A little puzzle

Just got sent this in an email.

It is said that engineers take 3 minutes to resolve this, architects 3 hours and doctors 6 hours (and bankers can't get it...) . If you guess which the 6th number is, you'll be able to open the excel file. Once you discover it, put in your name, save it and send it on...


Which is the 6th number?
1, 2, 6, 42, 1806, ___???


I got it right in a couple of minutes. 8) But as I don't have excel I can't do much with the file. Well, I can save and open it with OO but can't then save with the password. :dead:

it was actually pretty easy to figure out. lol

It is said that engineers take 3 minutes to resolve this, architects 3 hours and doctors 6 hours (and bankers can't get it...)

I got it (I think - can't check without the excel file, but my answer makes mathematical sense) in well under a minute....
Have to say, I think the line about how long it takes to solve it is probably nonsense - I can't see many people, if any, sitting around for 6 hours trying to solve a math problem, irrespective of occupation.

Click and drag right from the arrow for my answer ---> 3263442

I am an engineer and it took me at least two minutes to figure out the sequence. The answer I got matches slaveofconvention's.

Took me 30 seconds tops. But then again, I remember a certain set of tables that got beat into my head in grade school too.

i got it in just over a minute, and my answer also matches slave, and it does inface make sence.

just need the excel file to test this

You're all correct. Do you really need the file?

http://www.cginternet.net/tbcs/Matematico 1.xls

Not for me - for anyone who's interested, I figured it out so quickly, probably by luck as much as anything else - these puzzles, you either start at the start and work forward, or at the end and work back - I just happened to start at the end - when there's THAT big a difference in numbers in a sequence, it's almost always multiplication/division. I'm not that smart, just got lucky :p

I started in the middle, getting from 6 to 42, figured out ways of doing that then applied them to the numbers either side.