An arithmetic sequence is a sequence of numbers where the difference between the consecutive terms is constant, such as five, seven, nine, 11… The third term of an arithmetic sequence is 20 and the sum of the first eight terms is 244. What is the first term of the sequence?
Let first term be a and diff be n. 8a+28n=244 and a+2n=20. Solving a=6,n=7, so 6 is our answer.