In the case where the numbers are farther apart (notice the use of farther vs. further from S.C. studying) I would make an equation to solve. For example: t1=23 t2=20 t3=17 ... I know that we subract 3 each time we get the new term, so we need -3n somewhere. We can say t(n) = 26 - 3n. I used 26 bec...

emily, there are formulas that will do that. with numbers this small, though, there's no reason to know formulas. if there are only a small number of possibilities, just MAKE A LIST! if the 4 men are 'a', 'b', 'c', and 'd', then here are the possibilities for choosing two of them: a, b a, c a, d b,...

what i'm wondering here is... is that how you ORIGINALLY worked the problem? i.e., without having seen an answer key, or any other indication that the answer should be 18? ...because it seems unlikely that you'd have made two different mistakes that, just coincidentally, "undo" each other...

Thank you Ron.

Good to know. Thanks.