2009 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 6

The following problem is from both the 2009 AMC 10B #6 and 2009 AMC 12B #5, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

Kiana has two older twin brothers. The product of their three ages is 128. What is the sum of their three ages?

$\mathrm{(A)}\ 10\qquad \mathrm{(B)}\ 12\qquad \mathrm{(C)}\ 16\qquad \mathrm{(D)}\ 18\qquad \mathrm{(E)}\ 24$

Solution

The age of each person is a factor of $128 = 2^7$ . So the twins could be $2^0 = 1, 2^1 = 2, 2^2 = 4, 2^3 = 8$ years of age and, consequently Kiana could be 128, 32, 8 or 2 years old, respectively. Because Kiana is younger than her brothers, she must be 2 years old. So the sum of their ages is $2 + 8 + 8 = \boxed{18}$ . The answer is $\mathrm{(D)}$ .

2009 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 5	Followed by Problem 7
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

2009 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 4	Followed by Problem 6
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 12 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

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2009 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 6

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