Evens Minus Odds

The sum of the first 80 positive odd integers subtracted from the sum of the first 80 positive even integers is:

  1. 0
  2. 20
  3. 40
  4. 60
  5. 80


Show/Hide Solution

 

Here’s a nice method:
E = 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 + … + 158 + 160
O = 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + … + 157 + 159

 

We want:
E – O = (2-1) + (4-3) + (6-5) + (8-7) + (10-9) + … + (158-157) + (160-159)
= 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + … + 1 + 1
= 80.

 

Here’s another method:

The sum of an arithmetic series is n/2 · (fl) where there are n terms, f is the first, and l is the last.

So E = 80/2 · (2 + 160) = 6480, and O = 80/2 · (1 + 159) = 6400.

Again, the difference is 80. So the answer is (e).

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