Missing Number Data Interpretation
Tables where a cell is left blank and must be found from a stated relationship: a row total, a given ratio, a percentage change, or an average. Read the clue, set up one equation, solve.
What you will be able to do
- Identify which relationship a question gives to fix a blank cell.
- Turn that relationship into a single equation in one unknown.
- Handle row-total, ratio, percentage-change and average clues.
- Reuse a blank you have already found for a later question.
What is inside this lesson
- 1What a missing-number set looks like
- 2Read the clue, write one equation
- 3The four clue types
- 4Worked example: accounts opened by branch
- 5Common mistakes
- 6Quick revision
- 7Practice
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What a missing-number set looks like
A missing-number set is an ordinary table with one or more cells replaced by a blank or a letter. You cannot read the value off — you have to reconstruct it from a relationship the question states: the row adds to a given total, two cells are in a given ratio, one cell is a stated percentage more than another, or a cell equals the average of its row.
Every blank has exactly one clue that fixes it. The work is spotting the clue and writing the one equation it gives.
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