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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
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1 Answer

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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
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4.9k points