Difference between revisions of "2005 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 14"
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If our first digit is odd, the last digit also has to be odd for there to be a whole number middle digit that is the average of the first and the last digits. | If our first digit is odd, the last digit also has to be odd for there to be a whole number middle digit that is the average of the first and the last digits. | ||
| − | If our first digit is even, the last digit has to be even, or 0 for there to be a whole number middle digit that is the average of the first and the last digits. | + | If our first digit is even, the last digit has to be even, or <math>0</math> for there to be a whole number middle digit that is the average of the first and the last digits. |
| − | As there are 5 different possible values for each starting digit of our number, we can multiply that by the number of possible first digits | + | As there are <math>5</math> different possible values for each starting digit of our number, we can multiply that by the number of possible first digits <math>(1-9)</math> to achieve our desired solution. <math>5 \cdot 9 = \boxed{\textbf{(E) }45}</math> |
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-JinhoK | -JinhoK | ||
Latest revision as of 18:25, 13 December 2021
Problem
How many three-digit numbers satisfy the property that the middle digit is the average of the first and the last digits?
Solution 1
If the middle digit is the average of the first and last digits, twice the middle digit must be equal to the sum of the first and last digits.
Doing some casework:
If the middle digit is 
, possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are 
numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is , possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are 
numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is 
, possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are 
numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is , possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are 
numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is 
, possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are 
numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is , possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are 
numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is , possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is , possible numbers range from 
to 
. So there are numbers in this case.
If the middle digit is , the only possible number is 
. So there is number in this case.
So the total number of three-digit numbers that satisfy the property is 
Solution 2
Alternatively, we could note that the middle digit is uniquely defined by the first and third digits since it is half of their sum. This also means that the sum of the first and third digits must be even. Since even numbers are formed either by adding two odd numbers or two even numbers, we can split our problem into cases:
If both the first digit and the last digit are odd, then we have 
or as choices for each of these digits, and there are 
numbers in this case.
If both the first and last digits are even, then we have 
as our choices for the first digit and 
for the third digit. There are 
numbers here.
The total number, then, is 
Solution 3
As we noted in Solution 2, we note that the sum of the first and third digits has to be even. The first digit can have possibilities 
, and the third digit can have 
possibilities 
. This means there can be 
possible two-digit numbers in which the first digit and the third digit are digits. Exactly half of these would have their sum be divisible by (since 
is even), so our answer is 
Solution 4
If our first digit is odd, the last digit also has to be odd for there to be a whole number middle digit that is the average of the first and the last digits.
If our first digit is even, the last digit has to be even, or 
for there to be a whole number middle digit that is the average of the first and the last digits.
As there are different possible values for each starting digit of our number, we can multiply that by the number of possible first digits to achieve our desired solution. 
-JinhoK
Video Solution
CHECK OUT Video Solution: https://youtu.be/eItd9O8cCnQ
See also
| 2005 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 13 |
Followed by Problem 15 | |
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 | ||
| All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions | ||
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