Brainteaser of the Week

 Ms. Kat asked the class to see if they could find the sum of the first 50 odd numbers. As everyone settled down to their addition, Carmen  ran to her and said, "The sum is 2,500." Ms. Kat thought, "Lucky guess," and gave her the task of finding the sum of the first 75 odd numbers. Within 20 seconds, Carmen was back with the correct answer of 5,625.

How does Carmen find the sum so quickly?

Hint: Consecutive odd numbers are 1, 3, 5, 7....

Start with the first several odd numbers and look for a pattern.

Answer will be posted next week.