Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2025

Algebra Difficulty 1.0 Junior Prove it Canada

Members of the Art Club are between 1414 and 1717 years old, inclusive. The graph shows
the number of students of each age in the club.

What is the total number of students in
the Art Club?
Determine the mean (average) age of the
students in the Art Club.
Determine the number of 1515-year old students that must join the
Art Club so that the mean age of all the students in the club is exactly
15.515.5.

Solution

Reading from the graph, there is 11 student who is 1414, 00 students who are 1515, 33 students who are 1616, and 22 students who are 1717.

The total number of students in the Art Club is 1+0+3+2=61+0+3+2=6.
Using the work from part (a), the mean (average) age of the
students in the Art Club is (1×14)+(3×16)+(2×17)6=966=16\dfrac{(1\times14)+(3\times16)+(2\times17)}{6}=\dfrac{96}{6}=16.
From part (b), the sum of the ages of the 66 students currently in the Art Club is
9696.

If nn 1515-year old students join the club, the
number of students in the club will be 6+n6+n, and the sum of their ages will be
96+15n96+15n.

When nn 1515-year old students join the club, the
mean age of all students in the club is 15.515.5.

Solving for nn, we get 96+15n6+n=15.596+15n=15.5(6+n)96+15n=93+15.5n3=0.5n\begin{align*} \dfrac{96+15n}{6+n}&=15.5\\ 96+15n&=15.5(6+n)\\ 96+15n&=93+15.5n\\ 3&=0.5n\end{align*} and so n=30.5=6n=\dfrac{3}{0.5}=6. Therefore, the number
of 1515-year old students that must
join the Art Club so that the mean age of the students in the club is
15.515.5 is 66.

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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.