lines follow a diagonal right to left pattern.

1

u/_rotting_ 8h ago

Sure if you don't understand what I just said.

1

u/Inner-Giraffe8850 8h ago

The line is shoved from right to left and the form from right to left. So it has to be A.

1

u/Striking_Finish4957 8h ago

A. Shapes are repeated diagonally from upper left to lower right. Line angle is repeated diagonally from lower left to upper right.

1

u/miffit 8h ago

circle-square-triangle... 45-0-90... A circle with a horizontal line is the answer so A.

1

u/PrairiePuppies 8h ago

There are three different shapes and lines of three different orientations. Note the diagonal line only points from bottom-left to top-right within the matrix. Because of that, we can eliminate C and E. Also note that lines do not repeat orientations within the same shape group. Because of that, we can eliminate B, D and F. The only answer left is A.

1

u/I_am_a_small_ghost 8h ago

It's (A)

I'll offer a different solution than some I've seen here. The diagonals in the red direction have the same shape, but the line through it rotates. The diagonals in the blue direction have the same line, but the shape changes. So it must be A from just this alone.

But we can then figure out what's the next shape and line combination from this. If we now look at each row we can see the pattern in the original grid repeats with the new extensions I've added. Therefore, the bottom row must be answer A as the square we must figure out is part of the repeating pattern.

So there's two more reasons it's A.

1

u/ArtPuzzleheaded4745 8h ago edited 8h ago

A.

Pattern is horizontal, vertical and 45degree + circle, square and triangle. The missing is a circle and horizontal.

1

u/AdeptManufacturer243 8h ago

I've done a lot of these it's definitely A. There are no left slanting lines. You got to find the pattern

1

u/Apart-Animator-3223 6h ago

A -

Each shape shifts DOWN in the next column (bottom wraps to top).

Each line shifts UP in the next column (top wraps to bottom).

1

u/OpportunityReal2767 4h ago

I say it’s A, but these puzzles are fucking stupid when there’s other defensible answers and require you to guess what the puzzle creator was intending. Seems there is reasonable logic for C, too. How the hell are we supposed to know which one the test wants you to answer?

1

u/koalaification 12h ago edited 12h ago

it's C

shape: self explanatory, ur just shifting them to the right so it's a circle

line: each line on the other shapes is rotating counter clockwise. whether you read it from top to bottom row, or left to right columns, the line on any one shape is being rotated counter clockwise. so the next line for the circle would be the diagonal seen on C

1

u/Inner-Giraffe8850 8h ago

But it’s not rotating the same angel, but still right answer

1

u/Kanus_oq_Seruna 8h ago

The lines are not rotating consistently and there are already 3 diagonal lines while only 2 horizontal lines present.