William’s Bakery baked 2 cakes on Tuesday, 6 cakes on Wednesday, 18 cakes on Thursday, 54 cakes on Friday, and 162 cakes on Saturday. If this pattern continues, the number of cakes will they bake on Sunday is

The correct answer is: 486

We can write the given sequence as 2, 6, 18, 54, 162
We have to find the rule used to write the above sequence.
We will try to use different operations to find the rule used to write the above expression.
Subtraction:
We will subtract second term from first term. If subtraction is used, this will be difference between all terms.
6 – 2 = 4
We will add this to second term to see if we will get the third term.
6 + 4 = 10
This is not the third term of the sequence. So, subtraction is eliminated.
Multiplication:
We will divide the second term by first.
6 ÷ 2 = 3
We will multiply the second term by this factor and see if we get the third term.
6 × 3 = 18
18 × 3 = 54
54 × 3 = 162
This pattern is same as the given pattern.
We will multiply the last term by 3 to find the next term.
162 × 3 = 486
So, the number of the cakes William’s Bakery makes on Sunday is 486.

For such questions, we should know the basic operations. When the rule used to write the pattern is not mentioned, we have to use all four operations to check the pattern. The operations are addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication.