162k views
2 votes
An arithmetic series is made up of the odd integers greater than 5 and less than 99. Calculate:

The number of elements the series has.
The sum of all the elements

User Xrender
by
7.7k points

1 Answer

5 votes

Explanation:

an arithmetic series is a series of terms, where every term is built by using the previous term and adding or subtracting something specific.

this one is really simple :

the odd integers greater than 5 means we start with 7.

and we get the next odd integer by simply adding 2.

a1 = 7

a2 = a1 + 2 = 9

=>

an = an-1 + 2 = a1 + (n-1)×2

so, how many terms ?

99 is the last one.

an = 99 = a1 + (n-1)×2 = 7 + (n-1)×2

we need to solve for n

99 = 7 + (n-1)×2

92 = (n-1)×2

46 = n-1

n = 47

therefore, the series has 47 terms or elements.

the sum of all of them ?

the old trick :

99 + 7 = 106

97 + 9 = 106

95 + 11 = 106

...

so, we have 46/2 = 23 such pairs.

so, we get 23×106.

but is this enough ?

since we have 47 elements, there is one element left to be added.

which one ?

when we build these pairs we reduce the left side by 2 22 times (as we have 23 pairs, and the first one is the starting point). and we add to the right side 2 22 times. so + and - 44 on either side.

that gives us

99-44 = 55

7+44 = 51

therefore, the one missing element is the one in the middle : 53.

so, the whole sum is

23×106 + 53 = 2438 + 53 = 2491

User Aykut Saribiyik
by
8.0k points

No related questions found

Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.

9.4m questions

12.2m answers

Categories