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word problem

by sud21 » Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:22 pm
Some sticks have the length from 1/4 to 7/8 inch, inclusive, and from the shortest to the longest, the length increased by 1/16 inch. What is the median of these lengths? (All the sticks should different.)
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by neelgandham » Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:16 pm
Some sticks have the length from 1/4 to 7/8 inch, inclusive, and from the shortest to the longest, the length increased by 1/16 inch. What is the median of these lengths? (All the sticks should different.)

Sticks are of length
4/16(=1/4),
4/16 + 1/16 = 5/16
5/16 + 1/16 = 6/16,
7/16,
8/16,
9/16,
10/16,
11/16,
12/16,
13/16,
14/16(=7/8).
Since all sticks are different and the number of terms = 11, the median of these lengths is the 6th term [spoiler]9/16[/spoiler]
Anil Gandham
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by pemdas » Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:00 pm
the length increased by 1/16 implies we have consecutive numbers
7/8-1/4=5/8 and 5/8:1/16=10, hence the number of stick count will be (10+1)=11 sticks. We set median as 5*(1/16)+1/4=9/16
sud21 wrote:Some sticks have the length from 1/4 to 7/8 inch, inclusive, and from the shortest to the longest, the length increased by 1/16 inch. What is the median of these lengths? (All the sticks should different.)
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by LalaB » Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:37 pm
I am sorry, I didnt get ur both solutions :( I seem to misunderstand the question. could you please explain me in detail?
the length increased by 1/16 implies we have consecutive numbers
-why?
sticks have the length from 1/4 to 7/8 inch, inclusive, and from the shortest to the longest, the length increased by 1/16 inch.
doesnt it mean, that first we have numbers from 4/16 till 14/16, and then from 5/16 till 15/16?
I didnt get the sequence written by neelgandham

sorry again.
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