Quote:
Originally Posted by poohbear_nc
once ....  |
I'm a bit late confirming your answer, but yes, of course.
On the previous maths question. If the (simple!) algebra didn't make sense to you, perhaps a geometric representation will do so.
Imagine the positive numbers as (one unit wide) rectangles, the height of the rectangle being the number they represent. Put them next to each other, so they make a 'staircase'. And then make another staircase. And then put one upside down on top of the other. Like this:
The sum of the numbers is the area of the staircase, and the area of two of the staircases is the area of the rectangle they make when put together. And for the picture shown it's 'clearly' 8x(8+1) = 72, but that's twice the area we want (two staircases), so dividing by two we get 36. Which is the sum of 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8. And it works for any number.