A man arranges to pay off a dept of Rs 3600 by 40 annual instalments which form an arithmetic series. When 30 of the instalments are paid, he dies leaving one-third of all debt unpaid, find the value of the first instalment.
In the given problem,
Total amount of debt to be paid in 40 installments
After 30 installments one−third of his debt is left unpaid. This means that he paid two third of the debt in 30 installments. So,
Amount he paid in 30 installments $=\frac{2}{3}(3600)$
$=2(1200)$
$=2400$
Let us take the first installment as a and common difference as d.
So, using the formula for the sum of n terms of an A.P,
$S_{n}=\frac{n}{2}[2 a+(n-1) d]$
Let us find a and d, for 30 installments.
$S_{30}=\frac{30}{2}[2 a+(30-1) d]$
$2400=15[2 a+(29) d]$
$\frac{2400}{15}=2 a+29 d$
$160=2 a+29 d$
$a=\frac{160-29 d}{2}$ ......(1)
Similarly, we find $a$ and $d$ for 40 installments.
$S_{40}=\frac{40}{2}[2 a+(40-1) d]$
$3600=20[2 a+(39) d]$
$\frac{3600}{20}=2 a+39 d$
$180=2 a+39 d$
$a=\frac{180-39 d}{2}$..............(2)
Subtracting (1) from (2), we get,
$a-a=\left(\frac{180-39 d}{2}\right)-\left(\frac{160-29 d}{2}\right)$
$0=\frac{180-39 d-160+29 d}{2}$
$0=20-10 d$
Further solving for d,
$10 d=20$
$d=\frac{20}{10}$
$d=2$
Substituting the value of d in (1), we get.
$a=\frac{160-29(2)}{2}$
$=\frac{160-58}{2}$
$=\frac{102}{2}$
$=51$
Therefore, the first installment is Rs 51 .