Average of eight consecutive odd numbers is 216. What is the third number in ascending order?

Sure, here is the step by step solution:

Step 1: Understand the problem We know that the average of eight consecutive odd numbers is 216. We need to find the third number in ascending order.

Step 2: Use the formula for the average The average of a set of numbers is the sum of the numbers divided by the quantity of numbers. In this case, the sum of the eight numbers is 216 * 8 = 1728.

Step 3: Understand the properties of consecutive odd numbers Consecutive odd numbers increase by 2 each time. If we have eight consecutive odd numbers and the average is the fourth number (because 8/2 = 4), then the first number will be 6 less than the average (because 2*3 = 6), the second number will be 4 less, the third number will be 2 less, the fourth number will be the average, the fifth number will be 2 more, and so on.

Step 4: Calculate the third number The third number in ascending order will be 2 less than the average. So, the third number is 216 - 2 = 214.