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Average of Set /Even & ODD

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by gmatusa2010 » Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:44 pm
I noticed these types of problems occurred often, I wanted to come up with some properties, can someone confirm/disprove them?

Rules: All numbers in set are integers

1) For set of consecutive items, if number of item is odd => average is integer

1a) The reverse is not true, average is integer, number of item is odd, could be consecutive or not.

2) For set of evenly-spaced items, if number of item is odd=> average is integer (item 1 is a subset of 2)

2a) The reverse is not true.

3) For set of consecutive items, if number of item is even => average is NOT integer

3a) Reverse is not true

4) For set of evenly-spaced items, if number of item is even=> average could or could not be an integer

4a) For set of evenly-spaced items, if number of item is even=> average is an integer if the difference between the items are even.

4b) For set of evenly-spaced items, if number of item is even=> average is not an integer if the difference between the items are odd.
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Source: — Problem Solving |

by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:16 am
The rules you state are correct, and they all stem from the following property: for a set of evenly-spaced terms, the average is equal to the median.

Now, the median has two scenarios, accounting for your odd number/even number dichotomy:

1) if the number of terms is odd, the median is the term in the middle of the set (when ordered in ascending order).

Thus, when the number of terms is odd, the median (and the average) are one of the terms of the set, and must therefore be integers always.

2) If the number of terms is even, the median is the average of the two middle terms.

Thus, in this scenario, the median (and the average) will not be an integer for a consectuive set, but will be an integer for a set with a difference of 2, for example: {3, 5, 7, 9}
Average of the set = median = average of middle terms 5 and 7 = 6 - is an integer.
Geva
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