Difference between revisions of "2008 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 13"

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Revision as of 12:27, 4 July 2013

Problem

For each positive integer $n$, the mean of the first $n$ terms of a sequence is $n$. What is the 2008th term of the sequence?

$\mathrm{(A)}\ {{{2008}}} \qquad \mathrm{(B)}\ {{{4015}}} \qquad \mathrm{(C)}\ {{{4016}}} \qquad \mathrm{(D)}\ {{{4,030,056}}} \qquad \mathrm{(E)}\ {{{4,032,064}}}$

Solution

Since the mean of the first $n$ terms is $n$, the sum of the first $n$ terms is $n^2$. Thus, the sum of the first $2007$ terms is $2007^2$ and the sum of the first $2008$ terms is $2008^2$. Hence, the 2008th term is $2008^2-2007^2=(2008+2007)(2008-2007)=4015\Rightarrow \boxed{B}$

Note that $n^2$ is the sum of the first n odd numbers.

See also

2008 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 12
Followed by
Problem 14
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 10 Problems and Solutions

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