Name the letter of the column in which the number 1000 will appear.

Question

Suppose all the counting numbers are written in columns in the pattern shown below.

 

A       B       C       D      E      F      G

1                2               3              4

         7                6              5

8                9              10            11

        14              13            12

...   ...

Name the letter of the column in which the number 1000 will appear.

Answer 1

The diagram shows a pattern that repeats every 7 numbers.

 

1000 / 7 = 142 with a remainder of 6.

 

So the pattern will repeat 142 times and go back to the starting point.  After that, you will have assigned all the numbers from 1 to 7*142 = 994.  Then there will be 6 more positions to count out to get to 1000.

 

So 1000 will appear in the same position as 6, which is column D.