Video Transcript
In this video, we will learn how to
find the arithmetic means for any two nonconsecutive terms in an arithmetic
sequence.
Letβs start by defining arithmetic
mean. An arithmetic mean is the sum of a
set of values divided by the number of values in the set. If we have two numbers three and
nine and we want to find their arithmetic mean, we add them together, three plus
nine, and then divide by two because we have a set of two numbers. And this equals six. What weβre showing here is that the
distance from three to six is equal to the distance from six to nine. Letβs call that distance π. We can see that from three to six
weβre adding three and from six to nine weβre adding three.
If we continue this pattern, nine
plus three is 12, and 12 plus three is 15. We could call this set of values an
arithmetic sequence. This is because in an arithmetic
sequence, the difference between any two consecutive values will be equal. But we wanna primarily focus in
this video on the arithmetic means. And in this sequence, there is more
than one arithmetic mean. Weβve shown how six is the
arithmetic mean between three and nine. But nine is also an arithmetic mean
in this sequence. If we take the values on either
side, we can say six plus 12 divided by two equals nine. And that makes nine the second mean
in this sequence, which would make 12 the third mean. And that means we can say that
there are three arithmetic means between three and 15.
Using our knowledge about the
behavior of arithmetic sequences and what we know about arithmetic means inside
arithmetic sequences, letβs look at some example questions.
Find five arithmetic means between
seven and 19.
We have two values, seven and
19. And weβve been told that there are
five arithmetic means between them, which we could mark π, π, π, π, π. Our first mean is π. And we know that if π is the first
mean, the distance from seven to π must be equal to the distance from π to π. And so we can say if seven plus π₯
equals π, then π plus π₯ must equal π. Moving on, π is the second mean,
which means that the distance from π to π must be equal to the distance from π to
π. If π plus π₯ equals π, then π
plus π₯ must equal π. This must be true for all five of
our arithmetic means between seven and 19. They must have a common
difference. And weβre calling that common
difference π₯.
If thereβs a common difference of
π₯ between all five of these arithmetic means, there will also be a common
difference of π₯ between the last mean π and the end of our sequence 19. We can use this information to set
up an equation. We can create a relationship
between seven and 19 using the common differences. To get from seven to 19, if there
are five arithmetic means between them, you need to add six π₯. So weβre saying seven plus six π₯
must be equal to 19. This equation will allow us to
solve for that common difference.
We subtract seven from both sides
of our equation and find six π₯ equals 12, which means π₯ equals two. And if π₯ equals two, π equals
nine, π equals 11, π equals 13, π equals 15, and π equals 17. And the five arithmetic means
between seven and 19 are nine, 11, 13, 15, and 17.
In our next example, weβll look at
what to do if weβre given the sum of different means in an arithmetic sequence.
If the sum of the second mean and
the fourth mean from an arithmetic sequence equals 16 and the seventh mean is more
than the third mean by eight, then the sequence is blank.
Letβs say we have some sequence
with the first term π. We could say the second term is π,
the third term is π, and continue on like this. We have to remember that if the
first term is π, the first mean is actually the second term in the sequence. If the second term is the first
mean, the third term is the second mean and the fifth term is the fourth mean. However, this string of variables
is not very helpful to us. It would be more helpful to write
these variables in terms of our first value in the sequence.
So letβs go back. If we let our first value in the
sequence be π, we know that our second term will be equal to our first term plus a
common difference. And this is a much better way to
write these values. Our second term would be equal to
π plus the common difference π. And our third term would be equal
to π plus π plus π. We can call that π plus two
π. Our fourth term would be equal to
π plus three π. And we need to think about the
values we are interested in. We have information about the
second mean, the fourth mean, the seventh mean, and the third mean.
Weβve already said that that second
mean would be equal to the third term and the fourth mean would be equal to the
fifth term. We can notice something interesting
here. The second mean has two units of
the common difference π being added to the first term. And the fourth mean has four common
differences being added to the first term π. We see that with the third
mean. Three common differences are being
added. And we can use that to say that the
seventh mean would be the first term plus seven π.
Using these values, we can set up
some simultaneous equations to solve for the sequence. We know the second mean plus the
fourth mean equals 16. This means π plus two π plus π
plus four π equals 16. We also know that the third mean
plus eight is equal to the seventh mean. So we write π plus three π,
thatβs the third mean, plus eight is equal to π plus seven π, the seventh
mean. On the left, we can simplify to two
π plus six π equals 16. And for our other equation, if we
subtract π from both sides, we have π minus π on both sides.
We end up with three π plus eight
equals seven π. By subtracting three π from both
sides, we can see that eight is equal to four π. And by dividing both sides by four,
we find out that two equals π or π equals two. And then we wanna take that two for
our π-value and plug it into our second equation so that we have two π plus six
times two equals 16. Two π plus 12 equals 16. By subtracting 12 from both sides,
we get two π is equal to four. And once we divide through by two,
we see that π equals two.
