Question 983176:  Hello, 
our topic is all about arithmetic sequence. There's a given question that I found difficulty, so please help me to answer this question: 
Find the value of x and y so that (x + y), (3x - 2), (x + 7y), and (3x + 4y) are terms of an arithmetic sequence.
 
Thank you. 
 Answer by rothauserc(4718)      (Show Source): 
You can  put this solution on YOUR website! ok, here we go 
arithmetic sequence definition is xn = a + ( d * (n - 1)), where xn is the nth term in the sequence, a is the first term, d is the common difference 
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note that x+y is a, then 
x1 = x+y 
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x2 = 3x-2 = x+y + d 
x2 = 2x-y = 2 + d 
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x3 = x+7y = x+y + 2d 
x3 = 6y = 2d 
x3 = y = d/3 
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x4 = 3x+4y = x+y + 3d 
x4 = 2x+3y = 3d 
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using x3 (y = d/3) and x2 we have 
2x - d/3 = 2 + d 
3x - 2d = 3 
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using x3 and x4 we have 
2x + d = 3d 
x = d, therefore 
3x - 2x = 3 
x = 3 
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now use x4, x=3, d=3 
6 + 3y = 9 
y = 1 
*********************************** 
we have x=3, y=1 and d=3 
4, 7, 10, 13 
 
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