2018 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 19
Problem 19
In a sign pyramid a cell gets a "+" if the two cells below it have the same sign, and it gets a "-" if the two cells below it have different signs. The diagram below illustrates a sign pyramid with four levels. How many possible ways are there to fill the four cells in the bottom row to produce a "+" at the top of the pyramid?
Solution 1
You could just make out all of the patterns that make the top positive. In this case, you would have the following patterns:
+−−+, −++−, −−−−, ++++, −+−+, +−+−, ++−−, −−++. There are 8 patterns and so the answer is
-NinjaBoi2000
Solution 2
The sign of the next row on the pyramid depends on previous row. There are two options for the previous row, - or +. There are three rows to the pyramid that depend on what the top row is. Therefore, the ways you can make a + on the top is , so the answer is
Solution 3
There is also a pretty simple approach to this problem. Since in the bottom row you can either have 4 of the same signs, 3 of the same signs and one of another, and 2 of the same signs and one of the other, this can be thought of as the 4th Row of the Pascal’s Triangle, which is . Since 3 of one sign and 1 of the other doesn’t work, all you need to add is , so the answer is .
See Also
2018 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 18 |
Followed by Problem 20 | |
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