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In an AP, d = −9 and S₃₁ = 0. What is the first term a?

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: 135

Direct answer: 135, so option B is correct. Use Sₙ = n/2[2a + (n − 1)d]. Here n = 31, d = −9, and S₃₁ = 0. Therefore 0 = 31/2[2a + 30(−9)] = 31/2(2a − 270). Since 31/2 is not zero, the bracket must be zero: 2a − 270 = 0, so 2a = 270 and a = 135. Option B is correct. Option A, 126, option C, 144, and option D, 153, would leave the bracket nonzero and hence would not make S₃₁ equal to zero. A conceptual check is useful: 31 is odd, so the 16th term is the middle term. In an odd-numbered AP, symmetric terms have sums twice the middle term; for the total to be zero, the middle term must be zero. Thus a + 15d = 0, giving a − 135 = 0 and a = 135. Memory cue: for an odd number of AP terms with zero sum, the middle term is zero.

Related tags

Ap-SumZero-SumCommon-DifferenceFinding The Sum Of The First $N$ Terms Of An ApFinding The Sum Of The First N Terms Of An ApArithmetic Progressions (Ap)Arithmetic Progressions ApMathematics

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