2012 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 13

Jamar bought some pencils costing more than a penny each at the school bookstore and paid $\textdollar 1.43$ . Sharona bought some of the same pencils and paid $\textdollar 1.87$ . How many more pencils did Sharona buy than Jamar?

$\textbf{(A)}\hspace{.05in}2\qquad\textbf{(B)}\hspace{.05in}3\qquad\textbf{(C)}\hspace{.05in}4\qquad\textbf{(D)}\hspace{.05in}5\qquad\textbf{(E)}\hspace{.05in}6$

Solution

We assume that the price of the pencils remains constant. Convert $\textdollar 1.43$ and $\textdollar 1.87$ to cents. Since the price of the pencils is more than one penny, we can find the price of one pencil (in cents) by taking the greatest common divisor of $143$ and $187$ , which is $11$ . Therefore, Jamar bought $\frac{143}{11} \implies 13$ pencils and Sharona bought $\frac{187}{11} \implies 17$ pencils. Thus, Sharona bought $17-13 = \boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 4}$ more pencils than Jamar.

2012 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 12	Followed by Problem 14
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2012 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 13

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