Difference between revisions of "2008 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 23"
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==Problem== | ==Problem== | ||
A rectangular floor measures a by b feet, where a and b are positive integers and b > a. An artist paints a rectangle on the floor with the sides of the rectangle parallel to the floor. The unpainted part of the floor forms a border of width 1 foot around the painted rectangle and occupied half the area of the whole floor. How many possibilities are there for the ordered pair (a,b)? | A rectangular floor measures a by b feet, where a and b are positive integers and b > a. An artist paints a rectangle on the floor with the sides of the rectangle parallel to the floor. The unpainted part of the floor forms a border of width 1 foot around the painted rectangle and occupied half the area of the whole floor. How many possibilities are there for the ordered pair (a,b)? | ||
Revision as of 05:55, 29 March 2009
Problem
A rectangular floor measures a by b feet, where a and b are positive integers and b > a. An artist paints a rectangle on the floor with the sides of the rectangle parallel to the floor. The unpainted part of the floor forms a border of width 1 foot around the painted rectangle and occupied half the area of the whole floor. How many possibilities are there for the ordered pair (a,b)?
A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 4 E) 5
Solution
Because the unpainted part of the floor covers half the area, then the painted rectangle covers half the area as well. Since the border width is 1 foot, the dimensions of the rectangle are a-2 by b-2. With this information we can make the equation:
ab = 2[(a-2)(b-2)]
ab = 2ab - 4a - 4b + 8
ab - 4a - 4b + 16 = 8
(a-4)(b-4) = 8
Since b > a, then we have the possibilities (a-4) = 1 and (b-4) = 8, or (a-4) = 2 and (b-4) = 4. This gives 2 (B) possibilities: (5,12) or (6,8).
See also
| 2008 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 22 |
Followed by Problem 24 | |
| 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 | ||
