SOLUTION: In an opera theater, sections of seating consisting of three rows are being laid out. It is planned so each row will be two more seats than the one before it and 90 people must be

Question 1183728: In an opera theater, sections of seating consisting of three rows are being laid out. It is planned so each row will be two more seats than the one before it and 90 people must be seated in each section. How many people will be in the third row?

Found 2 solutions by ikleyn, robertb:
Answer by ikleyn(52787)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.

According to the dictionary, the word   " before "   may have two different meanings:

        a)   during the period of time preceding a particular event or time,

    and/or

        b)   in front of someone or something.

Which meaning of these two do you mean in this post?

If " before " here means " in front of . . . ", then the rows should have 28, 30 and 32 seats.

Notice that 30 = 90/3.

Answer by robertb(5830)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
It turns out that it doesn't matter whatever meaning you attach to "before".
What is important is the fact that there is a total of 90 seats for the three rows in any section.
So you could be looking at either an arrangement of 28, 30, 32 or 32, 30, 28.
And both would be valid.
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