Difference between revisions of "2015 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 18"
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We begin filling in the table. The top row has a first term <math>1</math> and a fifth term <math>25</math>, so we have the common difference is <math>\frac{25-1}4=6</math>. This means we can fill in the first row of the table: | We begin filling in the table. The top row has a first term <math>1</math> and a fifth term <math>25</math>, so we have the common difference is <math>\frac{25-1}4=6</math>. This means we can fill in the first row of the table: | ||
<asy> | <asy> | ||
− | size( | + | size(6.85cm); |
label("$X$",(2.5,2.1),N); | label("$X$",(2.5,2.1),N); | ||
for (int i=0; i<=5; ++i) | for (int i=0; i<=5; ++i) |
Revision as of 21:38, 3 November 2019
An arithmetic sequence is a sequence in which each term after the first is obtained by adding a constant to the previous term. For example, is an arithmetic sequence with five terms, in which the first term is and the constant added is . Each row and each column in this array is an arithmetic sequence with five terms. What is the value of ?
Contents
Solution 1
We begin filling in the table. The top row has a first term and a fifth term , so we have the common difference is . This means we can fill in the first row of the table:
The fifth row has a first term of and a fifth term of , so the common difference is . We can fill in the fifth row of the table as shown:
We must find the third term of the arithmetic sequence with a first term of and a fifth term of . The common difference of this sequence is , so the third term is .
Solution 2
The middle term of the first row is , since the middle number is just the average in an arithmetic sequence. Similarly, the middle of the bottom row is . Applying this again for the middle column, the answer is .
Solution 3
The value of is simply the average of the average values of both diagonals that contain . This is
See Also
2015 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 17 |
Followed by Problem 19 | |
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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions |
The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.