Find the digit that is not written in the same font as others.
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In visual discrimination tasks, pay close attention to subtle details like line thickness, curvature, and the presence or absence of serifs. Systematically compare each item to a mental "baseline" established by the majority of the items.
Step 1: Pick the features to compare.
Compare the digits on stroke thickness, the shape of their terminals (ends of strokes), and how "geometric" versus "decorated" each digit looks.
Step 2: Check strokes on most digits.
Digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 all end their strokes cleanly, with no extra ticks or flares, consistent with one plain sans-serif font.
Step 3: Check the digit 5.
The digit 5 ends its top bar and the base of its curve with small extra ticks (serifs), a decorated terminal style that none of the other digits share.
Step 4: Final Answer.
The digit written in a different font from the rest is \(\boxed{5}\).
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Approach Solution -2
Another way to reach the same answer is to assume, to begin with, that we don't know which digit is different, and test each candidate against the majority style found in the rest of the row.
First, establish what the "majority" style looks like by comparing any three or four digits picked at random from the row. If they all share the same plain, evenly-weighted letterform with no extra decoration, that plain style is treated as the baseline font for the whole set.
Next, check each digit one at a time against that baseline. Digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 all match the baseline's plain, undecorated stroke style, so none of them stand out.
Checking the digit 5 against the same baseline, however, turns up small decorative ticks at its stroke ends that the baseline style does not have, so 5 fails to match the majority style while every other digit passes.
Since exactly one digit fails to match the shared baseline and every other digit matches it, that one digit is the answer.
