Find the missing term in the sequence below:

12.5, 35, 69.5, 116, 174.5, ?

The correct answer is 245.

To find the missing term in the sequence, let us analyze the differences between consecutive terms:

First term: 12.5
Second term: 35
Third term: 69.5
Fourth term: 116
Fifth term: 174.5

First, let us calculate the first-order differences between consecutive terms:

$35-12.5=22.5$

$69.5-35=34.5$

$116-69.5=46.5$

$174.5-116=58.5$

Next, let us calculate the second-order differences (the differences between the first-order differences):

$34.5-22.5=12$

$46.5-34.5=12$

$58.5-46.5=12$

We observe that the second-order difference is constant and equals 12.

To find the next first-order difference, we add 12 to 58.5:

$58.5+12=70.5$

Finally, we add this difference to the fifth term (174.5) to obtain the missing term:

$174.5+70.5=245$

Thus, the missing term in the sequence is 245.