What is the next term in the given series ?
31 , 26 , 21 , _______

Options

A. 20
B. 17
C. 16
D. 9

Answer

To find the next term in the series 31, 26, 21, we can follow these steps:

1. **Identify the pattern**: Look at the differences between the consecutive terms.
- The difference between the first term (31) and the second term (26) is:
\[ 31 - 26 = 5 \]
- The difference between the second term (26) and the third term (21) is:
\[ 26 - 21 = 5 \]

2. **Continue the pattern**: Since the difference between each pair of terms is consistently 5, we can deduce that the next term will also be 5 less than the last term (21).
- Therefore, we calculate:
\[ 21 - 5 = 16 \]

3. **Conclusion**: The next term in the series is 16.

Thus, the next term in the series is **16**.