I need help.

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Suzuhirai

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The sum of five consecutive integers is 505. What equations helps you find the fourth integer on the list?
 
Suzuhirai said:
The sum of five consecutive integers is 505. What equations helps you find the fourth integer on the list?
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If the first number of those five number is 'n' - what are the next 4 numbers?

Please show us what you have tried and exactly where you are stuck.

Please follow the rules of posting in this forum, as enunciated at:


Please share your work/thoughts about this problem.
 
think of an integer as a variable. Call it "i"
so a consecutive integers could be represented as an expression like (i+1)
so generate a sequence/series of expressions to create an equation and solve

start with i .......
 
Here are five consecutive integers:
\(n+(n+1)+(n+2)+(n+3)+(n+4)\).
Add them; set to \(505\); solve.
 
I prefer to call the middle number n. How would you express the two numbers before n and the two numbers after n.

Alternative if you see things clearly you can simply divide the sum by 5 and use that result to get the 5 numbers.
 
The first post makes me want to scream! "What equations helps you find the fourth integer on the list?" So many people want to memorize equations rather than learn concepts! Suzuhirai, do you not know what "consecutive integers" means? Do you know what "sum" means? That is all that is needed!
 
Jomo said:
Halls, this is how math is mostly taught from k-12.
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Suzuhirai said:
The sum of five consecutive integers is 505. What equations helps you find the fourth integer on the list?
Click to expand...
What worries me is that they may well consider only one answer correct, though there are many good methods even using equations. They might want you to define the fourth integer as the variable, and solve (x-3)+(x-2)+(x-1)+(x)+(x+1) = 505. And though I can't tell whether the original had "equation helps" or "equations help", it's also possible that they want x+(x+1)+(x+2)+(x+3)+(x+4) = 505 together with y = x + 3.

But if the author is wiser than I fear, they may be flexible about that. They do clearly want to give practice in using equations, which is reasonable.

I myself have taught this sort of thing, saying something like, "You may see a better, more creative solution than using an equation, and you should feel good about that; but here we're learning to use algebra, so I'll have to require an equation. Use your better method as a check." In this case, I'd quickly find the middle number, knowing it's the average, and then add 1 (post #5).
 
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