To find the pattern in the given sequence, let's look at the differences between consecutive terms:
1, 3, 6, 8, 16, 18, 36, 38, 76
The differences are:
2, 3, 2, 8, 2, 18, 2, 38
The pattern in the differences is not immediately clear. However, if we observe closely, we can see that the differences alternate between adding 2 and adding 18.
So, the next difference should be 2, which means the next term in the sequence will be obtained by adding 2 to the previous term, 76:
76 + 2 = 78
Therefore, the correct answer is A) 78.