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Revision as of 16:08, 3 July 2013

Problem

In a magic triangle, each of the six whole numbers $10-15$ is placed in one of the circles so that the sum, $S$, of the three numbers on each side of the triangle is the same. The largest possible value for $S$ is

[asy] draw(circle((0,0),1)); draw(dir(60)--6*dir(60)); draw(circle(7*dir(60),1)); draw(8*dir(60)--13*dir(60)); draw(circle(14*dir(60),1)); draw((1,0)--(6,0)); draw(circle((7,0),1)); draw((8,0)--(13,0)); draw(circle((14,0),1)); draw(circle((10.5,6.0621778264910705273460621952706),1)); draw((13.5,0.86602540378443864676372317075294)--(11,5.1961524227066318805823390245176)); draw((10,6.9282032302755091741097853660235)--(7.5,11.258330249197702407928401219788)); [/asy]

$\text{(A)}\ 36 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 37 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 38 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 39 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 40$

Solution

Let the number in the top circle be $a$ and then $b$, $c$, $d$, $e$, and $f$, going in clockwise order. Then, we have \[S=a+b+c\] \[S=c+d+e\] \[S=e+f+a\]

Adding these equations together, we get

\begin{align*} 3S &= (a+b+c+d+e+f)+(a+c+e) \\ &= 75+(a+c+e) \\ \end{align*}

where the last step comes from the fact that since $a$, $b$, $c$, $d$, $e$, and $f$ are the numbers $10-15$ in some order, their sum is $10+11+12+13+14+15=75$

The left hand side is divisible by $3$ and $75$ is divisible by $3$, so $a+c+e$ must be divisible by $3$. The largest possible value of $a+c+e$ is then $15+14+13=42$, and the corresponding value of $S$ is $\frac{75+42}{3}=39$, which is choice $\boxed{\text{D}}$.

It turns out this sum is attainable if you let \[a=15\] \[b=10\] \[c=14\] \[d=12\] \[e=13\] \[f=11\]

See Also

1985 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 23 		Followed by
Problem 25
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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions


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