2019 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 25

Problem 25

Alice has $24$ apples. In how many ways can she share them with Becky and Chris so that each of the three people has at least two apples? $\textbf{(A) }105\qquad\textbf{(B) }114\qquad\textbf{(C) }190\qquad\textbf{(D) }210\qquad\textbf{(E) }380$

Solution 1

We use stars and bars. The problem asks for the number of integer solutions $(a,b,c)$ such that $a+b+c = 24$ and $a,b,c \ge 2$ . We can subtract 2 from $a$ , $b$ , $c$ , so that we equivalently seek the number of non-negative integer solutions to $a' + b' + c' = 18$ . By stars and bars (using 18 stars and 2 bars), the number of solutions is $\binom{18+2}{2} = \binom{20}{2} = \boxed{\textbf{(C) }190}$ .

Solution 2

Without loss of generality, let's assume that Alice has $2$ apples. There are $19$ ways to split the rest of the apples with Becky and Chris. If Alice has $3$ apples, there are $18$ ways to split the rest of the apples with Becky and Chris. If Alice has $4$ apples, there are $17$ ways to split the rest. So the total number of ways to split $24$ apples between the three friends is equal to $19 + 18 + 17...…… + 1 = 20\times \frac{19}{2}=\boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 190}$

Solution 3

Let's assume that the three of them have $x, y, z$ apples. Since each of them has to have at least $2$ apples, we say that $a+2=x, b+2=y$ and $c+2=z$ . Thus, $a+b+c+6=24 \implies a+b+c=18$ , and so by stars and bars, the number of solutions for this is ${n+k-1 \choose k} \implies {18+3-1 \choose 3-1} \implies {20 \choose 2} = \boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 190}$ - aops5234

Solution 4

We can give each person one apple first so that $21$ apples are shared between the three people, where each person receives at least one apple. Using Stars and Bars, the number of ways to do this is $\binom{21-1}{3-1}=\binom{20}{2}=\boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 190}$ .

Videos explaining solution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dBUklyUaNI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJzSOPXULBc

2019 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
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