MathDB
Star and arithmetic sequence

Source: 2005 AMC-12 #13 and AMC-10 #17

November 7, 2005
arithmetic sequenceAMC

Problem Statement

In the five-sided star shown, the letters A,B,C,D,A,B,C,D, and EE are replaced by the numbers 3,5,6,7,3,5,6,7, and 99, although not necessarily in this order. The sums of the numbers at the ends of the line segments AB\overline{AB},BC\overline{BC},CD\overline{CD},DE\overline{DE}, and EA\overline{EA} form an arithmetic sequence, although not necessarily in this order. What is the middle term of the arithmetic sequence?
[asy] size(150); defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); string[] strng = {'A','D','B','E','C'}; pair A=dir(90),B=dir(306),C=dir(162),D=dir(18),E=dir(234); draw(A--B--C--D--E--cycle); for(int i=0;i<=4;i=i+1) { path circ=circle(dir(90-72*i),0.125); unfill(circ); draw(circ); label(""+strng+""+strng+"",dir(90-72*i)); } [/asy]
<spanclass=latexbold>(A)</span> 9<spanclass=latexbold>(B)</span> 10<spanclass=latexbold>(C)</span> 11<spanclass=latexbold>(D)</span> 12<spanclass=latexbold>(E)</span> 13 <span class='latex-bold'>(A)</span>\ 9\qquad <span class='latex-bold'>(B)</span>\ 10\qquad <span class='latex-bold'>(C)</span>\ 11\qquad <span class='latex-bold'>(D)</span>\ 12\qquad <span class='latex-bold'>(E)</span>\ 13