Choose the correct figure that will complete the given pattern.
2017
Choose the correct figure that will complete the given pattern.
Attempted by 9 students.
Show answer & explanation
Concept
In a figure-completion (pattern-continuation) question, every arm of the design must stay built the same way: the same lines meeting at one shared centre, and the same small marker shapes (here, the circles) placed the same way relative to that centre. The option that keeps this shared construction going — without adding a shape the rest of the design never uses — is the piece that completes the pattern.
Applying it here
Look at the three corners that are already drawn and note what repeats in every one of them:
Every stroke drawn from an outer edge runs all the way in to one shared centre point, so the figure's two long diagonals cross exactly at that centre and form a balanced X there.
Each corner also carries exactly one small circle, and in every case it sits close to that same centre line rather than being pushed away into a corner by itself.
No corner introduces any shape besides these thin diagonal strokes and the one small circle — nothing else is added.
The missing fourth corner has to follow the same three rules. Among the four options, only one shows its own two diagonals crossing cleanly at the centre of its frame, forming the same balanced X, with a single small circle sitting close to that crossing on the centre line — nothing extra added. That is the only option that keeps the design's shared construction going, so it is the piece that completes the figure.
Cross-check
Checking the other three against the same rules confirms it: one option's strokes bunch together off to one side instead of crossing at the centre, and its circle sits alone in a corner instead of near the centre line — both rules broken. Another is dominated by one large triangle anchored to a single edge, again with its circle cornered rather than centred. The third brings in a solid shaded block, a kind of mark the rest of the design never uses anywhere. Only the balanced X-with-centred-circle option survives every check, which is why it is the completing figure.