Re: A set of 25 different integers has a median of 50 and a range of 50. W
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28 Nov 2021, 09:58
Consider 25 numbers in ascending order to be \(x_1\), \(x_2\), \(x_3\), ..., \(x_{25}\).
The median of a set with odd number of elements is the middle number (when arranged in ascending or descending order), so the median of given set is \(x_{13}=50\);
The range of a set is the difference between the largest and the smallest numbers of a set, so the range of given set is \(50=x_{25}-x_{1}\) --> \(x_{25}=50+x_{1}\);
We want to maximize \(x_{25}\), hence we need to maximize \(x_{1}\). Since all integers must be distinct then the maximum value of \(x_{1}\) will be \(median-12=50-12=38\) and thus the maximum value of \(x_{25}\) is \(x_{25}=38+50=88\).
The set could be {38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 88}
Answer: D.