2009 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 12

Problem

The fifth and eighth terms of a geometric sequence of real numbers are $7!$ and $8!$ respectively. What is the first term?


$\mathrm{(A)}\ 60\qquad \mathrm{(B)}\ 75\qquad \mathrm{(C)}\ 120\qquad \mathrm{(D)}\ 225\qquad \mathrm{(E)}\ 315$

Solution

Let the $n$th term of the series be $ar^{n-1}$. Because \[\frac {8!}{7!} = \frac {ar^7}{ar^4} = r^3 = 8,\] it follows that $r = 2$ and the first term is $a = \frac {7!}{r^4} = \frac {7!}{16} = \boxed{315}$. The answer is $\mathrm{(E)}$.

See also

2009 AMC 12B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 11
Followed by
Problem 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png