High School

The first and last terms of an arithmetic progression (AP) are 1 and 11, respectively. If their sum is 36, what is the number of terms in the AP?

Answer :

Final answer:

The number of terms in the arithmetic progression with the first term as 1, the last term as 11, and a sum of 36, we use the sum formula of an AP. The calculation reveals that there are 6 terms in the progression.

Explanation:

In an AP, the sum of the terms can be calculated using the formula S = n/2 × (a + l), where S is the sum of the first n terms, a is the first term, l is the last term, and n is the number of terms. Given that a=1, l=11, and S=36, we can substitute these values into the formula to find n.

Substituting the given values into the formula provides 36 = n/2 × (1+11), simplifying to 36 = 6n. Therefore, n = 6. This means there are 6 terms in the arithmetic progression.