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by TheAnuja55 » Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:40 am
p, r, s, t, u
An arithmetic sequence is a sequence in which each term after the first term is equal to the sum of the preceding term and a constant. If the list of numbers shown above is an arithmetic sequence, which of the following must also be an arithmetic sequence?

1.) 2p, 2r, 2s, 2t, 2u
2.) p-3, r-3, s-3, t-3, u-3
3.) p square, r square, s square, t square, u square.

(A)1 only
(B)2 only
(C)3 only
(D)1 and 2
(E)2 and 3


Here constant c such that:
p+c=r, and r+c=s, and s+c=t, and t+c=u.
Rewriting this, there is a constant c such that
c=r-p=s-r=t-s=u-t

1. C1=2r-2p=2s-2r=2t-2s=2u-2t
therefore, C1=2c
Hence this is not true.

2. C2=(r-3)-(p-3)=(s-3)-(r-3)=(t-3)-(s-3)=(u-3)-(t-3)

Clearly, (r-3)-(p-3) = r-p = c
Hence this is true as well

3. C3=(r^2)-(p^2)=(s^2)-(r^2)=(t^2)-(s^2)=(u^2)-(t^2)

The answer here is NO.
Since, if we take (r^2)-(p^2). We know that r=p+c, so r^2=p^2 + 2pc + c^2. That means (r^2)-(p^2) = 2pc + c^2.

So I do have 2 questions:
1. Why the answer is D?
2. Is there any easy way to solve such question?
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Source: — Problem Solving |

by Jim@StratusPrep » Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:04 am
The idea is that an arithmetic sequence is evenly spaced between each set of terms. 1) is true because if you multiply all of the terms by 2, then the resulting sequence is still evenly spaced - just the spacing is twice as big.
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by Abhishek009 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:12 am
Another method for solving such problems quickly is by plugging in some numbers...


Let the arithmetic progression be 3 , 5 , 7 , 9 ,11....

Where p = 3 , q = 7 , r =9 , s = 11 etc...

1.) 2p, 2r, 2s, 2t, 2u

=> 6 , 10 , 14 , 18 , 22 ...

Here the common difference is 2

2.) p-3, r-3, s-3, t-3, u-3

=> 0 , 2 , 4 , 6 .....

Here the common difference is again 2

3.) p square, r square, s square, t square, u square.

=> 9 , 25 , 49 , 81 , 121 ....

Here the series does not follow an arithmetic progression...

Hence only 1 and 2 follows , so Conclusion D follows..
Abhishek
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by TheAnuja55 » Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:46 am
Abhishek009 wrote:Another method for solving such problems quickly is by plugging in some numbers...


Let the arithmetic progression be 3 , 5 , 7 , 9 ,11....

Where p = 3 , q = 7 , r =9 , s = 11 etc...

1.) 2p, 2r, 2s, 2t, 2u

=> 6 , 10 , 14 , 18 , 22 ...

Here the common difference is 2

2.) p-3, r-3, s-3, t-3, u-3

=> 0 , 2 , 4 , 6 .....

Here the common difference is again 2

3.) p square, r square, s square, t square, u square.

=> 9 , 25 , 49 , 81 , 121 ....

Here the series does not follow an arithmetic progression...

Hence only 1 and 2 follows , so Conclusion D follows..
Abhishek,

Choosing evenly spaced numbers is pretty easy way of solving such problem.
Thanks for the reply.
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