Let the A.P. be $\begin{aligned}
& a, a+2, a+2 d, \ldots, a+(2 k-1) d \
& \text { Now, } a+a+2 d+a+4 d+\ldots+a+(2 k-2) d=40 \
& k a+2 d+4 d+\ldots+(2 k-2) d=40 \
& \Rightarrow k a+\frac{k-1}{2}[2 d+2 k d-2 d]=40
\end{aligned}\Rightarrow k a+k(k-1) d=40...(1)Anda+d+a+3 d+\ldots+a+(2 k-1) d=55\Rightarrow k a+\frac{k}{2}(d+2 k d-d)=55\Rightarrow k a+k^2 d=55....(2)Also,a+(2 k-1) d-a=27\Rightarrow \quad(2 k-1) d=27 \Rightarrow d=\frac{27}{2 k-1}...(3)Fromequation(1)and(2)k^2 d-k d-k^2 d=-15\Rightarrow \quad d=\frac{15}{k}Fromequation(3)and(4)\begin{aligned}
& \frac{27}{2 k-1}=\frac{15}{k} \
& 27 k=30 k-15 \
& \Rightarrow 3 k=15 \
& \Rightarrow k=5
\end{aligned}$