All about flooble | fun stuff | Get a free chatterbox | Free JavaScript | Avatars    
perplexus dot info

Home > Just Math
5 averages (Posted on 2005-02-08) Difficulty: 1 of 5

With five numbers there are 5 ways to group 4 of them together. If you take the averages of each group of 4 numbers and get...

3428.5
3425.75
3398
3120.25
342.5

What are the 5 numbers?

See The Solution Submitted by GOM    
Rating: 2.6667 (9 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Solution Puzzle Solution Comment 5 of 5 |

Let the five numbers be A, B, C, D and E, with A<B<C<D<E.

Clearly, A+B+C+D must then be the lowest group sum followed by A+B+C+E, while B+C+D+E must be the highest group sum, preceded by A+C+D+E 

Now, by the problem, we must have:

(A+B+C+D)/4 = 342.5 ....(i)
(A+B+C+E)/4 = 3120.25....ii)
(A+B+D+E)/4 = 3398......(iii)
(A+C+D+E)/4 = 3425.75....(iv)
(B+C+D+E)/4 = 3428.5.....(v)

Adding (i) thru (v), we obtain:

A+B+C+D+E = 13715…..(vi)

Accordingly, multiplying (i) thru (v) by 4 in turn and  separately
subtracting these from (vi), we obtain:

(E, D, C, B, A) = (12345, 1234, 123, 12, 1)

Thus, the required numbers (in ascending order) are 1, 12, 123, 1234 and 12345

Edited on August 25, 2007, 11:57 pm
  Posted by K Sengupta on 2007-08-25 23:40:06

Please log in:
Login:
Password:
Remember me:
Sign up! | Forgot password


Search:
Search body:
Forums (0)
Newest Problems
Random Problem
FAQ | About This Site
Site Statistics
New Comments (9)
Unsolved Problems
Top Rated Problems
This month's top
Most Commented On

Chatterbox:
Copyright © 2002 - 2024 by Animus Pactum Consulting. All rights reserved. Privacy Information