the sum of the 5th and 10th term of an arithmetic series is 11 and a half. the sum of the first 20 terms is 85 what is the first term?
Letting a1 be the first term, we have that
[ a1 + d(5-1)] + [a1 + d(10-1)] = 11.5 simplify
2a1 + 4d + 9d = 11.5
2a1 + 13d = 11.5 → 2a1 = 11.5 - 13d (1)
And the sum of the first 20 terms can be expressed by :
85 = (20/2) [ 2a1 + (20-1)d ]
85 = 10 [2a1 + 19d] (2)
Substituting (1) into (2), we have
85 = 10 [ 11.5 - 13d + 19d]
85 = 115 + 60d
-30 = 60d divide both sides by 60
-1/2 = d
And using (1) to find the first term , a1, we have
2a1 = 11.5 - 13(-1/2)
2a1 = 11.5 + 6.5
2a1 = 18
a1 = 9