Which pair of numbers comes next in the following series?
42, 40, 38, 35, 33, 31, 28, ?, ?
The series follows a repeating pattern of subtractions. By observing the differences between consecutive numbers, we can identify the rule:
The repeating pattern is clearly (-2, -2, -3). The last given step was a "-3," so we continue the pattern from the beginning to find the next two numbers:
28 - 2 = 2626 - 2 = 24
The next two numbers in the series are 26 and 24.
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