Problem 5 (Insect-Plague Problem)

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The years form an arithmetic sequence and so we know the year of the middle plague (4th plague) is the average of the 7 plague years, or 420/7 = 60. And since there are 7 plagues at 8 year intervals, we know the plague years are:

• 1st plague = 60 - 3 (8) = 36 A.D.
• 2nd plague = 60 - 2 (8) = 44 A.D.
• 3rd plague = 60 - 1 (8) = 52 A.D.
• 4th plague = 60 A.D.
• 5th plague = 60 + 1 (8) = 68 A.D.
• 6th plague = 60 + 2 (8) = 76 A.D.
• 7th plague = 60 + 3 (8) = 84 A.D.
  

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  Last modified on Friday, February 12, 1999