Remember that π represented the
first term in our sequence and our common difference here, our π-value, is two. This means that our second term
will be four, our third term will be six, and the pattern would continue. The arithmetic sequence described
here is the sequence with the first term of two and a common difference of two.
Our next example is a little
different. We want to find the number of means
between two given values if weβre given information about some of the arithmetic
means in between the two values.
Find the number of arithmetic means
inserted between eight and 238 given the sum of the second and the sixth means is
96.
Letβs think about what we know. Weβre given eight and 238. And weβre trying to figure out how
many arithmetic means are between these two values given the sum of the second and
the sixth means is 96. We donβt know anything about the
terms between eight and 238 apart from that, but we do know that every consecutive
term will have a common difference. Our second mean is two common
differences away from eight. The second mean is the third
term. So letβs let π be equal to our
second mean.
If π equals our second mean, itβs
going to be equal to eight plus two times the common difference π. To go from our second mean to our
sixth mean, we need to add that common difference four more times. So weβll let the sixth mean be
equal to π. We can write π in terms of our
first term and our common difference. π would be equal to eight plus six
π. If you start at eight and try to
get to π, you need to add the common difference six times. We know that the sum of the second
and sixth means is 96. π plus π must be equal to 96. We can plug in eight plus two π
for π and eight plus six π for π.
When we combine like terms, we find
that 16 plus eight π equals 96. Subtracting 16 from both sides
gives us eight π is equal to 80. And dividing both sides by eight,
we get that π equals 10. This is not telling us how many
arithmetic means are between eight and 238. Itβs only saying that the common
difference in this sequence is 10.
Now, we need to think of a way to
go from eight to 238 with a common difference of 10. We want to know if we start with
eight, how many sets of 10 do we need to add to eight to end up at 238? We subtract eight from both sides,
and we get π₯ times 10 equals 230. If we divide both sides by 10, we
get that π₯ is equal to 23. This means weβre saying eight plus
23 times the common difference equals 238. And that makes sense. The common difference is 10, so
eight plus 230 equals 238. But hereβs where we have to be
really careful. This 23π gets us from the first
term to the last term, but our question wants to know the number of arithmetic means
between 238 and eight. And this means we need to go one to
the left of 238.
To get from 238 to the final mean,
we subtract π. If we let π be equal to the final
mean between eight and 238, itβs located at eight plus 23π minus π. It would be equal to eight plus
22π. And that 22 makes it the 22nd mean,
which means there are 22 means inserted between eight and 238.
In our final example, weβll again
be trying to find the number of arithmetic means inserted between two values. But this time, weβre given the
ratio between two different sets of means.
Find the number of arithmetic means
inserted between two and 254 given the ratio between the sum of the first two means
and the sum of the last two means is 11 over 245.
Letβs think about what we know. We have some sequence where the
first term is two and the last term is 254. In sequences like this, the second
term is equal to the first mean and the third term is equal to the second mean. Weβll let π be our first mean and
π be our second mean. We know to get from our first term
to our second term, there must be a common difference of π. The same thing is true. To get from our second term to our
third term, we need to add a common difference of π. But how should we label our last
two means?
If we began at our final term 254,
the last mean will be negative π away from the last term. We can let π be our last mean. And if we take the last mean and
subtract the common difference of π, we get a second to last mean. Weβll write our first two means in
relation to the first term. π will be equal to two plus
π. And π would be equal to two plus
two π. And then we can write π and π in
terms of our last value 254. π will be equal to 254 minus
π. And π, the second to last term,
would be equal to 254 minus two π.
Now our ratio is the sum of the
first two over the sum of the second two. And that means we want to add π
and π and add π and π. For the first two means, they sum
to four plus three π. And for the last two means, they
sum to 508 minus three π. Weβll take these two expressions
and set them equal to our ratio of 11 over 245. We have the sum of the first two
means, four plus three π, over the sum of the last two means, 508 minus three π,
which must be equal to 11 over 245.
When we cross multiply, we get 245
times four plus three π is equal to 11 times 508 minus three π. So we distribute, which gives us
980 plus 735π on the left and 5588 minus 33π on the right. Next, we add 33π to both sides of
the equation. And then we need to subtract 980
from both sides to get 768π is equal to 4608. When we divide both sides of the
equation by 768, we find that π equals six. We now know the common difference
is six. And weβll need to use this to
figure out how many means are between two and 254. That means weβll need to figure out
how do we get from two to 254 in increments of six.
Algebraically, we can write that as
two plus π₯ times six is equal to 254 and then solve for π₯. When we do that, we find that π₯
equals 42. That means that we are taking 42π
and adding it to our first term of two to get to 254. But to get to the last mean, we
only need to add 41π. Because two plus 41π equals the
last mean, there are 41 means between two and 254.
Before we finish, letβs review our
key points. The terms between two
nonconsecutive terms in an arithmetic sequence are known as arithmetic means. To calculate arithmetic mean, take
the sum of a group of values and divide by the number of values. Using these properties, you can
solve for the number of arithmetic means between two arbitrary values.