2005 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 17

Problem

In the five-sided star shown, the letters $A, B, C, D,$ and $E$ are replaced by the numbers $3, 5, 6, 7,$ and $9$ , although not necessarily in this order. The sums of the numbers at the ends of the line segments $AB$ , $BC$ , $CD$ , $DE$ , and $EA$ form an arithmetic sequence, although not necessarily in that order. What is the middle term of the arithmetic sequence?

$\textbf{(A) } 9\qquad \textbf{(B) } 10\qquad \textbf{(C) } 11\qquad \textbf{(D) } 12\qquad \textbf{(E) } 13$

Solution 1

Each corner $(A,B,C,D,E)$ goes to two sides/numbers. ( $A$ goes to $AE$ and $AB$ , $D$ goes to $DC$ and $DE$ ). The sum of every term is equal to $2(3+5+6+7+9)=60$

Since the middle term in an arithmetic sequence is the average of all the terms in the sequence, the middle number is $\frac{60}{5}=\boxed{\textbf{(D) }12}$

Solution 2

We know that the smallest number in this sequence must be $3 + 5 = 8$ , and the biggest number must be $7 + 9 = 16$ . Since there are $5$ terms in this sequence, we know that $8 + 4d = 16$ , or that $d = 2$ . Thus, we know that the middle term must be $8 + 2 \cdot 2 = \boxed{12}.$ This doesn’t necessarily work since not every single number will be added to every other number, but it is a good way to start trying during the test. ~yk2007 (Daniel K.)~sravya_m18

Video Solution by OmegaLearn

https://youtu.be/tKsYSBdeVuw?t=544

~ pi_is_3.14

2005 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 16	Followed by Problem 18
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

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

Page

Toolbox

Search

2005 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 17

Contents

Problem

Solution 1

Solution 2

Video Solution by OmegaLearn

See Also