Bunuel
In an increasing sequence of 8 consecutive even integers, the sum of the first 4 terms of the sequence is 124. What is the sum of the last 4 terms of the sequence?
A. 136
B. 140
C. 144
D. 156
E. 160
We can represent the integers as follows:
x, x + 2, x + 4, x + 6, x + 8, x + 10, x + 12, x + 14
Since the sum of the first 4 terms is 124:
x + x + 2 + x + 4 + x + 6 = 124
4x + 12 = 124
4x = 112
x = 28
Finally, since the last 4 terms are x + 8, x + 10, x + 12 and x + 14, the sum of the these 4 numbers is:
(28 + 8) + (28 + 10) + (28 + 12) + (28 + 14) = 36 + 38 + 40 + 42 = 156
Alternative solution:
Recall that we can represent the the integers as:
x, x + 2, x + 4, x + 6, x + 8, x + 10, x + 12, x + 14
We can see that the fifth integer, x + 8, is 8 more than the first integer, x. Likewise, each of the sixth, seventh and eighth integers is 8 more than the second, third and fourth integers. Thus, the sum of the last 4 integers should be 4(8) = 32 more than the sum of the first 4 integers. Since we are given that the sum of the first 4 integers is 124, the sum of the last 4 integers is 124 + 32 = 156.
Answer: D