Use a median to find the average of five numbers

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Quantitative Reasoning

The five numbers in the list $1$ , $6$ , $2x + 1$ , $29$ , $41$ are in increasing order. If the median of the list is 23, what is the average (arithmetic mean) of the five numbers?

Select one answer.

17.6

11

20

25

23

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Answer: C ( $20$ )

Because the five numbers are listed in increasing order, the median is the third number. Therefore, $2x + 1 = 23$ , so $x = 11$ . The five numbers are thus $1$ , $6$ , $23$ , $29$ , and $41$ . Their average is $\frac{1 + 6 + 23 + 29 + 41}{5}$ ${}= \frac{100}{5}$ ${}= 20$ .

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Quantitative Reasoning

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