Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2020

Algebra Difficulty 2.7 Junior Find the answer Canada

The ratio of green balls to yellow balls in a bag is 3:73:7. When 9 balls of each colour are removed, the ratio of green balls to yellow balls becomes 1:31:3. How many balls were originally in the bag?

Pick one

Solution

Each four-digit number must be greater than 2000, and so the smallest two-digit number that may be repeated is 20 (to give 2020).

Each four-digit number must be less than 10 000, and so the largest two-digit number that may be repeated is 99 (to give 9999).

Each two-digit number between 20 and 99 may be repeated to give a four-digit number between 2000 and 10 000.
In total, there are 9920+1=8099-20+1=80 numbers that satisfy the given conditions.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.