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Difference between revisions of "1962 AHSME Problems/Problem 20"
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(In fact, for any arithmetic progression with an odd number of terms,
 
(In fact, for any arithmetic progression with an odd number of terms,
 
the middle term is equal to the average of all the terms.)
 
the middle term is equal to the average of all the terms.)
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==Solution 2==
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If we write the five terms as <math>a</math>, <math>a - n</math>, <math>a - 2n</math>, <math>a + n</math> and <math>a + 2n</math>, we can see that adding them up, we get <math>5a = 540</math> through this, we can see that <math>a = 108</math>, <math>\fbox{\textbf{(A)}}</math>
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==See Also==
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{{AHSME 40p box|year=1962|before=Problem 19|num-a=21}}
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[[Category:Introductory Algebra Problems]]
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{{MAA Notice}}

Latest revision as of 20:00, 29 October 2020

Problem

The angles of a pentagon are in arithmetic progression. One of the angles in degrees, must be:

$\textbf{(A)}\ 108\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 90\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 72\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 54\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 36$

Solution

If the angles are in an arithmetic progression, they can be expressed as $a$, $a+n$, $a+2n$, $a+3n$, and $a+4n$ for some real numbers $a$ and $n$. Now we know that the sum of the degree measures of the angles of a pentagon is $180(5-2)=540$. Adding our expressions for the five angles together, we get $5a+10n=540$. We now divide by 5 to get $a+2n=108$. It so happens that $a+2n$ is one of the angles we defined earlier, so that angle must have a measure of $\boxed{108\textbf{ (A)}}$. (In fact, for any arithmetic progression with an odd number of terms, the middle term is equal to the average of all the terms.)

Solution 2

If we write the five terms as $a$, $a - n$, $a - 2n$, $a + n$ and $a + 2n$, we can see that adding them up, we get $5a = 540$ through this, we can see that $a = 108$, $\fbox{\textbf{(A)}}$

See Also

1962 AHSC (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 19 		Followed by
Problem 21
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 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40
All AHSME Problems and Solutions

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