In An arithmetic sequence will add or subtract the same thing each time to find the next term. In this case we start with 10 and need to get to 40 on the 6th term. This is a difference of 30 that needs to be divided by 5 open spaces. You are adding 6 each time.
Think of the equation as the 10 times as parts so if Halle read ten times as more than Janet then we do the equation 264/11 because we have to include Janet's part too so Janet read 24, one part of the total while Halle read 240, 10 parts of the total