Let the common difference be d. Then these equations are true, so add all the left sides and all the right sides: y = 30-d x = 30-2d z = 30+d f = 30+2d ------------------------- y+x+z+f = 120 Notice that there are lots of different possibilities for x,y,z,f. For example the arithmetic sequence could be 10 20 30 40 50, which have sum 120 with d=10, or 20 25 30 35 40, which also have sum 120 with d=5, or 54 42 30 18 6, which also have sum 120 with d=-12, or any of an infinite number of possible arithmetic sequences. But the sum will always be 120. That's interesting! Edwin